Ahmad Amara (left) thanks the rest of the staff for the warm birthday wishes, while Huda Abu Arqoub pretends she had nothing to do with the birthday crepe.


The birthday crepe in question was mostly eaten by Gibran Bouayad. He says he considers it his birthday crepe as well since his birthday is two days later.


The rest of the staff reflect on a very successful program.

Adrieh Abu Shchada expresses to everyone that she does not like to say goodbye.


Avi Smolen (left) and Shani Mintz (right) wait in line for their flight from Sarajevo to Belgrade, before connecting to their home cities.


Jennifer Mogannam looks back (I am sure dreading her long flight back to the Bay Area in California) while others wait in line.


Everyone says their last goodbyes.


And the last few hugs are shared.

On the last day of the program participants engaged in a number of activities including one that allowed participants to express their opinions on aspects of the program through body position. Standing with arms up means excellent (and represents a tree), standing with arms tucked in means good (and represents a bush), while those aspects that needed to be improved were indicated by crouching (representing a seed).


Another activity, called "Rose and Thorn" encouraged the group to share their thoughts about one another. Participants presented a rose for something that was appreciated, and a thorn for something that was not appreciated. In this picture, Oren Kroll-Zeldin receives a rose.


After people voiced their feelings to the group, everyone was given the time to write personal messages to each person in the program and to put them in envelopes to be reviewed on the flight home (or once back home).


Envelopes patiently wait to be filled....


while students feverishly write to everyone.


Some of the students take advantage of the luxurious robes from the hotel.


Students take almost 2 hours to fill out the final program evaluation.


While students complete the program evaluation, co-facilitators Ahmad Amara and Amit Perelson put together a slide show for the farewell event later in the evening.


Students getting in last pictures while in Montenegro before the farewell event begins.


Some students like Jennifer Mogannam continue to write personal messages to people before the end of the trip. It seems that 2 hours were not enough!


Erin-Kate Escobar serves as the MC for the farewell event.


The crowd thoroughly appreciates the efforts of those kind enough to entertain the group.


Nida Atshan shows off the award she receives as part of the paper plate award show. She received the award for "Best Cliff Jumper". If only that were true...


Hala Borno (left), Erica Cohn (center) and Lea David (right) present to the audience interpretive modern dance. What it was interpreting, we are all still wondering.


The group shares their last meal together on the trip.


"Can you pass the ketchup please...."


As we all move inside to watch another slideshow, Samar Ahmad (left) Lea David (right) and the floating head of Gibran Bouayad pose for a picture.


As the group waits for the bus that will take us to the airport in Sarajevo, the farewell event continues in full-swing on the front steps of the hotel.


Many of the performances were captured for posterity, and I am sure for future blackmail attempts as well....


Appreciative applause and laughter is showered upon those who take the stage (or in this case, the hotel entrance).


The audience enjoys the performances while waiting for the bus.


Yasmeen Zamamiri performs an encore performance of her song that "pays tribute" to all those who participated this year.

After almost a month of lectures, presentations, discussions and group processes it was surprising to discover the myriad of questions that have yet to be raised. As part of the two day closure process, the whole group got together to touch on some of the comparative issues between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the conflicts in the Balkans. This activity served as a fruitful exercise to demonstrate the similarities and differences between the conflicts and the complexities in each of them. It also came to show that although it may have felt like we have covered the conflicts from every angle, and although the staff made an effort to include traditionally marginalized perspectives, a month was not long enough to be able to dive into gender issues or religious perspectives for instance. It was clear however, that by the end of the month, almost no one stood in the exact same place that they did in the beginning of the trip.

For me, the most interesting part of the closing activities was hearing fellow students begin to question their own indoctrination. I may have not used the word indoctrination at a different time but seeing how strongly people advocated for causes that they were not truly convinced by, assured me that may actually be the right word for how many Jews, Israelis, Muslims and Palestinians are taught about the conflict. This became particularly obvious in questioning the need for and legitimacy of a Jewish democratic state. While some Jews held on closely to the idea of a Jewish state, others recognized the undemocratic and oppressive aspects of such a structure. Discussions like this and other similar ones lead me to question the significance and relevance of religious claims to a land in a geo-political conflict. Is it really acceptable to use the discourse of a 'promised land' in an international arena? To what extent does this discourse exclude secular and different religious groups? Finally, as one staff member asked, do historical or religious rights to a land take preference over demographic rights? This question is not only relevant and important to consider when thinking about Israel and Palestine but also in looking at the emergence of Kosovo as an independent state with an Albanian majority and a Serbian minority.

- Adrieh Abu Shchada

22 days into the program with only a few days remaining, I see a resemblance between the full moon that dominates the night sky and the fullness of our group. Full of new and or reorganized, rearranged and discombobulated understanding, feelings, and thoughts and knowledge. We are slowly taking control of our group processes and struggling to question and “disobey” our facilitators. With a day off to marinate in the Adriatic Sea we both try to make sense of things, continue to get to know one another while taking care of one another while the day gets hotter and the rock jumping gets higher. Today we reside in Montenegro after a bus trip here that took us through several countries in one day. We come to what is called “closure” which is really just being cut loose to continue our fellowship for the year to come. We speak of the changing expectations and experiences we each had. I know that I entered this program with some fears and reservations. Maybe I wasn’t going to be “Jewish enough” whatever that means and this is something I struggle with on many levels as a multi-ethnic/racial person. When you’re a little bit of everything it feels like your not “enough” of any of them. I never found myself feeling that way once I arrived, I found myself embraced by kindness and an authenticity that I rarely encounter.

One of the most powerful puzzle pieces of today was the questing that we took on. While we did not even talk about the questions, we brought up the listing of confusions and unanswered pieces of cross conflict comparisons and analysis. This turned out to be about 5 or 6 pages of questions that ranged from our still fuzzy grasp of what violence and non-violence mean, to breaking down the complexities of balkinization, leadership, nationalism, ethnicity, religion, and philosophy. It was participants and facilitators alike sharing in a conversation of questions.

- Erin-Kate Escobar