On Monday morning, we were off for a quick stop at the open air market at Machane Yehuda and then a tour of the Supreme Court.  And then we had the distinct treat of our own personal tour of Lifta, a destroyed Palestinian village since 1948 right on the outskirts of Jerusalem.  Leading our tour was Daphna Golan, professor of law at Hebrew University and director of the Minerva Human Rights Program.  Daphna was also a co-founder of B’Tselem, one of the first human rights organizations in Israel promoting Palestinian human rights.  In short, she is a human rights activist extraordinaire.  She is also a big believer of experiential learning and decided that rather than giving us a lecture in a classroom, she would take us on a field trip.  It was amazing!

Student Adam Marshall recounts his experience:

“Our trip to Lifta was arguably the best spontaneous adventure I have ever taken. While on the outskirts of Jerusalem, we were met by Daphna Golan, who is a professor at Hebrew University. Instead of sitting in another lecture and hearing from another professor, she decided that we needed to experience this part of Israel up close. What started off as a seemingly normal walk and talk quickly turned into a breath-taking experience of a historic and neglected Palestinian village.

Late in the evening on Sunday, March 8, we met with Gershon Baskin and Riman Barakat.

This was our last (official) meeting of a long day involving talks about peace and conflict resolution, and it way it was, as student Kelsey Mader called it, “the perfect way to end.” The rest of Kelsey’s recap follows:

We met Gershon and Riman at The Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), an organization in Jerusalem that focuses on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a focus on peace and coexistence.  IPCRI supports a two-state solution in which both the Israeli and Palestinian people would have a nation and place to call home.  Gershon and Riman were both on the founding team of this organization and are still working unwaveringly toward their goal of peace.  You can visit IPCRI’s website for more information: http://ipcri.org/httpdocs/IPCRI/Who_We_Are.html.

Gershon Baskin has been involved in many negotiations on behalf of Israel – very notably, Gershon negotiated on behalf of Israel for the release of Gilad Shalit from Hamas’s control in the Gaza strip.  Gershon had many pieces of insightful information to share with us regarding his experiences and his opinions about how Israel and Palestine should move forward, but what stood out to me most was the list of eight things he shared as vital elements to a peace resolution.  Those eight elements were: (1) Palestinian statehood; (2) borders; (3) Jerusalem; (4) refugees; (5) physical link between Gaza and the West Bank; (6) economics; (7) national resources; and (8) security arrangements.  This was the first time I remember someone so clearly articulating their thoughts about a peace resolution.  It hit me how complex and emotional this issue is – eight large, heavy, sensitive elements that must be a part to a successful agreement.  It struck me how idyllic peace seems – are we crazy to strive for it when there is so much that seems to stand in the way?  Or are we crazy not to?

Cross-posted at http://www.indisputably.org.