PeaceInsight – A New Project by the Center for Peace

July 5, 2007

Peace in Sight is a joint initiative of the “PeaceInsight” Organization in Sussex, England, the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva, and “PCAS” Organization of Ramallah.

At the base of the initiative is a program for bringing young Israelis and Palestinians – ages 16 to 18 – together with the goal of creating acquaintance, holding dialogue and forming an ongoing connection to influence the communities and the schools from which the participants come. The public and educational strength and power of the program is in its being a three-year program, enabling wide ranging acquaintance and dialogue over the long term.

The Peace in Sight program is aimed at a target population of young and future leadership within Israeli and Palestinian society.

We believe that only an in-depth and long term education program can achieve the objective – shattering stereotypes, acquaintance with and acceptance of the other, internalization of values of respect, coexistence and peace.

The Project

a. Establishment of a framework of 16 young people (8 Israelis and 8 Palestinians), aged 16 to 18, who will be involved in a program of encounters and joint activities over a period of three years.

b. Details of the activity

  1. Uni-national meetings (in Israel and in Palestine) for group cohesion, understanding of the goals and preparation for a bi-national workshop (May-June 2007).
  2. Joint workshop in English, for a period of two weeks, facilitated by the staff of “Peace Insight” (July 2007).
  3. Four bi-national encounters (weekend) at Givat Haviva/Jerusalem, for maintaining the contacts between the participants (September 2007-July 2008).
  4. Ongoing maintaining of contacts by means of a directed blog on the Internet.
  5. Joint workshop in English, for a period of two weeks, facilitated by the staff of “Peace Insight” (July 2008).
  6. Four bi-national encounters (weekend) at Givat Haviva/Jerusalem, for maintaining the contacts between the participants (September 2008-July 2009).
  7. Joint workshop in English, for a period of two weeks, facilitated by the staff of “Peace Insight” (July 2009) – veteran participants will be integrated as assistants to the facilitators.

Organizational Structure and Distribution of Responsibility

a. Peace in Sight is a joint initiative of the “PeaceInsight” Organization in Sussex, England, the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva, and “PCAS” Organization of Ramallah.

b. Distribution of responsibility:
  1. Overall responsibility + holding of workshops in Sussex – “PeaceInsight,”
  2. Project director in the Middle East + cohesion and guidance of the Israeli group and holding of interim encounters + operation of blog – the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace, Israel.
  3. Cohesion and guidance of the Palestinian group + interim encounters – “PCAS.”

Summary

a. The power of this unique program is in its being an in-depth and long term program (3 years), designed for the grade level of young leadership in Israeli and Palestinian Authority schools.

b. The participants will be selected also on the basis of their leadership abilities, and we expect that they will pass on their experiences and impressions in their schools, and that there will be a ripple effect of the spirit of the program.

c. Maintaining of contacts between the participants by means of conferences and workshops in Israel, and by means of the directed Internet contact, will assure the continuation and the effectiveness of the proj

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