MEET Summer 2014

Sights and Sounds from JerusalemMEET aims to educate and empower tomorrow’s most promising Palestinian and Israeli leaders to take action towards creating positive political and social change in

the Middle East.

Year2 students send anti-racism message to their peers, based on their Deeper Understanding sessions and project

A moment of humor during rigorous project work on the final day of Year2

Lean business canvas practice in entrepreneurship class: Minimum Viable Product demo

Teams reflect the diversity of Israeli and Palestinian students from within Israel, East Jerusalem and the West Bank

More about team dynamics

As part of building our network, MEET hosted groups of 10-20 visitors throughout the summer program. Ben Wiener is a venture capitalist focused on Jerusalem-based startups. After his visit to a Year3 computer science lab and a round table discussion with MEET alumni, he commented:

“The part that was unexpected and so interesting was how frontal the program is about forcing dialogue about ‘the big issues’ rather than glossing over it. I mistakenly assumed that the methodology of something like this would be to have kids get to know each other and work on projects in order not to deal with the big issues, or to avoid or bypass them; this is far more interesting and probably more effective. The highlight for me was when I asked the group I was with whether they argued more over politics or over the app they were building and they all laughed and said ‘the app!’ ”

MEET alumni like Yasha (right) were champions this summer, stepping up as Teaching Assistants to MIT Fellow Michele (left), instructors, and more

Mustafa (top), Student Relations Manager, takes a peek at Year2 projects

More about why they MEET

MEET attracts Israelis and Palestinians who might not be otherwise drawn to dialogue or peace-based programs. Natalie, an Israeli Year3 student, first applied to MEET because of the top-notch entrepreneurship and computer science education, not because she would meet Palestinians.

Now, she has become a voice for critical thought among her Israeli classmates in school. “Even though I don't agree with all the opinions of [people at] MEET, whenever there is a political argument with my class, I always make sure to bring up the other side... I want everyone to doubt what they think they know.”

Focus is essential when students are working with world-class curriculum designed by MIT

Two Year3 students make every moment count in the five days before they graduate

Wissam and Noga, Year3 graduates, share personal stories of MEET values like this one at MEET Graduation 2014

More about Wissam

One of the most emotional sessions for students this summer was listening and talking about the hatred they witnessed from both communities during the Gaza war. Since most MEET students chose to friend each other on Facebook, they are in the rare - and difficult - position of seeing comments and videos from the wider Israeli and Palestinian network of their MEET friends. As Wissam, a Palestinian Year3 student shared, “I got hurt from my team members, and my team members got hurt, too, from the Facebook posts.” The fact that they had a final project to complete propelled them to communicate and ultimately reach a greater understanding.

Wissam had faced criticism from his friends about coming back to MEET. After this summer, he found new resolve in why it was important to work together with Israelis to make a change in the region. He encouraged his younger brother to apply to MEET, and shared his experience in front of 300 Israelis and Palestinians at graduation: “Whoever is going to face me in the future and ask me about MEET, I am just going to say my story.”

EXPOSE is a Year3 graduate project tackling media bias by providing bi-national news features

The video of EXPOSE presented at graduation: a website built on people’s opinions, which shows two articles about the same event from two different

perspectives (Israeli and Palestinian), and gives people a stage to debate

More about media bias

Media bias was a prominent theme in students' discussions and projects. Yarden, an Israeli Year3 graduate, did not stop at changing her own behavior with media. "First, when we were talking about the events this summer it was very hard. But here I've learned to listen to the other one, I've learned to appreciate the other approach. When I talked about the situation here at MEET with my Palestinian friends I realized that we have different facts of it. They are following the Palestinian media and I'm following the Israeli media. Then I started to follow also the Palestinian media. I discussed this at home with my parents and now they are also watching the Palestinian media, something that never had occurred to their minds before."

AidMe, Year3 graduate project, is a GPS based app that connects first aid givers with people who need emergency aid

NoBS, Year3 graduate project, is a website in which information on current events is presented solely through videos uploaded by eye witnesses

Friends for Tour, Year3 graduate project, is an app where people who fit certain standards from Israel and Palestine can volunteer to guide tourists on

a one day-local life experience

More about bi-national relationships

Costas is a tall Palestinian student who graduated this August from MEET. He was nervous to be one of the six students who shared his story at graduation as he did not think of himself as a public speaker. Before he came to MEET, the only way he knew Israelis “was from checkpoints, as soldiers.” He spoke about an important moment from this summer:

“My Israeli friend at MEET, Aviv, talked about his cousin who lives near Gaza, and is five years old, who has to go to the shelter and has to have a psychiatrist to deal with the situation. But what he said after was he was truly sorry that the children of Gaza do not have sirens, shelters or psychiatrists. I knew that I had to talk with Aviv after the session. We did not solve the conflict, what we did is that we reached an understanding. And that inspired a lot of hope in me.”

Unforgettable graduation speech by Angelina and Yarden on behalf of the entire bi-national class

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