Internship Opportunity
Peace College at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam

• Is an international experience important for your resume?
• Do you want to learn how conflict is managed at the grassroots level?
• Do you want real-life, practical experience (and not just data entry)?
• Do you want to live in a village where Jews & Palestinians have lived, worked and raised their children together for 30 years?

A new program at the "Oasis of Peace," the Peace College seeks an intern who is ready to help with grant development, outreach & communication materials, website development, project management, research, conference organizing and more.

Qualifications: Fluency & excellent writing skills in English, minimum of 2 years completion of bachelor's degree, experience working with civil service organizations, experience with public relations and/or fundraising techniques, team player, strong inter-personal skills, creativity, curiosity, quick learner, passion for promoting peace, equality & social justice, and self-motivated.

Start date? As soon as possible.

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

SPECIAL WORKSHOP
Experiential Dialogue and Training in Inter-Group Conflicts
January 2012 at University of Massachusetts in Boston

The aim of this workshop was to train students to work as facilitators of groups in conflict using a unique model for facilitation developed at the internationally recognized conflict management programs at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam in Israel. Students experienced the facilitation method by being a student in a facilitated group, learning the theory that drives this method of facilitation and practicing facilitating groups in conflict using the method. While the workshop used the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the primary lens through which students engage with, the theoretical modes of working with groups in conflict can be widely applied so that the students can draw from their own personal experiences and apply what they've learned to other conflicts. The method has been used in conflict spots around the world: Northern Ireland, South Africa, Kosovo and many other places. 

The workshop was taught by Ahmad Hijazi, Director of the School for Peace and the founding Director of the new NSWAS Peace College. It was sponsored by the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security and Global Governance, and the Center For Peace, Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.

The American Friends of NSWAS is working to launch a new Peace College in the "Oasis of Peace" centered in the Fred Segal Friendship Library. The mission of the college is to prepare skilled peace-builders to integrate theoretical models and practical experiences of conflict-reduction and peace-building in regions of conflict. The college will offer research-based, experiential teacher training program in bilingual/binational education and a research-based, experiential graduate (MA/MS) program of conflict reduction and peace building.

To build an academically rigorous institution, the college draws upon a unique critical perspective on inter-group conflict in the context of the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and provides tools and skills for active engagement. The objectives are:

• To prepare cadre of peace builders from and for the full range of socio-political frameworks,
• To explicitly link theory and practice with critical perspective,
• To integrate micro and macro levels of inter-group conflict, and
• To bridge relations between individual, group and community levels.  

The Peace College features both residential courses and an intensive interactive web-based online program for English speaking students from around the world, Israeli citizens and satellite courses offered in the West Bank. Featuring short-term and long-term residencies for students, coursework is designed for mid-career professionals and traditional students. The program  is designed to train reflective professionals through theory and methods, as well as experiential and skill-building programs as follows:

Theory and Content: A multi-disciplinary curriculum drawing from political science, history, social psychology, anthropology, cultural studies, economics, philosophy and sociology.

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods, and project evaluation

Experiential: Experiential courses address issues facing groups in conflict via dialogue on the Jewish-Palestinian conflict.

Skills: practicum on conducting negotiations from comparative perspectives, comparative approaches to understanding conflicts and their resolutions in civil society. On a micro level, acquiring tools to analyze and intervene in conflicts via guided observation and analysis of processes.