Until November 25, they are researching stories in bi-national teams. In December, these stories will be printed in the German weekly newspaper “Rheinischer Merkur” and in a magazine published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Ramallah.

Especially for the Israeli and Palestinian journalists, this workshop constitutes a rare opportunity to meet young colleagues from “the other side”, to exchange views and thus to improve their knowledge about the life of their colleagues. The German participants are scholarship holders or young alumni of the KAS JONA journalist program.

In the first part of the workshop, the participants heard lectures and discussed with representatives about the different perspectives on the conflict in the Middle East, the Palestinian and Israeli media landscape and the work of journalists in the region. They met the speaker of the Israeli foreign ministry, an Israeli pollster, and a representative of the Negotiations Support Unit of the PLO. Furthermore, they met with the mayor of the Palestinian village of Taybeh and with a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Several meetings with local and international journalists and a visit to the Jerusalem office of AP enabled the participants to gain an insight into the work of a journalist in the region.