Israeli and Emirati youth conduct first direct dialogue

Since Israel’s establishment in 1948, it has endured hostility and isolation from most of its neighbors and the region.

By EYAL BIRAM
DURING THE meeting, questions were exchanged, thoughts and aspirations were shared and smiles expressed the hopeful wishes of 16 young adults who were creating history together. (photo credit: Courtesy)
DURING THE meeting, questions were exchanged, thoughts and aspirations were shared and smiles expressed the hopeful wishes of 16 young adults who were creating history together.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Possibilities that until a little over a week ago were a distant dream are now suddenly a reality and just a click away. This past Thursday, eight young Israelis and eight young Emiratis took their first steps on the newly-built bridge between their countries created with the announcement of the peace deal between Israel and the UAE.
Since Israel’s establishment in 1948, it has endured hostility and isolation from most of its neighbors and the region. And while peace deals were signed with Egypt and Jordan decades ago, it is important to remember the Middle East is a complex neighborhood with many internal struggles, and any interaction that included Israel has experienced much backlash.
With all of this in the back of our minds, we met with young adults eager and curious to meet one another as we saw an opportunity we were not willing to pass by. As the CEO and founder of ISRAEL-is, a Tel Aviv based NGO dedicated to improving upon Israel’s image, we dreamed to be the first to initiate and conduct a direct person to person dialogue. It was a week until this dream-like encounter materialized into a two-hour online meeting.
Looking back, I recall meeting people with a spark in their eye and a true desire to meet and converse with one another. A smile comes to my face as I remember my new Emirati friend Rashed, who shared that he saw a social media post from a local Emirati that it is only a 24-hour long road trip from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv and that he is waiting for the day we will meet face to face. Throughout this meeting questions were exchanged, thoughts and aspirations were shared and smiles expressed the hopeful wishes of 16 young adults who were creating history together.
This was not the first time the ISRAEL-is NGO conducted impactful conversations between Israelis and their peers from around the world. After celebrating three years this past month, ISRAEL-is reflected on its mission and vision as well as its activities and achievements. ISRAEL-is has trained 35,000 young Israelis with the mindset and skills set to share their Israel story and ran eight field embassies in travel hot-spots through which we have impacted 230,000 young adults. With the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, we built upon our previous success and created a hub for Israeli COVID-19 solutions that showcased Israeli solutions for the social consequences of the pandemic. All this strengthened our belief, drive, and ability to create platforms to connect people and share their personal story.
Participants of this momentous occasion left the conversation with newfound hope for a better future. And with the future in the hands of dreamers and doers, such as these Israelis and Emiratis, we can see that future is bright.  
The writer is ISRAEL-is founder and CEO.


Related Tags
youth
Dialogue