can we live together if we don't work to improve our environment?

At the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (www.arava.org) the students are constantly wondering what is the exact balance between academics and living an experience; between studying academic information about the environment and experiencing living a community made up of "others" in terms of the Middle East conflict. NO one checks their personal identity at the door when they come in. One morning, you sit in class and hear more examples about sustainable development and the difference between the USA legal system and how decisions are made there, versus the governmental methods in Jordan (with a Royal Family and King and yet a democratic governmental system) or in the West Bank of Palestine, where life under Israel occupation and the Palestinian Authority is never simple. Then you walk out of class and sit at lunch with 3 Jordanians, 4 Palestinans, 6 Americans and 5 Israeli Jews, only to find that everyone is aprehensive about how next week's holiday will be. For Palestinians it will be the Nakhba - the catastrophe of 1947-48 and a day of mourning for losses of land and life. Yet for Jews around the world, and especially Israelis, it is a day of celebration for the most amazing miracle of our modern lives - the return of Jews to the homeland and the creation of a modern day state for the Jews. The conversation at the table raises cliches and truths that are immediately challenged by at least one person from a different background. By the end of the meal, tensions are high, and someone asks - so what will we do? The answer - we have to work together on the water resources, air quality, renewable energy and nature conservation so that we can have what to argue over next year at this time! Laughter releases some of the tensions as the group rises to clear their trays in the Kibbutz dining room and head back to the classroom or their dorms. The week or so til the holiday/memorial day will be spent working out how to live together even as this land mark day happens. Personal friendships will stretch people's understanding of truth and need to prove their people right and the students will use every ounce of communication skills they are learning to reconcile the people with whom they love to compost and build mud benches, with the people from a different world and truth of history. One thing is for sure - the future will be shared. Students at the Arava Institute are committed to working together to be part of the solution. By working on shared environmental concerns, students can build the relationships needed to build peace one person at a time.