Education can help overcome barriers to peace. This is the idea behind the initiative to set up a Centre for European Studies in Israel, a project involving the Royal Institute for Inter Faith Studies in Amman, the Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem and the Herzliya University in Israel. Germany has backed this joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian initiative aimed at helping to broker Middle East peace through education.
The aim of the centre is to bring young people from Israel, Jordan and Palestine together to study, with a particular focus on Europe's experiences of war and peace, the lesson being that after centuries of conflict and war, peace reigns in the European Union.
Requiring European support to succeed, the study initiative was launched on 24 September 2007 at a gala dinner in Berlin.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier offered German support for the project.
He said the German Academic Exchange Service will organise a summer school program for students from the three regions, bringing them to Berlin for a closer look at Europe.
"This project has the potential to reach the hearts and minds of young people in the region and engender discussions of acceptance and understanding," said Steinmeier.