During the week of 24th to 28th August, Fernando Cardoso led a delegation of his fellow Elders Mary Robinson, Jimmy Carter, Ela Bhatt and Gro Brundtland on a visit around the Middle East. The group’s aim was to meet as wide a range of Israelis and Palestinians as possible, and listen to and amplify the voices of ordinary people on both sides of the conflict.

The Elders decided that the best way to do this was to blog about their experiences throughout their visit, and to invite ordinary people whose lives are affected by the conflict to also blog about their experiences and hopes for the future.

Provokateur developed the blog tool for the Elders website, which features content in English, Hebrew and Arabic, quite a design and technical challenge, but one we thoroughly enjoyed working on.

The highlight of the trip was a live webcast on Friday 24th August, broadcast simultaneously from Jerusalem, Gaza and Ramallah, with all of the Elders delegates and some of the people they had met talking about their experiences of the week and their views on how ordinary people can work together to improve their situation.

The 45 minute discussion was broadcast live on the website – another nail bitingly technical challenge for us that went off without a hint of a hitch. The team were proud as punch to work on such a historic project, and champagne corks were duly popped when it was all over!

Visit the Elders Middle East section here.