Internship In Palestine (Human Rights, Palestinian Refugees, Law)

I had an amazing time with the Excellence Centre. Staff are absolutely brilliant and very friendly. We visited different organisations which help support refugees and visited fawar refugee camp and gained an insight into the living conditions and life of the refugees. Fantastix experience with great people. I will definetly return in the future. My message for those who are afraid of coming, I want to reasure you it is extremely safe so please come and visit Palestine and the lovely people here.

My Name is Dayton. I have a Bachelors in Economics and I participated in the Media and Journalism internship at the Excellence Center in Palestine.
During my time at the Excellence center I toured the city of Hebron. I was able to see many important place in the city as well as meet many members of media, the chamber of Commerce, the Municipal government, Law and activists. I also hade the opportunity to volunteer in English langue classes held at the center for Palestinian youth and take Arabic classes myself. My Arabic classes were rigorous, engaging and a lot of fun! My listening and reading comprehension greatly improved during my time at the center. I also developed the rudiments of conversation skills that I hope to build upon in the future.
The Center is a very warm and inviting environment. I was able to meet volunteers from around the world as well as well as many Palestinians from the community of Hebron. People were full of advice about how to make the most of my internship and how best to navigate the West Bank and Hebron. During my stay, I participated in every site visit that was made available to me. I visited the Ibrahim Mosque, a Russian Orthodox Church, a Kafiyeh Factory, a School for the Blind, A radio station, a TV station, the Old City and to H2. I was also able to visit other cities in the West Bank such as Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Nablus.
Living in Hebron was a very pleasant experience. The People are very curious, friendly and generous. People off the street would invite my to have dinner with them or just to strike up a conversation. I never worried about feeling unsafe. If ever crossed the street it was because I didn't want to accept a gift of coffee or some sweets! I most enjoyed and respected the resilient spirit of the Palestinian people and that despite the daily reality of the Occupation; very person that I met was positive about their future.
My Favorite experience in the West Bank was all of it! I was able to learn so much not just about Arabic or Palestinian history but about world history. MY time in the West Bank and in Hebron has left a lasting impression that will affect where I travel and how I live for some time. I would recommend the Excellence center to anyone that wanted to learn more or who wanted an exciting experience.

The last two months I had the special opportunity to live in Hebron, Palestine. The programme I followed at the Excellence Center consisted of learning Arabic, teaching English to kids in a nearby village, going on trips and visits learning more about human rights in Palestine, and staying with a lovely host family. I learned a lot during my time here, both in the programme and talking with people outside of the programme. I learned about about Palestinian culture and daily life, the political situation, and human rights which are being violated on a daily basis. I will bring this knowledge home with me and try to help spreading the word about what is happening here with whoever wants or does not want to hear it. Being here for this period of time has been very special for me and I will take that with me in the rest of my life.

I am a medical student from London and decided to come to the center to learn more about the community in Hebron. At the center I taught english to children ranging from ages 10-17 whilst they also taught me lots of arabic! There were also 1-2-1 arabic sessions which were great. We visited the old town, Ibrahimi mosque and a refugee camp. My favourite was visiting the old town and all the trades men, who shared very insightful stories of their life in Hebron. The highlight of my stay has to be staying with my host family, they have been so welcoming and made Hebron feel like home. They taught me how to make traditional food such as Makluba which was lots of fun. Throughout my stay here I have felt safer than I have ever felt in London. I highly reccomend the Excellence center to anyone wanting to findout more about life in Hebron as well as learn lots of arabic. You won't regret it.

It has been an amazing experience. I joined many activities in the field of journalism such as meeting journalists, visiting radio stations, talking with scholars and professors...The arabic lessons have been very interesting as well.
Everyone is very nice both at the center and in the city. At the center there is a fantastic international environment engaging with palestinian culture.
During my experience I visited many cities in the West bank as Ramallah, Nablus and Bethlehem. I felt safe in all of them.
Palestine is a special place where people are always available and nice. Hospitality is their greatest quality.
I recommend everyone to come here, apart from the interest for the current situation, all the aspects of the culture are very interesting, I think everyone should come here at least once in life.

I’m Luca from the United Kingdom, and I participated in the Israel and Palestine in Context programme.

I’ve participated in extensive activities while here: I’ve taught English, visited refugee camps, hiked in the countryside, talked to lawyers, professors, students, government ministers, artists, and activists. I’ve explored Palestinian towns and cities like Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, and Nablus and visited Israeli settlements.

Everyone here at the Centre is truly accommodating and friendly, and the Arabic lessons have been fantastic. From having no Arabic whatsoever, I can understand rudimentary conversations and exchanges. I highly recommend the experience!

Palestine itself is stunning and has something for everyone. The dishes, like maqluba and mansaf, are delicious and the landscape is beautiful. Palestine itself, despite the news headlines, is incredibly safe. Have common sense, and be careful, and you’ll have no problems whatsoever. The Palestinian people are incredibly warm, accommodating, and curious to learn about you and your background.

Palestine will forever have a lasting and fond place in my heart, it’s absolutely unlike anywhere I’ve been, and I’ve loved every second here. It’s effortlessly interesting, and almost impossible to tune out – there’s always something going on in the streets or the Centre that catches your attention.

I am Hannah, from Singapore, and I recently finished a degree in history. I participated in the ‘Volunteering with Palestinian Refugees’ programme, mainly because I am interested in researching refugees for my higher education degree.

I found my Arabic lessons really fruitful and engaging. My goal is to be able to communicate basic ideas in Arabic, so learning colloquial Levantine Arabic is most important to me. This was achieved during my time here, although the hours were short given my brief time here, I gained a stronger foundation to continue learning the language by myself. For now at least, I am able to greet, introduce myself, discuss the weather and my day when I meet shopkeepers and taxi drivers.

I am very grateful to my Arabic teachers, who enthusiastically and warmly encouraged me to learn and practise my ability to speak and read. The other international volunteers are also really eager to learn, so the environment here is very, very supportive.

During the few weeks I was here, I did a lot of site visits with other volunteers from various programmes. I went to Fawwar Camp a few times, and I got the chance to speak to community leaders, social workers, and the young children living in the camp. It was very eye-opening, especially since I assumed that refugee camps are filled with tents, but Fawwar Camp (like many other Palestinian refugee camps) has buildings gradually erected by the refugees themselves.

I also visited the checkpoints separating H1 from H2 in Hebron, as well as the shops and houses near those checkpoints. These are the hotspots of clashes between Palestinians, the IDF soldiers and settlers. Speaking to locals who live near these precarious locations also showed me the layers of pain and suffering of life under the occupation.

I felt safe during my time in Hebron, sometimes even safer than in other cities I have lived in (such as London) because there is no anxiety about my stuff being stolen. There was definitely a period of time during my initial days here, when I had to adjust to the social and religious culture here, such as being careful about the way I interact with the men here as a solo travelling woman.

During my first week here, the bustling city of Hebron had a general strike in solidarity for Jenin, and a group of volunteers went to observe how the busy old city changed for the strike. We definitely noticed the potential danger of being caught in between protestors and the IDF soldiers in the old city and the checkpoint areas, but it was such an indescribably important experience to see how the Palestinian people express their anger and sorrow in various ways.

Everytime we made a site visit - the Bedouin villages, a Palestinian art exhibit, Hebron streets emptied after eruptions of violence, human rights groups - we spoke to so many different people with similar stories of anxiety, loss, fear, and even resilience and hope for a better future. The Palestinians I spoke to during my time here are so highly aware of the history of the occupation, and they show empathy towards the reasons for why European Jews migrated to this land. However, they are frustrated by the systematically violent and militant mode of which the occupation continues til this day I personally hope the dream of living peacefully and equally between Israelis and Palestinian people can be achieved one day.

Although I only visited for one week I learnt and saw so much. My host family and other Palestinians were so hospitable and welcoming. I felt safer in Hebron than I do in London. I was able to learn basic Arabic and to meet with a lawyer who discussed and taught me about the local judicial system. I had the opportunity to visit local refugee camps and to meet with incredible activists. I also had travel advice from the centre and was able to visit the Dead Sea and Bethlehem. Please do not let what you see on the media put you off of visiting. Palestine and it's citizens are wonderful.