An experiment in peace: Reconciliation-aimed workshops of Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian youth

The goal of the present study is to examine workshops of Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian youth conducted in the post-Oslo era with the aim of promoting reconciliation and peacebuilding between the sides. The workshops were org anized by an Israeli-Palestinian organization, in the framework of a peace education project. In these workshops, youth from pairs of Israeli and Pale stinian high schools met for two days to discuss social, cultural and polit ical topics. Each workshop included approximately 20 youths from each side that were led jointly by a Jewish-Israeli and a Palestinian group facilitat or. The study examines four facets of these dialogue events, using both qua ntitative and qualitative research methods: (1) structure of activities and practices of transformative dialogue used in the encounter events; (2) att itudes and mutual stereotypes held by youth from both sides prior to the be ginning of the workshops; (3) mutual perceptions and altitudes expressed by participants during the encounter; (4) effects of participation in the wor kshops on stereotypes held by the Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian youth (pre -post comparisons).