Eisenhower Fellowships: Fellow Profiles

Profile: Simone Duarte, ’96, Brazil

September 2007

In this month's Fellowship Impact, Simone Duarte, '96, Brazil, shares a first-person account of her time spent in Palestine and Israel with Palestine Fellows Wafa' Rahman, '07; Iman Hammouri, '05; and Hazem Kawasmi; and Koby Haber, Israel.

"My Travels to the Middle East"

When I met Wafa' Abdel Rahman, ’07, Palestine, and Koby Haber, ’07, Israel, last May in Philadelphia, I told them that I would be traveling to the Middle East in the summer to finish the filming of my current documentary project Track 4. What I couldn’t possibly have imagined is that three months later I would be having a barbecue in Ramallah at Wafa’s house with ‘05 Palestinian fellows Iman Hammouri and Hazem Kawasmi and 30 of her friends at 11 PM. (Shown in photo at left, left to right: Iman Hammouri, Simone Duarte, Hazem Kawasmi, and Wafa' Rahman.)

For me it was the beginning of a relaxing evening after a 14-hour working day that had started with an interview with Abu Ala, former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, and finished with a last-minute meeting with the controversial Mohammed Dahlan, former Palestinian National Security Advisor. Wafa' not only had a party to introduce my crew, the protagonists of my documentary, and me to the Palestinian civil society, but she also hosted us in her house. Wafa', Iman, and Hazem discussed politics but also found time to show us that Palestinians are very good on the dance floor. The next morning, Wafa' took us downtown where we tasted the Arabic Gum, the famous ice cream from Ramallah – yes, Ramallah is also famous for its ice cream.

Simone and Koby Back in Jerusalem, on the eve of traveling to the Golan Heights with General Giora Eiland, former head of the Israeli National Security Council, my colleagues and I had drinks with ’07 Israeli Fellow Koby Haber (shown with Simone at left). Koby found time in his busy schedule as the National Budget Director to answer thousands of questions and arranged us to have meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

I usually describe Track 4 as a documentary about students who go beyond the news headlines to engage directly in conflict resolution and diplomacy. Since February, I have been following 13 students of the International Affairs program at the New School who represent Syrian, Palestinians, Israeli, American, Arab, and EU delegates in a three-month simulated peace negotiation. In doing so they face their own personal fears and prejudices (i.e., a Pakistani student representing an Israeli; an Israeli student representing a Palestinian delegate). They experience the restrictions felt by real actors, the mutual distrust that haunts negotiators, the frustrating cyclical dynamic of a conflict, and the heavy consequences of each and every word and decision. Through tireless work and passion for breakthrough, they also discover the small spaces where there is room for progress.

The encounters with Koby, Wafa, Iman, and Hazem were more than refreshing or educating; they showed me and my colleagues what lies beyond the news headlines – that those small spaces where there is room for progress are not a simulation, but very real.

Read more about Simone’s work on Track 4 at www.duarte-productions.com/track4.