On May 18, 2014, a group of 45 participants of the “Israel Way Tel Aviv Internship Experience” program made their way to Ariel as part of their tour of Judea and Samaria. The program offers internships to Jewish young professionals around the world so that they could experience life in Israel.
This was their first ever visit to Samaria, designed as an educational opportunity about the region that continually figures into the news. They received a briefing on the founding and strategic importance of Ariel at the Ariel Regional Center for Performing Arts. They sharpened their understanding of Ariel’s relationship with its Arab neighbors at a lookout towards the Arab town of Salfit, which once enjoyed fruitful relations with Ariel until terror attacks emanating from Salfit spoiled the friendship. Relations with Salfit remain economic, as almost every household in Salfit has someone employed at the Ariel and Barkan industrial parks.
On a bus tour, the group stopped at the Lowell Milken Sports and Recreation Complex and the temporary housing site of Jewish evacuees from Netzarim, Gaza in 2005. Nine years since the evacuation, the people of Netzarim have still not settled into their permanent homes. Their plight foretells grave humanitarian consequences of any additional Jewish population transfer.
They rounded off their trip at Ariel University.