Israelis, Palestinians

combine high-tech, musical talents to benefit all

04 January 2010

"Hide not your talents. 

They for use were made. 

What's a sundial in the shade?" 

-- Benjamin Franklin

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PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS
COMBINE HIGH-TECH TALENTS

In 2008 we first learned -- http://traubman.igc.org/messages/550.htm -- about G.ho.st -- Global Hosted Operating System -- http://g.ho.st/ .
An unusual summit between Israelis and Palestinians had taken place  at an unnamed gas station along Route 1 between Jericho and Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
     The "diplomats" were engineers and software designers from G.ho.st, the first-ever high-tech Israeli-Palestinian joint venture.
     The gas station was a place where employees from its offices in Ramallah, in the Palestinian National Authority, and Modi'in, Israel, could meet without getting permits or waiting in long lines to cross the border.
     "At first, it was strange for both of usyou could feel the tension on both sides," says Montasser Abdellatif, G.ho.st's marketing and communications manager.
     "We were the first Israelis some of the Palestinian engineers had seen out of uniform," said Jonathan Levy.
     "It was a big gap for us both.
"But as soon as we had personal meetings, everyone's fear disappeared."

In 2010, G.ho.st continues accelerating Palestinian-Israeli technology progress and shared economic gain.
     For their ongoing business, these Palestinian and Israeli engineers find it easy  to successfully teleconference with their Israeli colleagues than cross the military border that separates them.
Morever, Galil Software, a service company in Nazareth, is narrowing the cultural gap within Israel itself by helping Arabs already living there find jobs in the country's high-tech industry.
     CEO Inas Said estimates that fewer than 16 percent of the 2500 Israeli Arab engineers enter that arena because few Israeli Arabs serve in Israel's army, where early work relationships are often formed.
     Roughly 90 percent of Galil's engineers are Israeli Arabs.

     "When we first started this engagement, we worried that customers would consider it risky," adds Levy.
     "But they said, 'This means if I use your chip, I'm contributing to world peace.'
     "It creates an emotional value as well as technical one."
READ more at:

Engineering Peace

Palestinian and Israeli software engineers are finding the coexistence that eludes the

IEEE Spectrum - January 2010

http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/tech-careers/engineering-peace

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ISRAELI, PALESTINIAN YOUTH
SHARE MUSICAL TALENTS

     Young Holy Land artists pour their talents into HEARTBEAT JERUSALEM --  http://www.heartbeatjerusalem.org/ -- the Israeli-Palestinian Youth Music Project.
"The mic(rophone) is more powerful than the gun" broadcast the young women and men while amplifying youth voices for change through music.
     Combining his love of music and capacity for relationship building, Aaron Shneyer ( Aaron.Shneyer@gmail.com ) invested his own talents from earlier student days helping pioneer Arab-Jewish Dialogue at Georgetown University.

     Original musical compositions, lyrics, and arrangements have come from the maturing relationships and shared creativity of these musical Cultural Creatives.
     On Google -- http://www.google.com -- search for "Heartbeat Jerusalem" for videos of their earliest self-filmed musical expressions.
     Then see how sophisticated they have become with their just-released song of Israeli and Palestinian youth-musicians speaking out:
WATCH and HEAR:

KHALAS ~ ENOUGH

by Malak, Karine, Ari, Rami and Gal

http://www.heartbeatjerusalem.org/HEARTBEAT/new_music_video%21.html

or

http://www.vimeo.com/8256753

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U.S. ARABS, JEWS CREATE
HEBREW, ARABIC MUSIC EQUALLY

ATZILUT: CONCERTS FOR PEACE -- http://www.atzilutmusic.com -- is a a ten-member high-energy Middle Eastern ensemble that features professional Arab and Jewish musicians in concert together to make a powerful statement for peace through shared music.
     For 15 years the Philadelphia-based  Arab and Jewish musicians have inspired audiences in North America and Europe, where they're known as the Middle East Peace Orchestra.
     No speeches needed the music itself is the message!
     They exemplify the potential for artistic collaboration and shared creativity that emerges when musicians from two traditions with common roots, overcome conflict to celebrate cooperation, trust, and hopet through music.
     The resulting musical collaboration is infectious, joyous, deep. sweet and passionate.
     The performance becomes an inspiring musical statement of the triumph of shared creativity over despair.
     The sharing of cultures in mutual respect is part of the American ideal!
     ATZILUT:CONCERTS FOR PEACE is the only international touring ensemble that features virtuoso instrumentalists equally proficient in the rhythms and inflections of both Hebrew and Arabic music, equally, AND which is co-led by Hebrew and Arabic vocal specialists: Hazzan Jack Kessler, one of the masters of Jewish spiritual song, and the great Lebanese singer, composer and oud virtuoso Maurice Chedid.
Also known in Europe as the MIDDLE EAST PEACE ORCHESTRA, they have united and inspired audiences at the United Nations, the Algarve International Festival, Munich Gasteig, the Royal Opera Theatre of Copenhagen, and most recently in tours of France, Austria, and Germany.
Their balanced programs of Arabic and Jewish music include their original compositions that combine both traditions equally.
     For more information, coordinator Jack Kessler gets e-mail at GoldenMedina@comcast.net, or read http://www.atzilutmusic.com/assets/e%20kit/Atzilut%20E%20Kit.pdf .


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