Students Use Technology to Embark on Roadmap to Middle East Peace Project Middle East Peace Project
Students visit the U.S. State Department and eagerly listen to Kurt Medland of the Office of Israel-Palestinian Affairs |
The Mason West Group, made up of ten talented high school students from Birmingham, Alabama, visited the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) on April 10 to present their peace plan project and get feedback from Kurt Medland of the State Department’s Office of Israel-Palestinian Affairs. The students presented the history, current conditions, and major issues of the conflict. During their Washington D.C. visit they met with officials at the Israeli Embassy and the PLO Mission. The students were specially selected to travel to Washington, D.C. as part of their leadership development program at their high school. As part of their foreign policy component, they decided to tackle the Middle East crisis and come up with a realistic peace plan.
Throughout the year the students will be communicating with Israeli teens in Tel Aviv and Palestinians in Ramallah through the ECA-funded Global Connections and Exchange programs, which are implemented by Relief International-Schools Online in the West Bank and iEARN in Israel. Students will collaborate with the Middle East students both online and through digital video conferences. They will use a common platform for serious discussions while also using Facebook for social interaction. The Birmingham students will return to Washington D.C., possibly with Israeli and Palestinian teen partners, in April 2009 to present their results.