Tasha's Travel Blog: Olive Tree Initiative: An Introduction

[DISCLAIMER: This is a PERSONAL blog chronicling my travels, and does not represent the official mission, goals, aspirations, beliefs, or any other views related to OTI as an organization or its affiliates and other participants. I write this blog through my own eyes, and it is meant as a place for recording my own personal thoughts and experiences, to share with my friends and family as well as those interested in the various places I've traveled who may stumble across my blog.]

Hello! I am very excited to be starting up my travel blog yet again after a few months of silence.

As many of you know, I have actually been traveling all summer. On June 18th I flew to Prague with my parents and traveled with them through the Czech Republic and Austria, after which they returned to the United States and I continued on with my adventures. I participated in a classical music festival in the tiny German-speaking Alps town of Vipiteno/Sterzing, Italy for 2.5 weeks, after which I worked at an accordion music festival on top of a mountain in the French Rhone-Alps for a month. After making my way home via Paris and New York over the course of about a week, I made it back to California in time to really dive in to preparations for this adventure.

Unfortunately, I didn't blog while doing all of those other amazing things, and will catch up with them after I return home for the summer for good. I did however want to be sure that I kept up a blog during this leg of my summer travels, because it's a very special and important trip that I feel needs attention as it unfolds, lest I forget some important aspects of this jam-packed experience.

SO, fittingly enough, I'm returning to the same place I left you all with this blog - the middle east! We will be traveling to Washington D.C., Israel proper, the West Bank, and Jordan.

A bit about the program, from the Olive Tree Initiative website:

"In March 2007 a diverse group of UCI students from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze and non-religious backgrounds with varying perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict founded the Olive Tree Initiative. The students were inspired to create a forum where they could discuss and learn about their different perspectives on the situation in Israel/Palestine and to embark on an educational trip to the region. In the fall of 2008, 16 students and 2 faculty made an inaugural two-week trip to Israel/Palestine. While there they met with academics, politicians, religious authorities, community leaders and activists and learned about their perspectives on the conflict."

This is the 5th summer of these trips, and I am so excited to be a part of it. We have been studying the conflict through intense educational sessions over the past 34 weeks, and have received training in diplomatic conversation and ability to address speakers of all different backgrounds, beliefs, and stakes in the conflict, as well as how to most effectively and respectively engage with each other. The group is incredibly diverse and well-balanced, just as the first group described above was.

As someone very involved in Chabad and Hillel on campus (I'm the photographer for Hillel's Social Media Team and thus attend most Jewish events on campus), I suppose I represent a more Jewish perspective in this diverse group, but my own personal understandings of the issue don't really fit any stereotype connected to my roots or religious beliefs. While at times individuals may become involved with OTI because they feel strongly about a particular "side" of the issue, others get involved simply because they wish to learn more and engage with others on all sides and truly understand the core aspects of the conflict. I consider myself to fall more in with this second group; before becoming involved with OTI, I had no strong connections or opinions about the conflict, and became involved precisely for this reason... I feel that as someone regularly involved in Jewish life and thus many connections to Israel through Hillel events and other advocacy programs, it is my responsibility to truly understand what it is my community regularly talks about, visits, and feels this strong connection to. The "nitty gritty" of the politics and reality on the ground tends to get ignored in most discussions that come up in these contexts, and it's something I feel is very important to understand, particularly because of my relatively recent involvement with my heritage and thus small amount of time thus far being exposed to any part of the issues.

Regardless of which of these reasons compelled each of us to join the group, however, I feel so far that everyone involved has done so because they truly believe in the mission of OTI, which is to provide students and the greater community with education, and the tools with which to engage each other in meaningful discourse to tackle these difficult issues in a meaningful, productive, and respectful way (paraphrased; to read the actual mission statement go here). These are all things that I believe are incredibly important in order for any of us to function in this crazy crazy world with each other.

My personal interests and focuses while on the trip are as follows:
1. To truly get a grasp on my own opinions, which as of right now are muddled in a sea of self-doubt and a lack of confidence in my own understanding despite what most would consider a relatively high level of education on the issue.
2. To understand and humanize the opinions of everyone I meet on this trip, from hardline settlers to refugees to diplomats.
3. To get some good photojournalistic practice in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
4. To make connections across many diverse parts of my UCI campus community, and bring these connections home and use them productively in creating a more integrated and welcoming environment across these diverse cultures present on our campus.

You will all learn more about the program as I blog about our experiences, but if you are just dying for more information, please check out our website: http://www.olivetreeinitiative.org

I cannot share our itinerary with you all, as it may change from day to day and we don't want the wrong things getting out there, but we have some very exciting speakers lined up to talk with us. We will be going first to Washington, D.C. for two nights, so my next post will be after our first day there!

And, because it wouldn't be a Tasha blog without it, here are some photos of those of us able to attend "boot camp" over the course of this past week in preparation for our adventure together.

Can't wait to talk to you all from D.C.!

Most of the UCI students, as well as a few UCLA participants, at our Gala event (my mom doesn't know how to use the zoom on my camera, so sorry some people are cropped out!)