What Can PD do for Israelis and Palestinians?

Amid the recent violence that has broken out between Israelis and Palestinians, citizens from both sides of the conflict are seeking new ways to bridge the gap. Headlines this week in PD News showcased how engagement through food, technology, and civilized discourse “might be used to unite people toward a common cause.” An Israeli feminist group is using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to encourage women to put an end to the violence, while a hummus café is offering discounted meals for Arabs and Jews who dine together “to show that ‘we’re all human beings.’” Social media can reach the masses, but are digital platforms the best method of communication about such a volatile topic? From the complications of unofficial spokespeople (i.e. ex-porn star turned Jewish convert Jenna Jameson) to official channels “depicting staggeringly different realities” of events, headlines this week reveal that effective public diplomacy is not just about getting one’s message across, it’s also about listening, dialogue, and people-to-people engagement. 

• Conflict Takes Toll on Israeli and Palestinian Women - DW
• Israel and Palestine: A Dialogue of the Deaf? –CPD Blog
• Israeli Hummus Cafe Gives Jewish-Arab Tables Half Off –Al Jazeera
• Israel's New Public Diplomacy Asset – i24 News
• Young Palestinians Sound Off on Current Unrest, Israeli Occupation –Al Jazeera

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Photo by Hernán Piñera | CC BY-SA 2.0