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Tourist Workshop

"Israel Today" Tourist Workshop (ITTW)

The Middle East, and in particular the Israeli/Arab conflict, dominates world news headlines. Every day, we are treated to a barrage of bewildering and often conflicting images of “the conflict”, padded with a healthy dose of bias. And while it’s geographically far away, events in this region have a way of deeply impacting us all around the world.

The “Israel Today” Tourist Workshop (ITTW) presents you with a unique opportunity to learn first-hand what’s really going on behind the scenes you see on the news every day. Through a combination of classroom instruction by highly-credentialed local instructors and first-hand on-the-ground experiences, you’ll be able to get behind all the conflicting accounts and rhetoric to understand what’s really happening and why, and to see some of the positive and exciting developments you never see on the nightly news. The workshop is geared towards those with little or no previous knowledge of the region and its conflicts who wish to understand it better.

Classroom instruction will draw on academic research, recent field work, the instructors’ extensive personal experience, and observations of some of the top Israeli experts in this field. Field trips will include visits to checkpoints, crossings, refugee camps, the security fence, Palestinian villages, and areas of cooperative development, as well as meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders to hear their viewpoints and concerns first-hand. Participants in this workshop will come away with a deeper understanding of the contributing issues, factors and forces of the conflict in more depth – and therefore the ways in which it could potentially be resolved.

Strict security standards will be maintained at all times.

The program is comprised of 4 units:

• Unit # 1: Israeli and Palestinian Societies.
• Unit # 2: Economy, Politics and Security.
• Unit # 3: Moral Dilemmas within the Israeli/Palestinian Dispute.
• Unit # 4: Why did the Oslo Accord Fail?


WORKSHOP PROGRAM

Day 1: Thursday
Thursday evening: Leave from JFK or Newark (will permit arrivals from other parts of the US during the day).

Day 2: Friday
Friday afternoon:
• Arrive in Israel.
• Orientation, presentation of detailed workshop program, welcome dinner, meet the instructors.
• Opening Presentation: "The Roots of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict".

Day 3: Saturday
• Hebrew and Arabic: Sister Languages : Teaching basic Arabic & Hebrew Expressions.
• Israel's Political Landscape: The Evolution of the Right and Left in Israeli society, from the formation of the state until today.
• The Evolution of Palestinian Leadership.
• Field Visits.

Day 4: Sunday
• The Palestinian Refugees and the claim of the "Right of Return".
• Overlooking the Jenin Palestinian Refugee Camp.
• Visits to sites of interest
• Israeli-Palestinian Economic Relationship – what are the perceptions and expectations of each side?
• Visits to sites of interest ( joint ventures)

Day 5: Monday
• The Palestinian Leadership: Past and Present
• Meet Israeli & Palestinian Leaders and hear their concerns
• Haifa: Proof of the possibility of co-existence (Israeli Jews and Arabs living side by side).

Day 6: Tuesday
• Islam: Between West and East
• Terrorism: The World's Threat
• International Terrorism
• Financing Terrorism
• Habits and Customs in Palestinian Society
• Women in Arab-Palestinian society

Day 7: Wednesday
• Moral dilemmas: "Collective Punishment" "Profiling" or "War on terrorism"?
• The Israel Defense Forces moral code: what is it, who sets it, what are the debates about it, and how does it compare to other countries’ military codes?
• Israel's Disengagement Plan: Why is it so important to Israelis and rejected by the Palestinians?
• Suicide bombers: what are the causes, motivations and enablers?
• Visit to a West Bank checkpoint; talk to Israelis and Palestinians.
• Visit the Security Fence/Erez Crossing.

Day 8: Thursday
• The Implementation of the Oslo Accord: Why did Oslo fail?
• Security Cooperation and Coordination –was it necessary?
• Visit to a current Israeli-Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO)

Thursday Night
1 AM Leave Ben Gurion airport
Arrive at JFK Monday 6AM.

• Free time will be provided during the week in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa.
• Strict security standards will be maintained at all times .
• Changes in program, dates, content etc. can be made at customer's request.