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Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 4/25/07 Section: News
With imagination, a hope for peace
'Ambitious' MIT-sponsored contest in search of creative minds to solve Arab-Israeli conflict
Mordechai Treiger
A contest is hoping to find a just solution for just Jerusalem.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently accepting submissions for the Just Jerusalem competition, which aims to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict by focusing on the issues that divide that city.
Five $50,000 fellowships will be awarded in March to the best idea in each of four categories - physical, economic and civic and symbolic infrastructure - and the best overall second-place suggestion. The deadline for proposals is Dec. 31.
The competition seeks suggestions to make Jerusalem "a peaceful, just, humane, livable, sustainable city," said Diane Davis, the director of Jerusalem 2050.
The group, comprised of MIT faculty members, is organizing the competition, which hopes that suggestions for Jerusalem will translate to compromise in the Middle East.
"There's a direct connection between the conflicts in the city… and the wider regional conflict," Davis said.
The contest is specifically targeted toward academic teams of students and faculty, non-governmental organizations, think tanks and "anybody who has a good idea," she said.
"We want to cast a wide net," she added. "I hope we get some students from UPenn."
And it looks like she just may.
Penn Sociology and Management professor William Evan teaches a course called "The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Sociological Analysis," which examines the conflict and proposals for resolution, and he said he plans on encouraging his students to submit their original ideas to MIT.
Evan is full of interesting ideas himself: He suggests that Swiss guards be contracted to protect holy sites throughout the city, and that Jerusalem institute a three-day weekend to accommodate all faiths that consider the city holy.
"I would be happy to submit these ideas to the MIT program," he said.
In the meantime, Just Jerusalem is hoping to go a step further than any academic programs have gone thus far.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently accepting submissions for the Just Jerusalem competition, which aims to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict by focusing on the issues that divide that city.
Five $50,000 fellowships will be awarded in March to the best idea in each of four categories - physical, economic and civic and symbolic infrastructure - and the best overall second-place suggestion. The deadline for proposals is Dec. 31.
The competition seeks suggestions to make Jerusalem "a peaceful, just, humane, livable, sustainable city," said Diane Davis, the director of Jerusalem 2050.
The group, comprised of MIT faculty members, is organizing the competition, which hopes that suggestions for Jerusalem will translate to compromise in the Middle East.
"There's a direct connection between the conflicts in the city… and the wider regional conflict," Davis said.
The contest is specifically targeted toward academic teams of students and faculty, non-governmental organizations, think tanks and "anybody who has a good idea," she said.
"We want to cast a wide net," she added. "I hope we get some students from UPenn."
And it looks like she just may.
Penn Sociology and Management professor William Evan teaches a course called "The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Sociological Analysis," which examines the conflict and proposals for resolution, and he said he plans on encouraging his students to submit their original ideas to MIT.
Evan is full of interesting ideas himself: He suggests that Swiss guards be contracted to protect holy sites throughout the city, and that Jerusalem institute a three-day weekend to accommodate all faiths that consider the city holy.
"I would be happy to submit these ideas to the MIT program," he said.
In the meantime, Just Jerusalem is hoping to go a step further than any academic programs have gone thus far.
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