An Attempt at Peace:
The Manhattan Accords

During the first semester of my senior year of high school, I took a class on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Called “Israel in the World,” my principal Dr. Nick was the teacher for the class. He began the semester with a crash course of the history of the conflict before we dove into the history of Judaism and Islam. The class itself, however, was more than a religion class: it was a history class and a philosophy class, too. 

For our final project, we were to create a peace plan for the conflict. Groups were composed of three people, with each person representing Israel, Palestine, or the U.S. The peace plans covered the issues of borders/territory, settlements, the city of Jerusalem, water, and the right of return. At the end of the semester, each group presented their peace plan at a faux Rose Garden Press Conference with the other students representing reporters who asked questions. 

While I learned a lot during the class, looking back, this peace plan that I helped create is not researched as thoroughly as it should be, nor is it close to being realistic. However, I am thankful for the opportunity to learn about the conflict, and because of this class, I am now majoring in Political Science with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. 

To read the peace plan, click here to download the “Manhattan Accords, 2018.” 

Note: I changed the names of my group partners and took out their individual commentaries.