Hearing two sides of a story brings a softening

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The vast majority of the
students it is the first time

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that they have met
someone Israeli

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and or someone Palestinian.

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So for them it's definitely
a transforming experience.

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And one of the main
reasons for this is because

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all of us of course over here
mainly see information about

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the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict in the news

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in the media and on social media.

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And that's inevitably limiting

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and pretty much every
media outlet

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whether it's mainstream or social
media has some kind of opinions.

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It has some kind of bias.

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In social media people tend
to be in this echo chamber

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on Twitter or whatever where

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or on Facebook where they have
their friends who agree with what

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they already think
or posting the same information

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which reinforces what
they were already thinking.

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So you've got that element.

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And then you've got
the mainstream media

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who depending on if they're
left wing or right wing

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and this is what I mean by

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people making this issue not necessarily
really about Israel Palestine

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but about their own worldview

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whether it be left wing
or right wing or whatever.

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So you see the mainstream media

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pushing more of a left wing
approach or right wing approach

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using this issue as a badge of like

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a credential for their
political positioning.

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And this is the prism that
all these young people see

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the issue through.

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So then they meet ordinary people

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who talk about their
childhoods and talk about

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growing up just like them but
obviously with some differences

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that need to be addressed for
the future in terms of the conflict.

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And the other it's just a whole
new experience for them.

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What we tend to see is that
if people come in

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supporting one side against the other

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thinking basically there's
one side that's got to win,

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the other side should lose,
one side's right, one side's wrong,

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they tend to come out of the
session questioning that idea.

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They see it more,
there's a humanizing element

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to the session which helps them
to see it more as ordinary people

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not just armies and governments.

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But we've had a lot on our
feedback forms we use,

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we have a lot of response
from students saying you know

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I'm still more pro this

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but I'm where I've heard
the other side now.

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I'm willing to listen to the other
side, that kind of softening attitude.