"Digital Pathways to Peace? Online Dialogues in the Middle East," will be the focus of a panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson School on Monday, October 15, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., in Bowl 016, Robertson Hall on the Princeton University campus. The discussion is cosponsored by the Office of Religious Life, Program in Law and Public Affairs, Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, and the Woodrow Wilson School.

Can virtual communities forge bonds of trust and understanding among groups separated by political boundaries and cultural conflict?  YaLa-Young Leaders is an online, Facebook-based movement dedicated to empowering young Middle Easterners to lead their generation to a better future.  A 2011 New York Times article characterized YaLa’s early success as “suggesting that the Facebook-driven revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt may offer guidance of coexistence efforts as well.”  Members of YaLa will join leading scholars for this discussion of whether and how online initiatives can help to build civic networks and institutions that will provide a foundation for peace.

Panelists:
 Moty Cristal, Peace Negotiator & CEO, Negotiation Strategies LTD;
 Mahdee Jaber Abu-Zehriya and Megan Hallahan, YaLa-Young Leaders;
 Mitchell Duneier, Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology, Princeton University; and
 Amaney Jamal, Professor of Politics and the director of the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, Princeton University

Moderator: Christopher L. Eisgruber, Provost, Princeton University

The event will be archived online for later viewing on the Woodrow Wilson School’s web media site – http://wws.princeton.edu/webmedia.