Bridges not Boycotts: On the Record

I am writing this blog post in the hours running up to a trip to Israel and Palestine! I applied for the trip ‘Bridges not Boycotts: on the record’ on the last day of semester one, and luckily I was accepted. The theme of the trip is journalism, and as an aspiring journalist who writes for the Arts section of our student newspaper, The Mancunion, I was enthralled by the opportunity to meet journalists in both Palestine and Israel, as was advertised by the trip.

Despite being organised by the Union of Jewish Students, the trip did not require a specific religious or political stance in the application process. I, myself, am non-religious, and my stance regarding the Israel-Palestine Conflict is as follows: having not studied the conflict in depth I am not qualified to fully commit to either side, in my opinion. I do, however, have sympathy for both stances, both pro and anti Israel, but do feel discomfort at the thought of Palestinians being displaced from their home to make way for Israel. At the end of the day, I am not a believer in the idea that Jews have any more of a right to the area that is now Israel than the Palestinians who had lived there for Centuries. The movement ‘Bridges not Boycotts’ is a response to the BDS movement, which seeks to boycott Israel. It encourages the fostering of diplomacy and discussion between both sides, so to reach a peaceful agreement, as opposed to the hard stance of BDS. This is something that I believe in, as the Israel-Palestine conflict is not as black and white as the South African Apartheid, so I do not believe that boycotting is an effective strategy. The conflict exists thus we must encourage peaceful diplomacy: a process I have faith in as a student who partakes in Model United Nations and debating.

I am going on this trip so to further my understanding of the conflict, and help shape my opinion. The itinerary promises that we shall be meeting prominent journalistic and political figures on both sides of the conflict, thus I hope that my experience shall be balanced. Below is the list of people that we shall be meeting:

• Monjed Jadou, General Manager of Palestinian News Network

• Dr. Safa Nasser Eldin, former Minister of IT

• Walled Off Hotel by Banksy

• Old City of Jerusalem (Western Wall, Al Aqsa Mosque, Church of the Holy Sepulchre)

• Church of the Nativity

• Basher Masri, founder of Rawabi

• Dr Khalil Shikaki, director of Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research

• Ilil Shachar, senior editor of Israeli radio station 'Galei Zahal'

• Samah Salaime, journalist from shared society town, Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam

• Oded Revivi, Mayor of Efrat & YESHA council

• Yair Zivan, former spokesperson for Shimon Peres

• Tour of Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv

• David Quarry, British Ambassador to Israel

Keynotes include:

• Janet Mikhail, former mayor of Ramallah, first female mayor in Palestine

• Josef Federman, bureau chief of AP

• Lt. Col. Jonathan Concricus, IDF Spokesperson to Foreign Media

The line up seems diverse and extremely interesting so I cannot wait to benefit from this opportunity which is vastly subsidised by the UK Government Department of Communities!