Coffee and dessert

Roladin Bakery & Cafe

Bauhaus Buildings of Tel Aviv

Today marked the group's second visit to Tel Aviv since arriving in Israel, but this time our interactions were focused more on the business area of this large city. Many of the buildings here are white and constructed in a very modern style. Our professor, Dr. Ziv, explained that these houses, referred to as Bauhaus style buildings, were built by German Jewish immigrants in the 1930's who came to Israel after the rise of the Nazis.

The Bauhaus buildings adapted the modern trends in architecture at the time with the cultural and climactic conditions of Tel Aviv. These buildings tend to incorporate narrow windows for cooling and air flow and tend to be built on pillars to promote cooling, but also to provide areas for children to play. Additionally, several trees and plants are planted in the yard to provide shade, but also to symbolize the community's "roots" in the country. 

Tel Aviv has the largest concentration of these buildings than any other city and has thus been deemed a world cultural heritage site. Below are some examples of these buildings:

Haaretz EIC: Israelis Don't Care About the Palestinian Conflict

I think the group would agree that this seminar has proven invaluable in terms of learning about the complexities of Israel's history, the challenges it faces in terms of domestic and foreign policy, and the tribal nature of the country that make it unique from almost any other place.  Today we met with Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of Haaretz, the world's leading English-language newspaper for Israeli and Middle East analysis.  

Benn graciously took time out of his busy schedule to discuss a number of topics with the group -- from the makeup of Israel's domestic politics to the situation with Iran and U.S.-Israeli relations. One thing that we found particularly interesting was Benn's statement that the Israeli people, particularly those living in Tel Aviv, don't care about the Palestinian conflict anymore.  Benn attributed this to the relative calm that Israelis have experienced following the end of the second intifada in 2005 as well as the decrease in suicide terrorist bombings and lack of external pressure for peace.  According to Benn, Israelis are more concerned with the West, especially the United States, and the relationship between the two countries.  In terms of domestic politics, the main topics on people's minds focus mainly on social issues such as the dramatic flux of African refugees into Israel and the "problems of the rich," such as the rising cost of living.  Israel's economy barely skipped a beat during the global economic recession and unemployment hovers at 6.7%.  

What will make Israelis return to the peace process - a third intifada?  According to many Israeli political experts we've met with to date, a third intifada is not only inevitable but can be expected sooner rather than later.  In the meantime, as Benn mentioned, Israelis will continue to capitalize on the convenience of the status quo to focus on other issues.  

Highlights from our weekend trip to Haifa and Northern Israel

Ba'hai Gardens and Shrine, Haifa

Tea time with a Druze community near Haifa.

Church of the Annunciation, Nazareth

AU Group checks out Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee

Which way to Jerusalem?

Visiting a Golan Heights bunker used in the 1967 and Yom Kippur Wars

Views of Syria from the Golan Heights

Intersection of Israeli, Syrian and Jordanian borders

The Israeli/Israeli Conflict

The last few days have been busy!  We have filled our time with excursions to the religious/political sites in Jerusalem.  In the picture above, Ann and I touch the stone on which Jesus' body was prepared for burial.  I am not a religious person, yet when stuffed into the church of the Holy Sepulcher with hundreds of passionate pilgrims; when standing at the Western Wall with the Orthodox Jews; and when wandering on the Temple Mount among Muslims, you can feel how passionate these very different groups of people are about their religious places in Jerusalem.  I feel that coming to Israel is the only way I could have truly felt this passion, which has fueled so much conflict.

Furthermore, we have witnessed first hand the “Israeli/Israeli conflict,” as our multiple tour guides and experts with whom we have met have all had very different opinions on the political situation in Israel.  This was most apparent during our morning tour with Ben from Ir Amim, a very left wing organization.  Our usual tour guide Avi was so opposed to some of Ben's comments he interjected often.  Through this exchange we were able to see the type of debate that takes place among Israelis themselves.  This debate has contributed, no doubt, to the Israel/Palestinian stalmate of today.  Both Ben and Avi agreed, the support of the international community will be needed to help Israelis overcome their differences and reach a solution with Palestine, and both agreed that this help cannot come soon enough.

- Clare Gallaher

This is a photo from the creatively named "Warren's Shaft" in the City of David, which is a community south of the old city of Jerusalem. What is interesting about the City of David is it is actually biblical Jerusalem, with the Temple Mount to its North. Warren's Shaft acted as a new water passage for Jerusalem in order to protect the local water supply from being poisoned by invaders.

The tunnel was narrow and filled with water that at some points reached below our waists. It's obviously not in use anymore, but it was a lot of fun walking through. Most importantly, the history that came along with the excursion to the City of David gave us a good background in understanding the geographical and historical significance of Jerusalem that is relevant even today.

Entry from Tracey Livingston

The seminar has been a great experience so far. I’ll do my best to summarize a few key points I picked up. The tour of Jaffa during the beginning of the seminar provided an informative foundation and historical summary to the land that Israel sits on. Our tour guide Avi went through a brief 4,000 year history and explored the varying empires that ruled over time. After the overview we toured important sites in Jaffa and made our way to adjacent neighborhoods for further historical context.

The meeting at the US embassy with David Berns was a way for our group to hear about US-Israeli relations and a chance to ask questions around our paper topics. Lucky for us we had a chance to meet and shake hands with Ambassador Shapiro as well. The Ambassador wished us the best in our stay in Israel and hoped that one of us will find the final solution to the conflict (we were asked to contact him if we did).

We arrived in Jerusalem on Monday and hit the ground running. Our morning lecture on Tuesday with Daniel Siedemann was extremely informative and wonderfully candid. Mr. Siedemann has a strong background in US-Israeli relations, works closely with the US government and various bureaus, and is an expert background on the city of Jerusalem. The following is a paraphrase of one of the points he mentioned regarding a two-state solution to the conflict: Palestinians want to push Israel to the sea; Israeli’s want to push Palestinians to Jordan. Unfortunately, these options aren’t available at the moment so we will try for a two-state solution.

Thursday we had a full day of lectures, history, and site seeing with Ben from an Israeli organization Ir Amim. If I had to describe the day in one sentence I would say, “I witnessed a small glimpse of the Israeli-Israeli conflict.” What I mean by this is that our tour guide, Avi, and Ben, from Ir Amim have two very important but also very different perspectives on the arab-Israeli conflict. Ben spoke from a more left-wing political perspective and Avi spoke from a more centrist-right perspective. Both individuals went back and forth between each other in front of the group which provided me with a better understanding of the politics within Israel, hence the “Israel-Israeli conflict”. From my personal point of view, witnessing this take place was exactly what I expected the seminar to provide and I’m glad that this happened early on so I can take all of the information, facts, and perspectives with me as our group continues learning. 

Walking the Ramparts in Old Jerusalem

At the security wall near Abu Dis