All posts in JITLI Stories

“When we were at the photography museum, and they asked us to make a picture, at first the Sha’ar Hanegev group went to one table. Chen told us to mix and so everyone left and I stayed by myself. I started making stuff and thinking about what I was going to do. Then Maher came and, without saying anything, started…

My name is Yam and I was in JITLI 2011 in the Sha’ar HaNegev group.

I want to tell you about an experience I’ve had during the trip.
In one of the first days I was a part of an activity in which kids from both JITLI and JITLI-peacemakers where a part of. We were divided in to mixed pairs (Jews and…

Hi my name is Yuval, from Shaar HaNegev and I was a participant in JITLI 2011.
The moment I’m writing about is not my best moment, it’s the moment I realized I had changed.

Before JITLI I considered myself to be tolerant towards Arabs and understanding yet every time I saw an Arab man or an Arab woman with 
A veil I…

My JITLI was the best experience I ever had. I think that JITLI was about friends relationships and sharing life stories and opinions. My favorite part in JITLI was meeting Demian Juarez and Eshed Aragaman. I loved spending time with both of them. All my friends are in my heart forever. My San Diego friends and Shaar Hanegev friends and…

There I am standing. I have never felt this way before, a feeling of sadness, anxiety but proud at the same time. Right in front of me is the face of all evil, Hitler. And beside that are pictures of the ghastly, rugged, powerful Nazis. Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, the museum where the world can come together and commemorate on the…

There are so many experiences that one has on JITLI during the trip, but what is often forgotten are the first emotions one feels when they are thrown into this program from the very first day of the trip. The San Diego group had just welcomed the Israeli Arabs and Jews to our first hospitality at Hakfar Hayrok, and we…

What is JITLI. Everybody says, it is where 20 Jews meet up with 20 Arabs. This statement is true, but there is a lot more to the story than just that. Then the person would say, your right… it is 10 Americans, 10 Israelis and 20 Arabs Israelis. That is where they cross the line. They didn’t mention all the…

A JITLI Experience to Remember. One of my favorite moments that I had on JITLI was swimming with my Bedouin friend Feruz. It was a hot day in July, and all of us American and Israeli Jews were eager to jump into a pool to cool off. While the Bedouin boys jumped in immediately, the girls appeared to be reluctant…

My Hebrew teacher first introduced me to JITLI, a program where ten Jewish teens from San Diego go to Israel with ten Israeli Jews and twenty Muslim-Arab Israelis to learn about the cultures, history, and conflict of the land. I grew up in a Jewish world. I went to Hebrew school and learned about the Western Wall in Jerusalem. When…