Syrians and Israelis are crossing one of the Middle East’s great divides to cooperate — in cyberspace — to explore ways to advance peace between their countries.
The groundbreaking OneMideast.org Web site aims to bring together prominent Israelis and Syrian bloggers, academics and experts seeking ways to break the stubborn impasse in negotiations.
It will host the first Syrian-Israeli public online dialogue of its kind — a remarkable step for two countries which have been in a state of war for more than 60 years. The border between them — a UN-monitored ceasefire line on the heavily fortified Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967 — is closed.
However, the authorities in Damascus have tolerated previous ad hoc Internet exchanges and are thought to be happy with the launch of this permanent platform.
“It is the first time there’s been an organized effort on a specific issue between two enemies and not only between Syria and Israel,” said Camille Otrankji, a Canadian-Syrian who is helping run the Web site. “We hope it will take things a step further.”
Yoav Stern, an Israeli organizer of the site, sparked intense interest in both Syria and Israel when he reported on Syrian blogging in Haaretz, Israel’s leading liberal Hebrew-language daily. “We are used to looking at each other in demonic terms,” he said. “This is different.”
For the last year, academics, political analysts, journalists, businesspeople and consultants from both sides have been debating the issues in a private online forum. They produced a list of all possible objections to peace and voted for the 20 most common ones.
The next step is for OneMideast.org to invite experts and opinion-formers from both countries to discuss the peace process and to submit constructive feedback for publication on the site.
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