© via Netzwerk Israel
Thanks to the support of the EVZ scholarship, Dr. Uri Rosenberg was able to organize a week-long trialogue workshop at Heidelberg University, where he is currently a visiting professor. For one week, nearly 50 young people from Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Germany gathered at the Heidelberg College for Jewish Studies to engage in dialogue with one another.
The workshop was the brainchild of Dr. Uri Rosenberg, co-founder of the Israeli-Palestinian NGO Tech2Peace, and Tom Khaled Würdemann: they planned to bring Israeli-Palestinian dialogue to Germany. Dr. Rosenberg had long had the vision of shifting dialogue work to a third space, i.e., outside of direct regional pressure, while at the same time involving German society more closely.
The aim was not only to enable dialogue in a physically safe environment, but also to address how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resonates in Germany, particularly through competing solidarities and conflicting identifications with Israel and Palestine.
The idea developed into a trialogue model: not only Israeli and Palestinian participants, but also Germans from different backgrounds were to come together. This pursued two parallel goals: First, Germans, many of whom are emotionally or politically involved in the conflict but rarely have contact with affected people from both sides, were to be given the opportunity to come into direct contact with lived experiences. Second, Israeli and Palestinian participants would be given the opportunity to learn how their conflict and political discourse are perceived outside the region. Ideally, this setting would enable all participants to develop the skills and awareness they need to act as bridge builders in their respective societies.
The seminar lasted a full week and combined academic perspectives, structured dialogue, and a cultural program to explore the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its resonance in Germany. The program was designed to gain momentum over the course of the week, from initial informal encounters to in-depth, structured dialogues and joint academic discussion. This allowed participants to gradually move from connection and curiosity to critical reflection and joint research.
This framework helped set the tone for a week of dialogue characterized by empathy, curiosity, and mutual responsibility.
Many of the participants had family connections to Israel or the Palestinian territories; some live in Berlin, others came directly from Tel Aviv, Ramallah, or East Jerusalem. Together, they discussed their perspectives on the conflict and their personal experiences with violence, fear, and powerlessness. The workshop was about engaging in conversation with one another. At times, this was exhausting, challenging, and even painful.
In a concluding discussion circle, in which participants had the opportunity to talk openly and often emotionally about their most significant moments from the dialogue process, some shared personal turning points or unexpected connections; others expressed open questions, frustration, or a renewed sense of meaning and motivation. Many reflected on how the seminar had challenged their assumptions or helped them to better understand people they had previously perceived as “opponents.”
Despite all the challenges, the participants described the seminar in the evaluation as effective, eye-opening, and valuable. Many reported deepened empathy, emotional breakthroughs, and long-term personal development. The experience was particularly transformative for the German participants, several of whom reported feeling more connected to the realities of the conflict and better prepared to engage with its complex dimensions in the German context.
One participant wrote: “This workshop pushed me to my limits; it was uncomfortable, emotional, and absolutely necessary.”
The session ended with a discussion about how participants would like to carry forward what they had experienced, whether in their professional work, academic research, activism, or personal lives. Part of the conversation revolved around how to remain engaged and how a future Tech2Peace Germany seminar could be structured, with some participants expressing their willingness to lead such a seminar.
Many participants reported moments they had not expected: a sentence that stuck with them; an encounter that shifted their perspectives.
This is a vision that Uri Rosenberg has been pursuing with his work for years: creating spaces for encounters where people listen to each other without having to agree.
