Interning at Holy Land Trust has given us both an opportunity to hone new skills in research and data collection.  It also gave us an insight into the conflict we never had before thanks to the more in-depth analysis we were able to make through our research on the East Bethlehem village of Jannatah.   Neither of us had ever worked with an NGO before and we were not sure of what to expect upon arrival.   Coming from the United States we each had to adjust to the pace and structure of the working environment.  The large amount of interns that Holy Land Trust brings in during the summer makes it a hectic working environment at times and we relied a great deal upon our own senses of self-motivation and time management.  However, once we were pointed in the right direction and given a research subject, we gained a greater sense of purpose and initiative.

As two students coming from an academic standpoint, we were fortunate to be able to research Jannatah.  The area is a municipality of small Palestinian villages that span over areas A, B, and C, that can serve as an effective microcosm of the conflict.  All of the issues in question here fall under some of the greater questions of the conflict, such as water, land confiscation and borders, settlements, infrastructure, economy and education.  It also gave us the opportunity to tap into a more personal side of the conflict and have a window into the lives of some people who have been affected by it.  In order to write the report we had to make connections with people working at Holy Land Trust as well as members of the community around Bethlehem.  The willingness to assist in our project on the part of community members made the research process much easier and gave us a more vested interest in the area we were studying.  At the beginning, we saw our work assignment as something more academic.  However, through interviewing and meeting with members of Jannatah and the Bethlehem communities, we were able to see the practical dilemmas that Palestinians face in everyday life.  To students coming from the states, things pertaining to the conflict fall more along the vein of protests, UN resolutions and showdowns in the Knesset.  However, people often just want to have access to equal opportunities and to live their lives unfettered.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Holy Land Trust for providing us with this opportunity and the support to carry on with this project.  Our experiences here helped to paint a new picture of the conflict in a new and more profound way.  We were not pushed to pursue the interests of one side over the other here, and were given the license to develop our own understanding of the issues.  Holy Land Trust provided us with the basic necessities to start our work and we developed them into a meaningful report.  We are thankful for our time with this organization and look forward to keeping these connections for years to come.