Being on the ground in Israel and the West Bank makes the situation far more “real” than it could ever have been in a classroom. As an example from this past year’s PDLI experience, from an overlook in the Golan Heights the Fellows saw the smoke and heard the distant gunfire associated with the chaos in Syria. Later in that trip, PDLI Fellows gained an appreciation for the Palestinian perspective by seeing, and touching, the “separation barrier” in Bethlehem.
