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We made our final trek to the top of Mt. Carmel and Haifa University this morning for a few more meetings with faculty and students. Our first session featured three faculty members offering their various perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Professor Un Bar-Joseph provided an intriguing presentation on the psychology of security in Israel. His research and theories really helped me understand the Israeli perspective on threats, the need to use force to maintain security and that every problem is often seen as a security problem. Afterwards, we visited with the director of the Jewish-Arab Center at the university and discussed various efforts to bring Jewish and Arab students closer together. One of the most successful strategies is language tutoring between students that are learning either Hebrew and Arabic.
The International School staff then treated us to a delicious "farewell lunch" on the top floor of the tower building with one last view of the Haifa and the Mediterranean. We left feeling very optimistic about building further relationships between Haifa and UR. The staff did an outstanding job of hosting us the past four days. (See the attached photo with our new friends and colleagues.)
Our bus now headed to Jerusalem, with Ysrael Neeman as our guide. Ysrael continued educating us with highly informative talks on Israeli history and contemporary politics in the region. We viewed the security fences and walls along the West Bank borders as we traveled down the highway and we could see the skyline of Tel Aviv as well. Upon our arrival to Jerusalem, we stopped at a public park with a magnificent view of the city. Ysrael then took us on a guided tour through the Haredi section of Jersualem and offered a history and explanation of this unique Ultra-Orthodox Community.
We'll spend all day tomorrow touring the old city in Jerusalem before heading to the airport for late night flights to Istanbul and Belgrade. Access to wi-fi may not be readily available in the next 48 hours, so I hope to offer another update once we are in Belgrade.
- comments
Mary Fascinating...can't wait to hear more.
Dan A "night flight to Istanbul" sounds romantic, but leaving at 1:00AM less so!