Finally: A sense of what it's like "on the ground"

Perhaps the most important aspect of the peace process is the measure of security it brings to people on the ground. In CNN-land, people become statistics and the news seems shallow when viewed from over here. Gerald Kessel certainly doesn't live in the West Bank. These sites offer a window into a more real life here.

The Center for Palestinian Research and Studies has a number of interesting opinion polls which are well worth looking into fpor insight into how "the person on the street" sees things. Included are polls on the various stages of the peace process.

On the ground in Ramallah: Reports from a town become battlefield - a Birzeit University staff and student website constructed "live" during the September 1996 clashes that followed the opening of a tunnel in the Old City of Jerusalem. It offers information on a variety of levels - day-by-day area chronologies, official statements, eye-witness, vox-pop quotes from Birzeit staff and students, a photo diary and links to other information from Palestinian organisations. Excellent for getting a sense of how violent events unravel, how the Israeli army responds to Palestinian demonstrations, and what the politicians say afterwards. An extraordinarily popular website that resulted in $15,000 of equipment funding for Birzeit to expand its Web reporting.

A Personal Diary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - A photodiary by Nigel Parry from Birzeit University's Public Relations Office, a resident of the West Bank town of Ramallah since 1994. The diary attempts to explain aspects of life here for Palestinians. The diary is searchable and is organised in chronological and subject indicies, with a focus on events affecting the university community of Birzeit. Here is what the Jewish Communications Network said about the diary: "A rare opportunity to see the post-Oslo period from a jarringly anti-Israeli perspective, and yet a perspective that is mature, sensitive and stylistically compelling. Watch out, you might become addicted to this site, returning frequently to seek out new diary entries. Peace engenders communication. We like the open tone of critical respect of this site -- reflecting one view -- yet presenting a break with the implacable style of past discourse. Polished and professional."