Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Challenged by Middle East complexities, editors of campus newspapers at some of America's leading universities said Thursday the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has only become less clear to them during a visit to Israel this week.
The 18 editors, most of whom had not visited Israel previously, are on a two-week tour organized by the Anti-Defamation League.
The aim is to familiarize editors of campus newspapers - many of whom will go on to work for media outlets or be leaders in other fields - with issues important to Israel and the Jewish community.
"The goal for them is to learn about the past, present and future concerns of the Jewish people and Israel," said ADL tour organizer Jeffrey Ross.
To expose the group to the connection between Israel and European Jews' experience in the Holocaust, the group began its tour with a week's visit to Poland and Bulgaria, he said.
The program is in its ninth year, and many past participants have gone on to work in major media outlets, Ross said.
In Israel, the participants met with a variety of Israeli leaders, as well as Israeli and Palestinian journalists.
This year's tour had been more restricted than usual. Due to the security situation, the participants were unable to visit Palestinian areas.
ADL spokeswoman in Jerusalem, Laura Kam Issacharoff, said the trip was not intended to be a propaganda tour.
"We want to broaden their horizons and [give them an understanding] of the concerns of the Jewish people, not to turn them into Zionists," she said.
Previous years' tours took place against a backdrop of the peace process; this year's participants were confronted with the reality of a war-like situation.
Michael Barbar, 21, editor of Yale University's Daily News, said Thursday that despite the security situation he was only a "little anxious" and not afraid to come to Israel at this time.
The group left the U.S. the day after 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing of an American fast food restaurant in Jerusalem.
"I was mostly disappointed that there are not more people here," said Barbar, who noted that the group appeared to be the only tourists in Jerusalem's Old City when they visited there.
"What I've learned is that the people here live in a state of semi-permanent war," he said.
His view of the situation was both sides were being "unreasonable" - Israel for refusing to resume negotiations until there was complete calm, and the Palestinians for not lowering the level of violence.
Geoff Gagnon, 22, editor of The Michigan Daily at the University of Michigan, said that two weeks ago, the situation here seemed a lot clearer to him. Having visited, however, the conflict seems "a lot more gray and more confusing."
The more he hears from people who say they know what's going on, he said, the more doubts and questions he has. "There's a lot to understand about what is going on here," Gagnon said.
Amanda Fletcher, 21, editor of The Daily Bruin at UCLA, said she had not been sure of what she would find when she decided to come on the trip.
"One of my best friends in high school was Muslim and so I heard his side of the story for a few years," she said. "My boyfriend is Jewish."
Fletcher described the trip as "disheartening." She could see there were two sides to the conflict and that each side had its own "point of view." While she could understand their points, she realized that each side could not understand the other's.
Other editors involved in the program this year came from Buknell, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgia State University, University of Kentucky, University of Nevada, Northwestern, University of Pennsylvania, Rice, Stanford, Syracuse, Washington University in St. Louis and Wayne State University.