U.S. Students Act Out Politics at Israeli Summer Camp
Divide three dozen California teen-agers into small groups, assign each the role of a different participant in the Middle East conflict, give them the tools of the political trade ranging from the press release to the summit meeting, and the resulting âgameâ is bound to have its memorable moments.
At one point in the game recently, for example, âPalestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafatâ wanted to âassassinateâ âU.S. Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger.â But âGodâ wouldnât let him.
Then the âSoviet delegationâ turned down a secret summit meeting with âPresident Reaganâ because the proposed location was unsuitable. As âMikhail S. Gorbachev,â played by a San Francisco girl, explained in a diplomatic note: âI canât go into the menâs room!â
It was all part of Arab-Israeli simulation day for the participants in an unusual six-week summer camp program for American high school students. The object: to help them better understand the conflicting interests in one of the worldâs most intractable political conflicts.
The students used the same Hebrew University Simulation Laboratory used to train officers at Israelâs National Defense College and candidates for the Israeli Foreign Service. They could take any action they believed to be in the interests of their delegation with two exceptions: For any sort of terrorist act, or before declaring war, they had to have the permission of the gameâs controller, whom everyone called âGod.â
Simulation day is the highlight of an intensive summer program run by Camp Ramah, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the center of the Conservative Jewish movement in the United States.
The organization operates six summer camps for Jewish young people in the United States and Canada. In the summer between their sophomore and junior years in high school, selected students spend six or seven weeks in Israel learning about the country and its most important problems. One prerequisite: a minimum of five hours a week of Jewish studies during the previous academic year.
Participants camp out in the Negev, tour the Galilee and spend a day on the Israeli-occupied West Bank. They listen to a debate between representatives of the right-wing Gush Emunim settlers movement and the leftist Peace Now group. They form political parties and engage in their own coalition-bargaining to better understand the complex Israeli political system.
âWe donât expect you to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict this afternoon, but we hope to give you a better understanding of it,â Eytan Gilboa, director of the simulation laboratory, told the students as they arrived for the all-day simulation exercise.
The students were separated into seven teams, representing Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, the PLO, the United States and the Soviet Union. Three became âjournalistsâ for âVoice of the Middle Eastâ radio, and two others provided âintelligence informationâ on request to all the teams.
Monitored by âGodâ
Teams were given individual meeting rooms arranged in a circle around a control center where âGodâ--high school history teacher Leah Prawer--monitored their activities through an elaborate sound system and one-way windows to each delegationâs room.
In addition to a 45-minute introduction to the Arab-Israeli conflict given by Gilboa, each team was assigned an adult expert whose first job was to help the team set down long- and short-term goals and the methods planned to achieve those objectives.
âWeâre afraid that what happened with Egypt will happen with Jordan and Syria, and weâll be left out in the cold,â PLO team adviser Gershon Baskin, the director of an education center here for Jewish-Arab coexistence, told his group.
As Yasser Arafat, Darin Spillman, from Hoover High School in Glendale, favored terrorism as a tactic. âTerrorism works,â he argued. But Baskin insisted, âWe have to convince the American people that our cause is just.â
Israeli Call for Help
Meanwhile, the Israeli team issued its first call for help. âIsrael doesnât have enough money for a paper clip, so we want the United States to send us one,â messaged Matt Brenner, the Beverly Hills High School student who played Prime Minister Shimon Peres. âIsrael: Financial aid from the U.S. is on the way,â the controller responded.
As the teams moved to the next phase of their preparations--more specific lists of their goals in relation to each of the other groups--members of the Jordanian team revealed a Machiavellian turn of mind. While telling everyone else that they wanted peace with Israel, they listed as their objective in relations with the PLO the encouraging of terrorist activities that would undermine the peace process. The reason: They saw any Palestinian state on the West Bank as a threat to the Jordanian monarchy.
The Soviet team, meanwhile, prepared a statement for the press. âDonât forget--itâs like a speech you deliver before the United Nations, and you can lie,â said team adviser Hanan Naveh, real-life news editor for Israel Radio.
Student as Gorbachev
Celeste Solod, the San Francisco student playing Soviet leader Gorbachev, did her best. Her statement offered unconditional support for the Middle East peace process, expressed thanks to âSyrian President Hafez Assadâ for joining the fight against terrorism and announced that, as a good-will gesture, the Soviets would allow âfreedom fighter Ida Nudel,â a long-time Soviet-Jewish activist, to emigrate to Israel.
Based on their statements of objectives and a scenario distributed by the controller, the students began the actual simulation game after lunch, using various forms to request intelligence information, communicate with other teams and issue press releases.
Copies of everything were dispatched to the control center, where Prawer tried through the growing bedlam to track and control the direction of the game.
âIâm trying to achieve two things,â Prawer said. âOne is to show them there is no easy solution. Thatâs the main idea. Second, I want to control the game to make it more or less like reality.â The messages showed that the students had already learned a lot about the Middle East conflict.
âSyriaâ offered âRussian aidâ to both âEgyptâ and âJordanâ in return for their support of a âSovietâ proposal for an international peace conference on the Middle East.
The âPLOâ asked for a meeting with âJordanâ about establishing a military base on the Israeli border.
The âSoviet Unionâ messaged âIsraelâ that it was ready for a low-level meeting to discuss the Middle East situation.
âThe Soviets are pushing everyone to their side,â controller Prawer commented. âAnd for some reason, the U.S. isnât very active today.â Trying to spur some action, Prawer told the U.S. team that âEgypt, Jordan, and the PLOâ are meeting. But âEgyptâ turned down a âU.S. offerâ to chair the meeting.
âJordan,â either out of paranoia or because the air conditioning was not working in its room, announced that it didnât want its deliberations monitored and would no longer meet there. Shortly afterward, it asked permission to mobilize its troops against the âPLO.â
âNot yet, Jordan,â replied the controller.
According to a âMiddle East Radioâ news flash, âSyriaâ and the âPLOâ planned new violence against âIsrael,â and the âUnited Statesâ had dispatched the 6th Fleet to the Mediterranean.
Request for Thumbtacks
âIsraelâ requested thumbtacks.
Meanwhile, a newly active âUnited Statesâ sent a cryptic message to the âSovietsâ: âUSA--2 p.m. in the menâs room. Send Gorbachev.â That was the meeting Celeste Solod modestly declined.
An increasingly frustrated âPLO,â by now seemingly shut out of talks with anybody, asked permission to plant a âbombâ in downtown Jerusalem. âPLO--you have permission to go ahead with your mission,â the controller responded.
Almost immediately, another âMiddle East Radioâ news flash announced to all the teams that âa PLO bomb killed two and injured 16 in Jerusalem.â PLO team member Lori Siderman from Birmingham High School in Encino whooped with joy at the announcement and jumped up and down excitedly.
Soon afterward, a âPLOâ press release announced its alliance with the âSoviet Unionâ and against the âUnited States.â Spillman, wearing a kaffiyeh headdress borrowed from a friend and increasingly enthusiastic in his Arafat role, raised his fingers in the V-sign for victory. âThe ironic thing is that Iâm probably the most anti-Arab one in the group,â he said.
Peace Conference at End
After two intensive hours, controller Prawer suggested a concluding peace conference under joint Soviet-American sponsorship, and all agreed.
Pleading discomfort from his recent operation, âPresident Reaganâ (Hillel Abrams of Brentwood High School) asked âCaspar Weinbergerâ (Ami Kassar of La Jolla High School) to read the âU.S. statement.â It was harsh on the âPLO,â and Weinberger/Kassar noted that the guerrilla group would have killed him were it not for âGod.â Spillman, as âArafat,â made his concluding speech, then walked out when Brenner, as âShimon Peres,â got up to give the âIsraeli statement.â
There were no breakthroughs, as center director Gilboa had promised. But the students clearly played the game with relish.
âI never played a game I enjoyed that much,â said an enthusiastic Andrew Green, a âPLO delegateâ from Polytechnic High School in Long Beach.
âItâs a lot better than sitting around listening to a lecture,â added another student.
In fact, the only time during the day that the students were less than animated was when a few nodded off during Gilboaâs introductory remarks.
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