Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is arguably the most well-documented conflict in the world today. However, the very abundance of information frequently leads to conflicts of information that not only discourage members of the public from take action against the occupation, but often serve to confuse and disempower people, leading them to believe they are unable to make a difference.

It is the Alternative Information Center's (AIC's) belief, however, that though Israel may be winning the 'information war', this victory is as much a disservice to the Israelis as it is to the Palestinians. A true, lasting peace that will create a just solution for both Israelis and Palestinians cannot develop from such partial sources. A crucial part of the conflict is 'knowledge' from which comes understanding, from which can come a solution based on respect for the national, individual and human rights of both Palestinians and Israelis.

In this light, the 'Active Occupation Watch' programme represents one of the AIC's key projects, combining educational and informative programs aimed at encouraging understanding between the two communities, activating both sides to challenge the source of enmity between the communities while building a sustainable Palestinian skills base. The key assumption underlying the Active Occupation Watch is that true coexistence and co-operation between Palestinians and Israelis is possible only if the root cause of the regional conflict is challenged from a basis of mutual understanding and cooperation.

The project objectives are as follows:

- to develop the individual media skills of those disenfranchised within the current socio-political context - specifically Palestinian youth, refugee youth and women;

- to cultivate an expanding and sustainable base of skilled Palestinian media workers;

- to base training on a cross-cultural, cooperative cultivate mutual understanding through utilizing Israeli and Palestinian resources and trainers;