An Israeli, born in Haifa in 1962, Heskel has lived in Germany for the last 10 years and is currently a Managing Director of a real estate investment and development company. Although not a professional climber, he is a very adept enthusiast and outdoor adventurer. Born to immigrant parents from Iraq, Heskel served in the Israeli Defence Forces for over 10 years.

Israeli-born, he is a professional mountain climber and one of the few people to have successfully climbed the highest peak on each of Earth’s seven continents. Doron’s parents are Holocaust survivors from Poland. Turned away by the British blockade when they tried to reach Palestine aboard the illegal immigrant ship, Exodus, they were sent back to a Displaced Person’s camp in post-war Germany, eventually returning to the new nation of Israel on the day it declared its statehood.

A Palestinian, she was born in Haifa (Israel) in 1970. Olfat has a degree in Physical Education from Ohalo College and has worked in various sporting capacities, from volleyball trainer to swimming instructor. Her mother tongue is Arabic, but she speaks fluent Hebrew and adequate English.

Israel born Palestinian journalist, now lives in east Jerusalem. His brother a journalist as well, a member of a radical Palestinian movement, was killed during an Israeli air force raid on Beirut in 1982. His cousin, famous Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, wrote the Palestinian independence chart. Speeks fluent Arabic, Hebrew, English, Spanish and some French.

Israeli born in Ethiopia, she immigrated to Israel at the age of 14, joining other Ethiopian Jews on a half-year trek across the wilderness of Sudan during which most of her family died. Reaching her “promised land”, this illiterate teenager learned to read and write. She recently completed her PhD in “The Cognitive Processes of Illiterates”.

A Palestinian, born in East Jerusalem in 1967, he lives in the walled Old City. Married with two children, he manages a soccer football team. In 1988 he was sentenced to 3 years in an Israeli prison for active membership in the Palestinian Fatah or ganization and for attacking Israeli troops with fire bombs. At this time he learned Hebrew and met fellow prisoner (the late) Faisal Husseini, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister for Jerusalem Affairs. After his release, Nasser worked for Husseini at Jerusalem’s Orient House.

An Israeli, born in Jerusalem in 1959, Avihu has a BA in Geography and an LLB in Law. Since completing his legal studies, he has worked as an attorney, first in the State Prosecutor’s Office in Tel Aviv and subsequently as a lawyer in his own firm. Avihu served for 4 years in the elite commando unit of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). He belongs to the right wing political scene in Israel.

This Palestinian political activist was born in 1972 in the West Bank village of Hizma. At the age of 14, as a member of the Fatah organization, he received a 10 year prison sentence for carrying out actions against Israeli troops. In prison he studied Hebrew, English, literature and history. After his release he began working with Palestinian youth and has launched efforts to forge dialogue and reconciliation with Israelis.