By Adam Fivenson, MSFS ’14
In March 2013, a group of MSFS students will travel to Israel and the West Bank for a week of discussions with politicians, policy makers and activists in an attempt to gain first-hand knowledge of the region’s ongoing conflict. Second-year students Fernando Heredia and Richard Priem are organizing the trip in hopes of exposing themselves and fellow students to the many complexities of the region.
According to Priem, the trip will be unique for many reasons: “It’s a chance to travel with an impressive group of fellow students and visit key religious and historical sites in one of the most contested regions in the world, while at the same time spending time with some senior policy-makers in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories.”
Heredia says the idea for organizing the trip arose from a combination of need and opportunity. For the last several years, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Higher Education sponsored 14 MSFS students for a trip to the Kingdom. Heredia: “It was a dream we had, at the beginning of last year, because we knew that international students couldn’t go on the yearly trip to Saudi Arabia so we wanted to create an alternative. We discovered that we had the experience and network to organize this trip to Israel and decided it would be a great alternative.”
Priem, in working to arrange the content of the itinerary, has a dual goal: “Working in the region showed me how complicated and multilayered the conflict was. If participants come back with a better understanding of these complexities, and not just thinking ‘this side is right, that side is wrong,’ our trip will have been a success. Additionally, this is a region some of us are very passionate about. We hope that the rest return from the trip with a similar passion.”
First-year MSFS student Isaac Chan says he hopes to be a part of the trip for a number of reasons. “It will be a wonderful mixture of work and play; we get to see the most important historical and touristic sites in Israel while getting to meet some really interesting people from all walks of life. Having done a similar study trip in Jordan, I realize how much deeper one can understand a country, its people and the issues and challenges that it faces from such a journey.”
“In participating, I hope to get a clearer idea of the difficulties and issues that both people on the ground and leaders face, as well as a balanced view of life on both sides,” Chan said. “I’m also excited to spend time with fellow MSFS students who are passionate about the same subject and build contacts in the region.”
Trip highlights will include a USAID project near Jenin, meetings with Palestinian government officials and senior negotiators in Ramallah, Israeli parliamentarians, IDF officers, human rights campaigners, peace activists, and MSFS alumni, as well as visits to Tel Aviv, Haifa, the Sea of Galilee, an Israeli kibbutz, the Dead Sea, a Palestinian refugee camp, Bethlehem and a guided tour through the old city of Jerusalem.