A Wellspring in the Desert: Exploring a new model for intercultural peacebuilding in Israel-Palestine

This research delves into a new model for P2P peacebuilding introduced by the non-profit Ma'ayan Bamidbar, "A Wellspring in the Desert". Ma'ayan Bamidbar aims to build inter cultural connections between Palestinian and Jewish university students by facilitating semester or year-long, one-on-one language learning partnerships. Using data from semi-structured interviews with Jewish program alumni and coordinators I hypothesize that Ma'ayan Bamidbar's particular structure for individual personal engagement, centered on language and learning, generates empathy in Jewish participants for their Palestinian peers. The impact of participating continues post participation as the program is integrated into the student's daily lives. Through personal relationships, Ma'ayan Bamidbar constructs a collective identity between university students focused on a belief in humanity and shared society. This collective identity is central to the national movement for shared society making Ma'ayan Bamidbar an effective catalyst for activism and social change.