Program and Events 2008
PD Jerusalem Encourages US and Palestinian High Schoolers to Build Lasting Relationships
PD Jerusalem’s ACAO for Exchanges accompanied a visiting group of four American high school students as they spent three days in Bethlehem interacting with over 50 Palestinian teenagers from Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. This was the first week of a three-week visit sponsored by ECA and organized by USG grantee Relief International-Schools Online (RISOL), which has several youth centers in the West Bank.
Among other activities, the kids played volleyball and basketball and cooked American and Arabic dishes together. ACAO Alastair Baskey attended all of the events and delivered two speeches to the kids and members of the local community. Speaking in Arabic, he told the audience that “it is through youth exchanges such as these that we can build the relationship of the future between the Palestinian and American people.” The exchange program received positive coverage in an online article by the Ma’an News Agency.