Can sports increase dialogue and cultural understanding between people around the world? The U.S. State Department believes so — and has tapped Salisbury University’s Dr. Dean Ravizza to assist. Recently, for a 10-day Israeli/Palestinian basketball program, the Princess Anne resident designed a series of lectures and activities emphasizing concepts such as negotiation, teamwork and group dynamics.

Award-winning political thriller Oslo opens in London next week, charting the machinations of Norwegian diplomats striving for Middle East peace. [...] Oslo – for which Rogers is now writing a screenplay, as it is to become a feature film – tells the almost-forgotten story of the early 1990s back channel discussions between Israelis and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which took place inside a castle tucked away in a forest, located outside the Norwegian capital.

Dabeet, who serves on Sister Cities International — an organization dedicated to promoting citizen diplomacy among nations — wants to build “bridges of peace and understanding among nations.” He is particularly interested in building some bridges between the United States and his native Palestine and serves on Sister Cities International in a capacity that allows him to do exactly that.

When Shadi Shiha arrived at the Israeli-Jordanian border and saw the armed Israeli soldiers and the Israeli flag, he almost turned around and went home. [...] That was almost a year ago. Shiha, who is also a serious break-dancer, spent two semesters at the Arava Institute at Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel and he says it changed his world view.

Constraints notwithstanding, a group of 10 Palestinian officials attended a weeklong workshop on “Communication Skills & Media Relations for Diplomacy” this week in Turin, Italy to craft skills for engaging with all manner of media.

This weekend, 8th and 9th July, the Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) Centre in Central London will play host to Palestine Expo, a huge celebration of Palestinian heritage and culture. [...] They have billed the expo as the "biggest social, cultural and entertainment event on Palestine in Europe… a platform to further justice and peace in Palestine."