With imagination, a hope for peace

A contest is hoping to find a just solution for just Jerusalem.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently accepting submissions for the Just Jerusalem competition, which aims to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict by focusing on the issues that divide that city.

Five $50,000 fellowships will be awarded in March to the best idea in each of four categories - physical, economic and civic and symbolic infrastructure - and the best overall second-place suggestion. The deadline for proposals is Dec. 31.

The competition seeks suggestions to make Jerusalem "a peaceful, just, humane, livable, sustainable city," said Diane Davis, the director of Jerusalem 2050.

The group, comprised of MIT faculty members, is organizing the competition, which hopes that suggestions for Jerusalem will translate to compromise in the Middle East.

"There's a direct connection between the conflicts in the city. and the wider regional conflict," Davis said.

The contest is specifically targeted toward academic teams of students and faculty, non-governmental organizations, think tanks and "anybody who has a good idea," she said.

"We want to cast a wide net," she added. "I hope we get some students from UPenn."

And it looks like she just may.

Penn Sociology and Management professor William Evan teaches a course called "The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Sociological Analysis," which examines the conflict and proposals for resolution, and he said he plans on encouraging his students to submit their original ideas to MIT.

Evan is full of interesting ideas himself: He suggests that Swiss guards be contracted to protect holy sites throughout the city, and that Jerusalem institute a three-day weekend to accommodate all faiths that consider the city holy.

"I would be happy to submit these ideas to the MIT program," he said.

In the meantime, Just Jerusalem is hoping to go a step further than any academic programs have gone thus far.

"We don't know of any projects that are as ambitious as this one," Davis said.

Still, some Middle East experts are not as optimistic about the project's ability to come up with useful solutions.

"It's a good idea, if you believe imagination is what lacks in this conflict," said Meyrav Wurmser, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Middle East Policy: "I don't think imagination lacks at all."

"It's not a wrong approach; it's a naive approach," she said. "The problem is too serious, and it's much too deep."

But the MIT program has received positive feedback on Penn's campus.

"I wish more universities followed MIT's pursuit of actively trying to solve some of the problems our world faces in practical ways," Wharton junior and Penn Israel Coalition president Max Schapiro said.

Engineering junior Mariam Sebti, president of the Penn Arab Student Society, likewise called the competition a "good approach" and passed on information about the competition to fellow board members.

"There could be a lot of interesting ideas that could come from it," Sebti said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.