My name is Francesco, I’m a university student at the University of Florence, in Italy. I’m at the final year of the Bachelor Degree in Economic Development, International Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. I attended the Internship Programme in Human Rights and Refugees.
Overall, my experience was very good and the Palestinian Center helped me a lot in networking, making some good experience regarding my (hopefully) future job and helped me having some basis of arabic language to speak also with people from Hebron and nearby. The personnel at the Palestinian Center was very friendly and professional and available at any time (thank you Manar and thank you Odai!).
During the three weeks of the internship, we attended several meetings and also off-schedule activities, such as a visit to the Food Expo in Hebron, visit to Symposium Culture Club, but also meetings with university professors and many others. Regarding officially scheduled activities, we went to different Refugee Camps (Aida and Fawwar), visited museums, met with human rights activists, volunteers, shops owners and the civic society, even elderly people who told us their experience before and after the occupation.
I didn’t know much about Arabic and Palestinian culture in general, but the impact that I had was incredible. People here are very friendly and open, Hebron is a very young and active city and you can choose among a lot of activities and places to see in the city itself: from coffee shop to restaurants, from archeological sites to the Ibrahimi Mosque and many other things. Lot of people greeted us when they saw we were foreigners and we had a warmly welcome by all the people here (food is very good as well). As a very shy person I can assure you that you won’t struggle to make friends with many people here.
I can understand that the main issue for many is safety. What I can say is that my internship was between the Yom Kippur and the anniversary of the Intifada, a period considered to be risky. I never felt uncomfortable or at risk and both Palestinian people and Israeli soldiers treated us well. Passing through checkpoints and control area is not a problem and we never were harassed or mistreated by the authorities. Also, the presence of the Palestinian Center guide is very helpful in managing all the movements across the areas of Hebron and the other places. It is also good for tourism, with direct transportation to several cities like Betlehem, Jerusalem and many others.
In the end, it was a beautiful period and a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you all should do to better understand the conflict in the area, but also to improve everything you want to improve, from Arabic language (even if you start from zero) to all the activities and persons that you will meet. You will probably arrive here with a curious mood but for sure you will leave willing to come back!
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How to apply or ask for additional information?
To apply to any of our programs: Please send an email to Mr. Tamimi at info@gopalestine.org. Please type the name of the chosen program in the subject line. We will then contact you back!