While the conflict in the Middle East was debated at last night’s Palestine Teach-In, students gathered at Hillel House to hear Rabbi Michael Cohen lecture about a school where Jews and Muslims live and work side by side.

Cohen is the director of the North American office of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, an Israeli academic institution that caters to students of all nationalities and religions. He spoke about the challenges faced by a multiethnic institution located in the heart of the Middle Eastern conflict, and the breakthroughs he’s witnessed in the minds of its participants.

“The vision [of the Institute’s creator] was to have a place where Middle Eastern students could study the environment together,” Cohen said. Keeping with this vision, the Institute takes students from all backgrounds, including many from Islamic Middle Eastern countries. University of Massachusetts students have the option of studying at the Arava Institute as part of a year or semester abroad program.

Cohen shared some of the stories about the cross-cultural experiences that have taken place at the Institute.

“There are two levels to the dynamic there,” he explained. “Some of [our experiences] are nice, fun, easy stuff. But some of it’s more difficult.”

As an example of “easy stuff,” Cohen told the story of an Israeli Arab woman who volunteered to work with children at the Kibbutz Ketora, the site on which the Institute is located.

“The first day she walked into the children’s house, they asked her, ‘Are you going to throw stones at us’?” Cohen said. “As time went on, though, a different perception was created. A bridge was created.”

Other situations have proved more difficult. Cohen described a lecture attended by Arava students, in which an Arab woman discussed why she felt Israel was illegitimate.

“It was very intense to hear,” said Cohen. “There was a very quiet Israeli Arab woman from our program who, at one point during our conversation, said, ‘I agree with what she’s saying.’ Everything could have fallen apart. But when the lecture was over, my students went up to her and said, ‘Talk to me. I want to hear your views.’ They had an intense, amazing conversation.”

He also described an incident in which an Israeli woman took offense to a program to feed Palestinian villages. Her son was a soldier in the Israeli Army.

“Why,” she asked Cohen, “should I feed a young Palestinian who may kill my son tomorrow?”

Cohen said that he responded with a story from the Bible, in which an angel offers water to Ishmael. God is asked why he saved the life of a man destined to kill Jews, and responds by saying that when confronted with a starving child, one should not be concerned with the future.

It is through the Arava Institute, Cohen says, that many students learn about the importance of diversity in human relationships and the environment.

“Most people on the program understand that the more diverse the human world is, the healthier it is. The real challenge is to celebrate diversity.”

The Arava Institute offers students not only a chance to travel to the Middle East, but also to study a unique ecosystem. Of special interest to many students is the Red Sea, which includes endangered coral reefs.

“Because our students are interested in the environment,” Cohen said, “they have a greater understanding that political boundaries have nothing to do with the environmental realities of the world.”