Excursion to the Middle East

While most students were working, traveling, or sleeping, eleven Tufts students did something different with their winter break. The group, along with students from UMass-Amherest and Boston College, traveled to Israel and the West Bank for ten days in order to learn more about the conflict in the Middle East.

The students involved are members of New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP). The group is a student "think-tank" and cultural outreach initiative, and their objective is to study the Middle East in a "progressive" way.

"Traveling to any place is important, especially in an area of conflict," junior Rachel Brandenburg said. "You can read countless pages about the situation, but the only way to begin to truly understand what it's all about is to speak with people from multiple walks of life on all sides and spend some time in their societies."

Though it was a difficult process, the University ultimately gave NIMEP their support "No other university [has allowed] students to go to Israel and the West Bank and receive this much support," junior Matan Chorev said.

Before leaving for the Middle East, the group had to assemble an itinerary, raise appropriate funds, and receive permission from Tufts. But despite the extensive preparation participants all agree that the trip was well worth it.

.During their time in the Middle East, the group met with experts, practitioners, and students from Israel and the West Bank, and visited many important places and sites. As well, the delegation participated in a two-day international symposium of academics aimed at finding a just solution to the conflict.

"Being there, seeing a refugee camp, an Israeli settlement, the security Wall, and sites of recent suicide attacks with my own eyes, I gained a new appreciation for the complexity of the conflict," sophomore Negar Razavi said."

Bir-Zeit University, an institution that is often described as a "hotbed of terrorist activity," also invited the students for a visit. During this meeting the students had an unprecedented opportunity to discuss internal Palestinian politics in a very frank manner.

"I definitely learned a lot more about the Middle East conflict by [going there]. I now have a greater appreciation for the complexities of the conflict, and look at it the situation much more critically," Fenn said. "The actual experience was much more enriching than simply learning about the conflict from reading the news."

Most shocking for many was their final day at the West Bank, when the students visited Yasir Arafat's compound in Ramallah. The students also received an invitation to meet with Arafat, but the group declined due to concerns that the students would be "used in ways that would make the University and founders uncomfortable."

According to NIMEP, the ultimate goal of the trip was to gain a better understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- something that the students feel they achieved. "I think traveling to any place, speaking to people who live there can give you a better understanding of a place and its culture," Brandenburg said.

"I'd do it again, even if there was five times as much work to be done," junior Lauren Fein said. "When I was meeting with the mayor in Hebron, meeting members of unrecognized Arab communities, or in Haifa spending New Years with university students in an Arab- Jewish dialogue group, all the pre-trip hassles seemed pretty trivial."

Since the NIMEP trip came to a close, they have been working hard to impart everything they learned while on the trip to the Tufts' community. The group took some 2000 photographs and taped 30 hours of video, which will come together in a documentary that will debut at this year's EPIIC Symposium.

Along with Elinevsky, Michael Fischer, an MIT professor, anthropologist, and expert in Middle Eastern issues, also went on the trip.

NIMEP is a young group, initially started by five Tufts students in Feb. 2003.

"We all shared frustrations with the tone of debate nationwide and in the media." Chorev said. These five students, like the current members of the group, were from diverse backgrounds and held different opinions regarding the conflict in the Middle East.

Today, the members of NIMEP include people from a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds including Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Lebanese/Palestinian, Iranian, Russian, and Israeli.

"NIMEP has a different outlook, and a comprehensive vision of how one should study conflict," Chorev said.

The idea for the trip to the West Bank materialized a year ago, following a meeting with two important Middle Eastern officials, Ami Ayalon and Sari Nusseibeh, the former head of the Israeli secret agency and the President of Al-Quds University. The duo emphasized that the group must travel to the region if they wanted to "better understand the complexities of the conflict."

But most importantly for NIMEP, was that the Institute for Global Leadership was very supportive of their endeavors. The Directors of the Institute, Sherman Teichman and Heather Barry, were extremely instrumental in the realization of this trip.

"This initiative could not have materialized without the support and nurturing of the Institute for Global Leadership," Chorev, a member of NIMEP and a participant in the trip, said. "Sherman Teichman and Heather Barry have facilitated our work and encouraged us to follow our imagination."

When the NIMEP group members commenced their meetings last semester, they were very secretive, hoping to establish themselves before going public. But now that their trip was "a success", they want to share their knowledge and experiences with the Tufts community.

"At the risk of sounding cliche, I would like to say that I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to be part of such a trip and to experience it with such intelligent, amazing individuals," Razavi said.