Jerusalem Inter-Religious Educational Leadership Program (JELP) The Jerusalem Inter-Religious Educational Leadership Program was launched in November 2004 by Mosaica's Center for Inter-Religious Cooperation. The program's overarching goal was the creation of a cadre of prominent Jewish and Muslim religious educators, who would act jointly among their respective communities to improve the acquaintance, understanding and communication between them. The program's aims derive from the Alexandria Declaration, which proposed ongoing and continuous endeavors among the target populations involved in the conflict in the Middle East. Since education is the key arena in which perceptions of religion, culture and society are defined, this program focuses on religious educators and schools of the Jewish and Muslim communities in East and West Jerusalem. The program addresses the phenomenon of education towards stereotyping and hatred, and the claims of both communities, Jewish and Muslim, of the use of textbooks that distort history and encourage hatred and violence.  The Jerusalem Program is the first framework of its kind to facilitate face-to-face, on-going, and structured dialogue, between the Jewish national-religious population and the Muslim population of Jerusalem. Furthermore, the meeting between educators from the two parts of Jerusalem is in itself an exceptional step.    The program aims at providing the background, knowledge and tools needed to cultivate mutual understanding of the religio-cultural background of the other, based on Mosaica's multi-dimensional model. The program enriches participants' understanding of the full extent of the controversial issues that have affected the relations of the two communities throughout history, and enables them to face the challenge of building a path towards reconciliation and trust between the Jewish community and the Muslim community through education. The pilot program was launched in September 2004 lasting until July 2008, and consisted of experiential workshops for principals and teachers from primary schools, junior-high schools and high schools in the Jewish and Muslim sections of East and West Jerusalem. The workshops took place in Jerusalem (Mishkenot Shaananim, Mount-Zion Hotel, and the Mosaica Center), and in Andalusia, Spain - a 5-day seminar. The program's aims: ○ Strengthening inter-personal ties between the Jewish and Muslim program participants, with the aim of establishing trust between the sides, which will constitute a basis for inter-religious dialogue. ○ Enhancing self-awareness during the encounter with the "Other” ○ Furthering the knowledge, tools and experience which enhance the familiarity with the historical-religious-cultural background of the “Other” (in the context of Israeli-Palestinian relations, and confronting controversial issues between Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem and in the Middle East) ○ Developing dialogue skills among participants ― active participation, empathy, identification, understanding, acceptance, containment of the “Other”, and effective management of various conflicts in the process ○ Expanding the participants' roles as educators according to Mosaica's vision, and upon completion of the program, have the graduates work as agents of change in schools and in their community environment with the aim of changing attitudes, stereotypes and prejudices against the “Other" ○ Creating a network of Jewish and Muslim schools in East and West Jerusalem committed to inter-religious dialogue, participating in Mosaica programs and integrating inter-religious dialogue into the school curricula through long-term educational projects initiated by the school staff In order to ensure the realization of the Jerusalem Program's goals, the pilot program is closely accompanied by formative and summative evaluation, carried out by external professionals. The Evaluations aims are: ○ To evaluate the extent to which the program realizes its goals, and whether unplanned by-products were also created To learn lessons from the process of  implementation and realization of the program in relation to its planned model of action Program Development: The Jerusalem Program is implemented through two tracks: Encounters Track Group process meetings between Jewish and Muslim educators, convened with the aim of making an impact on the education of students and their communities towards reconciliation and trust. The School Track The school track's goal is to assimilate the subject of inter-religious dialogue in the school curricula through long-term educational projects initiated by the school staff for the students.