The first HKS Israel-Palestine was a blast.
I knew it was going to be exciting, but the trip actually exceeded my expectations.
If 7 days of getting up at 6:30am, having a jam packed schedule with high ranking people from all political orientations, running from one appointment to the next - usually too late- and non stop socializing with KSG students from 20+ countries sounds like fun to you, then you would have enjoyed it, too.
We've seen a green and lush Golan Heights and a barren Negev desert, met Israeli peaceniks and Air Force commanders, talked with thoughtful Palestinian Harvard alums and listened to fiercely polarized speeches. We sat in an Israeli F-16 fighter plane and watched Palestinian mechanics repair our bus tyre with ancient looking tools (it worked). We've seen the holocaust museum and covered ourselves in mud before diving into the dead sea. Saed Atshan (MPP) opened the Westbank for us and gave us insights into the less pleasant side of Middle Eastern Politics.
We've seen a wall twice the size of the old Berlin wall and heard good reasons for its existence one day and good reasons for its demolishment the next.
Above all, we've had the best guides one could ask for: Naomi, Uri and Yehuda (all MPPs) who patiently answered all our questions and always resisted the temptation of showing us a positively biased side of their country. Instead, they "respected our intelligence" as Scott put it and exposed us to the full scope of the Israeli and Palestine political landscape and allowed us to draw our own conclusions.
Imagine a twenty year old bus full of sleep deprived and over caffeinated KSG students heatedly arguing as if their lives depended on it while bumping down a potholed Palestine road, running late again with a barely fixed rear tyre, and you get the idea of this trip.
Check it out.
