New York, N.Y., July 17, 2003 … With the Middle East peace process entering a new stage, 12 students who hold leadership positions on their campus newspapers will soon have the chance to gain firsthand knowledge of the situation on ground and historical background on the Jewish experience in Europe.

As participants on the 11^th annual Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Albert Finkelstein Memorial Study Mission to Israel, Poland and Bulgaria, the student-editors will meet with high-ranking government ministers, diplomats, policymakers, historians and journalists and hear briefings on breaking developments in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. The Mission will depart from New York City on July 31 and will return on August 15.

 "The student journalists will see how Israelis, both Jewish and Arab, and Palestinians live in a way that is not always depicted on television, and judge the situation for themselves," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We designed this mission with the intent of providing the future journalists of tomorrow with the personal experience of people living in Israel as well as important historical background of former Jewish communities in Europe, the Holocaust and how, while some nations turned a blind eye to what was going on in the 1930s and 1940s, others stood up and said 'no' to the Nazis."

While in Israel, the student editors will meet with foreign and defense ministry officials, members of the Knesset, representatives of the Arab Druze community, Palestinians, and correspondents from the Israeli and American media.

In Poland, the students will visit Auschwitz and the areas once occupied by the Warsaw and Krakow ghettos.  They'll learn about traditional Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust and attempts to revive Jewish communities after the fall of communism. In Sofia, Bulgaria, they will meet with Bulgarian government officials and Jewish community representatives to examine how the government, the church and the people of Bulgaria united to save the entire Bulgarian Jewish community during the Holocaust.

"This mission is unique for young people as it doesn't solely focus on the situation between Israel and terror groups, but also on the daily existence of the Israeli people and the European and Arab history that is a major part of the culture there," said Mr. Foxman.

Students representing Brown, Dartmouth, the University of Denver, Harvard, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, Morehouse University, Oregon State University, Syracuse University, the University of Texas, Union College and Wayne State University,  have been selected to participate in this year's mission.

The program was established through a gift from Bidi Finkelstein, a Philadelphia and Palm Beach philanthropist and honorary life member of the ADL National Commission, in memory of her late husband.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.