05 April, 2007 - Published 13:02 GMT
Face-to-Face in Jerusalem
Last December Outlook featured a heated discussion between students from Israel and the West Bank and now two of those students have actually met face-to-face.
Boaz from the Charles E Smith High School in Jerusalem and Mazen from the Friends Boys' School in Ramallah had taken part in the original discussion in which the students had been in different studios in their respective cities.
Broadcast on December 6 2006 as part of the 大象传媒 World Service Schoolday24, it transpired that Boaz had never actually met a Palestinian and Mazen had only met one Israeli.
This was despite the fact that their schools were only about ten miles apart.
But it was easy to see why meetings hadn't taken place once Outlook embarked on trying to bring the two students together.
Between Ramallah and Jerusalem lie numerous heavily-guarded security checkpoints and Mazen had to spend eight hours queueing for the required permit to get through them.
Meanwhile, the 大象传媒 had to provide the Israeli authorities with an official letter confirming that Mazen was indeed travelling to Jerusalem to take part in this 大象传媒 Radio programme - only then was he given security clearance for 24 hours.
The face-to-face meeting was much more calm than the first, and this time Boaz and Mazen focussed on the unusual nature of the meeting and what's likely to happen in the future.
Mazen was keen to talk to Boaz about the time that he'd spent at the checkpoints in order for the meeting to take place.
"Are you willing to wait 8 hours to get a permit for 24 hours to visit a city that's supposed to belong to you and to meet someone from the other side?" he asked.
"I think the obvious answer to that is no," said Boaz, "I wouldn't do it. And I understand it's a very hard way to live your life - especially as you honestly believe, and I don't object to that belief, that this city belongs to you and your people."
Mazen welcomed these words but doubted whether there were many in Israel that shared them and pointed out that the conflict had deep roots in the hearts of the people.
But he too was conciliatory towards Boaz.
"I don't see him as an enemy," he told Outlook reporter Joanna Chen, "Maybe his country is our enemies and the army is our enemy, but I see him as a student in a school like me. An Israeli student but a student like me."
Both Mazen and Boaz felt that there should be more meetings between individual students across the Israeli-Palestinian divide.
"I think that what we're doing right now is important," said Boaz, "If more teens spent time and tried to communicate with the teens from the other side, that might help.
"It won't help the whole country but it will help people personally... Even if we don't agree on anything, just the communication might help."
"I agree with that," said Mazen, "Maybe if both sides get a chance to communicate with each other, they will find a solution."
Mazen and Boaz didn't think there was any point in meeting again unless there were changes at political level.
However, they agreed that the route forward was in recognising each other's rights to co-exist.
"I believe that coexisting might be an option," said Boaz, "And I didn't believe that before I walked in this afternoon."
"I do believe that on both sides there are people who are willing to share this land with each other," said Mazen, "I do believe there are other Israelis who are willing to give Palestinians this right to live freely, the same way that they live."
What do you think? Have you taken part in a similar bridge-building exercise? Email us to let us know.
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