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Living the Life of the Other The aim of
the project is to expose Palestinian and Israeli students to the life of the other side, and thus try to overcome the separation between the two societies. During meetings of Palestinian and Israeli students, the
clearest conclusion is that both sides have very little knowledge of the other. This refers to information about daily life of people, rather than knowledge about political positions or historical facts. The over-focus
on these last two issues, on both sides, has led to a dehumanization of the other, as it has shifted the discussion from the lives of people to politics, history and talks of military character, seeing the other as “the
enemy” rather than as a human being. The project aims at bringing Israeli students to spend a period of time, ranging from days to weeks, living
at the homes of Palestinian students and Palestinian students coming to live at homes of Israeli students. We hope that this direct exposure would enable creating a “human face” to the other side, and would promote an
understanding one of the other. Hopefully, this exposure will enable the participants to confront stereotypes and prejudices, and understand the daily reality of the other. During the visit, students
will stay with a student from the “other side”. It is important that a program will be prepared for the visiting students, in order to prevent a “touristy / anthropological” approach, but rather one that would promote
community involvement, and direct contact with the other’s society. Such a program could include lectures of academics and intellectuals, volunteering in schools or youth centres, volunteering in NGO’s. At
the moment, the main obstacle for such project to take place is the current military and political unrest, which has practically created a complete separation between the two sides. Thus, right now it is nearly
impossible to hold such programs. Therefore we propose two options that could be realized in the mean time:
1. A similar project within Israel – living the life of the other in Palestinian villages in Israel and vice verse (this could also be useful as a pilot for the project). 2. Prepare all that is
necessary for the project (tentative program, contacts, funds, potential student’s group etc.) and implementation of the project once possible.
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