by JOEL GREENBERG
JERUSALEM – Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians may be deadlocked, but an online community of young Israelis and Arabs from across the Middle East is hoping for better results in the virtual world.
On Monday and Tuesday the group, using Facebook, is hosting a virtual peace and economic cooperation conference seeking to transcend borders by sharing ideas on the Internet.
Initiated by the Peres Center for Peace, an Israeli institution, and Palestinian partners, the YaLa Young Leaders Facebook page has attracted more than 40,000 supporters since it was launched last summer. Participants in the online conversations have included Egyptians, Palestinians, Israelis, as well as people from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria. Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, according to organizers.
The conference agenda includes guidelines for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposals for online projects, including technological incubators, gaming development and music studios, as well as a planned Young Leaders Academy with Internet courses in such fields as government, economics and business.
The Facebook site was the brainchild of Uri Savir, a former chief Israeli peace negotiator who is president of the Peres Center. “If we leave peace to the current leaderships, we will go nowhere,” he said. “We have to give an opportunity to a much younger generation on social networks. I want to translate Tahrir Square, the social process (of the Arab Spring) into a peace process.”
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