Columnist Organizes Jerusalem Conference for Palestinian and Israeli Journalists

By: E&P Staff A journalism conference that will bring together Palestinian and Israeli journalists is scheduled to be held Dec. 3 in Jerusalem.

The gathering was organized by Illinois-based Ray Hanania, a self-syndicated columnist and co-founder of the 2007-launched Arab Writers Group Syndicate.

Expected to attend the Dec. 3 conference are columnists, reporters, bloggers, and others.

"It's unusual to bring Palestinian and Israeli journalists together like this," said Hanania, who will moderate one of the panels. "It doesn't happen often."

He added: "The focus is on journalism not politics, although Middle East politics is the environment in which they and I live. Most importantly, an event like this could help us bridge a gap. As journalists, we need to understand everyone better."

Hanania also noted that bloggers and other Web journalists will discuss "how the Internet has given them a very powerful opportunity to break through the mainstream media headlock on news."