Excellence Center Human Rights Experience

My name is Nate Long and I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the State University of New York at Geneseo. Currently, I am earning a Master of International Affairs degree from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

During my two-month stay in Hebron, I participated in the Excellence Center’s Human Rights Program. This program allowed me to participate in weekly visits to government ministries and international and local non-governmental organizations. I also had the opportunity to visit with local artists and with Palestinians affected by the occupation. I visited many different organizations and offices, including the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Halhul, the Governor of Hebron, the Office of International Affairs of the Hebron Municipality, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, and the Human Rights Defenders group in Hebron.

In addition to weekly human rights visits, I also taught English to children in Al Fawwar refugee camp and in a few other communities in the Hebron governorate. I also had the chance to learn Arabic through weekly classes at the Excellence Center. I came to the Excellence Center with no knowledge of Arabic and I came to learn the alphabet and gained the ability to engage in small conversations by the end of my two months here. I feel like I have a solid foundation to build off of now thanks to the Arabic classes that I was able to participate in. This will greatly benefit my career aspirations in international relations and my desire to study the politics of the Middle East more in-depth.

The Excellence Center staff were some of the kindest people I have ever met. The center staff is very welcoming and eager to assist volunteers as they get accustomed to living in Hebron. The international volunteers were all very friendly and I made many good friends here from all over the world. My students in the villages where I taught were great and they were very eager to learn English. During my time in Palestine, I lived in an apartment with two other volunteers. The apartment was owned by a family that we had limited interactions with, but they were very nice and welcoming. My living accommodations were good. The only thing I wish I had more of was cooking equipment so that I could have cooked some more food on my own. Other than that, I had a great living experience in Hebron. The people of Hebron are some of the nicest I have ever met while traveling. They are eager to show foreigners their shops and the inviting nature of Palestinian culture. I was invited over to multiple dinners during my time in Hebron where we enjoyed classic Palestinian dishes such as Makluba and Mansaf.

I also traveled extensively throughout the West Bank and the 1948 lands during my two-month stay in Palestine. I traveled to Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho, Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv. I managed to visit most of the religious, political, and natural sites in Palestine, including the Dead Sea, the Mount of Temptation, the Church of the Nativity, Al Aqsa mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Mount of Olives, and the beaches of Jaffa. My favorite experience while traveling was going to Jerusalem during Eid and watching the sunset over the Old City from the Mount of Olives with my friends.

I would definitely recommend the Excellence Center to others. I had a great time and learned a lot about the situation here, especially how the occupation affects the daily lives of Palestinians in Hebron and the greater West Bank. My lasting impression of Palestine is the resiliency of its people and the kindness of those I met throughout my time here. I have never felt more welcomed and wanted somewhere in all my life. I truly think Palestinians are some of the kindest people you will ever meet.