I was able to travel to Israel and the Palestine Authority with the Hillel Center. This was a 10-day journey where I was able to visit different parts of Israel and the Palestine Authority to better understand the conflict going on. Different destinations included Ramallah, the capital of Palestine, the Old City of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. On top of being able to travel to different cities, students were able to talk to people affected by the conflict and understand their experiences. In the end, students had a better general understanding of the conflict and the connections to learn more.

I was surprised to see so much discrimination due to religion in the State of Israel. While some of it makes sense, due to the suicide bombings during the early 2000s, it seems that the majority of the discrimination is doing more damage to the Palestine community and Israel’s relationship to Palestine.

After this activity, I plan to do further research on the Save a Child’s Heart organization in Tel Aviv. A few people from the trip, along with myself, are interested in hosting a fundraiser for them on the Syracuse University campus.