This Summer, we decided to hold back on our plans for an international Summer Camp involving students from all geographical areas of the project. It was considered appropriate that we instead spend some time to reflect with our Israeli and Palestinian participant teachers and Coordinators on some fundamental issues, both pedagogical and strategic, and to confirm whether we could plan ahead upon agreed working principles.

It was agreed by us all that it would be best to arrange for joint meetings with the assistance of a neutral facilitator. We decided to meet in Amman,Jordan, as time and the obvious situational constraints would have made meeting in Israel or Palestine very difficult to arrange. It was also considered essential that the neutral facilitator meet with both groups and selected students "on the ground" in order to establish the pre-requisite insights into the needs, concerns and aspirations of all concerned, as well as to gain a more contextual knowledge of the environment.

We were very fortunate to be provided with some expert facilitation from two highly esteemed academics, Dr. David Tombs and Prof.Joseph Liechty, both of whom have extensive experience in working on sectarian issues with a range of organisations and relevant bodies in Northern Ireland. Dr. Tombs is Programme Coordinator of the M.Phil course in Reconciliation at the Irish School Of Ecumenics (affiliated to Trinity College Dublin) in Belfast. Prof. Liechty is Associate Professor of Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, USA.

It was also essential to ensure representation from among our participant teachers in Ireland and Northern Ireland. We were delighted therefore to be able to count on Mr. Gary White whose participation was all the more valuable due to the fact that he had already participated in the teachers' trip to Israel and Palestine in February 2008.

In accordance with our plans, Dr. Tombs and Prof. Liechty carried out the necessary preparatory consultations on the basis of a SWOT analysis in separate meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian teachers and selected past-participant students.

Having consulted with our Israeli and Palestinian Coordinators, we therefore agreed on the following key priorities for joint sessions, held subsequently in Amman

i) How we (SAB staff, teachers in Ireland and N. Ireland, Israeli and Palestinian teachers, Israeli and Palestinian students) may deal with contentious issues when we work with the Israeli and Palestinian student groups

ii) How or if we can take it to the next level so as to focus on what all young people can share and aspire to: through focus on Northern Ireland and peace-building and/or spreading it out to universal values and rights?

iii) To what extent we can create a common platform: can we agree on some or all of the following: common principles of good practice for a working relationship, shared vision and mission, shared aims and objectives?

We are glad to announce that these joint sessions proved extremely fruitful. We were able to fulfill all aspects of the joint sessions, although everyone agreed we could have had more time together.

We have now established the bases for an improved pedagogical programme that will involve sharing resources and developing new methodologies to ensure greater awareness and understanding of sensitive issues and how we talk about and deal with them.

The Israeli and Palestinian students will therefore become more aware of each other's opinions and feelings and of each other's identities, realities, issues and aspirations.

Dr. Tombs and Prof. Liechty shall provide us with recommendations for workshops on dealing with controversial issues that we can integrate into our school programmes.

We shall also provide our participant Irish and Northern Irish teachers and students with a new improved schools programme.

Finally, we shall be able to provide direct communication between our participant Israeli and Palestinian teachers and Coordinators.

We would like to sincerely thank everyone involved in these Summer Sessions. We feel very humbled by the amount of time, goodwill and commitment that everyone gave. It was a very full experience and one that surely will pave the way for future encounters. We won't put up any photos of these experiences because not everyone understands what we are doing. We know our limits and respect the contexts.

Nobody knows how events can turn in the Middle East. We see a lot of people who are tired and confused about the future. The teenagers on the project reflect those feelings too, but they strive to keep the hope alive in their own individual ways. A little bit of humanity goes a long way and that extra bit of humanity we all shared makes us believe again in the possible.