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President Shimon Peres. (GPO) Last update - 21:47 25/11/2007 Thousands of Israelis, Palestinians to make peace - virtually By The Associated Press Tags: Palestinians  While their leaders meet in the United States to negotiate, thousands of Palestinians and Israelis will be given the chance to determine the fate of the Mideast - virtually. The Peres Center for Peace on Sunday said it is distributing 100,000 copies of a computer game called PeaceMaker to Israelis and Palestinians. The game disk will be handed out on Tuesday, the same day that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are scheduled to meet in Annapolis, Maryland. Advertisement The summit, hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush and attended by Arab countries and dozens of other nations, is meant to restart peace negotiations, which broke down in violence seven years ago. PeaceMaker players must choose whether to be a Palestinian or Israeli leader. They must cope with Palestinian suicide bombers, Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Gaza, hawkish Israeli groups, Palestinian militants and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Palestinian refugee camps. As Israeli leader, it is possible to bomb Palestinian targets every time a suicide bombing occurs, and the Palestinian leader can ignore Israeli pressure to arrest militants before they attack Jewish towns. But those kinds of leaders don't last - at least in the game. "The way is pragmatism, entering the role of the other. You must take into account the other side," said Ron Pundak, director of the Peres Center for Peace, which is distributing the game in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The center was founded in 1996 by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres, now Israel's president. It sponsors projects aimed at promoting peace in the Middle East. A copy of the peace game will be sent to Olmert and Abbas once they return from Annapolis, Pundak said. He hoped Palestinians and Israelis, including their leaders, would try switching roles, at least for the game. "It will help [each side] understand limitations of each one's president and leader, and as well the limitation of the other side," he said. The games will be distributed with leading Arabic and Hebrew newspapers, although in the first round of distribution, more Israelis than Palestinians will receive the game. The game was designed by ImpactGames, a Pittsburgh company jointly founded by two Carnegie Mellon University graduates: Asi Burak, a former Israeli army intelligence official, and Eric Brown, an American software developer. Related articles: The computer game that will bring us peace War games Am I pro-Palestine or pro-Israel? Bookmark to del.icio.us   Oh Hillary Clinton throws everything but the kitchen sink at New Hampshire. Jewel of the Crown Diamond billionaire Lev Leviev buys most expensive property ever sold in Britain.   1.   Peacemaker? 21:33  |  Dovy 25/11/07   2.   Pundak family getting a windfall again 21:36  |  Absolute Sweden 25/11/07   3.   Food not computer games 21:55  |  Wonder 25/11/07   4.   Useless games designed to fool more Jews 22:03  |  Genuine Tosefta 25/11/07   5.   virtual peace 22:04  |  ari 25/11/07   6.   Easy to criticize, better to enable empathy, like PeaceMaker. 23:11  |  Fortuna Benmayor 25/11/07   7.   Game 23:52  |  Gary 25/11/07   8.   Virtual Reality of Fantasyland 01:04  |  Brod 26/11/07   9.   Very Clever Game 02:40  |  NG 26/11/07   10.   Not like chess 03:04  |  Asi 26/11/07   11.   The game is rigged, makes biased assumptions 04:12  |  McQueen 26/11/07   12.   # 5, Ari in NJ 05:13  |  Daoud 26/11/07   13.   Asi # 10 05:20  |  Ibrahim 26/11/07   14.   McQween in NYC 05:22  |  David 26/11/07   15.   # 8, Brod 05:27  |  Walter 26/11/07   16.   sounds like... 06:19  |  democrat 26/11/07   17.   Can we build settlements and bomb refugee camps? 07:12  |  keith 26/11/07   18.   How to Win the Game (Not a Spoiler!) 11:12  |  Tzfonit 26/11/07   19.   Keith, # 17 11:22  |  Harold 26/11/07   20.   Harold, I think you are mistaken 13:31  |  Tzfonit 26/11/07   21.   Walter #15 14:03  |  Brod 26/11/07   22.   # 20, Tzfonit 22:04  |  An Arab American 26/11/07   23.   #21, BROD 22:08  |  Walter 26/11/07   24.   Brod # 21 22:09  |  Nancy 26/11/07   25.   To Tzfonit 22:52  |  Propeace 26/11/07   26.   gamers want shoot em ups not peace em ups 01:20  |  zionist forever 27/11/07   27.   where is the game 04:49  |  paulo2005 27/11/07   28.   Walter #21, Nancy #24 06:44  |  Brod 27/11/07   29.   game location 19:07  |  Lisa 27/11/07   30.   Thousands of "Palestinians" cause terror .. for real 20:41  |  smarter then Peres 09/01/08   31.   #17 No buy you can start 5 wars and make suicide bombers 20:45  |  smarter then kieth 09/01/08

Today Online Bush in Israel: West Bank outposts 'have got to go' Responses: 154 Palestinians: IDF strike kills two civilians in northern Gaza Strip Responses: 101 Bradley Burston: Mr. Bush, you were born to make peace Responses: 96 Early warning system fails to spot Katyusha strike in North Responses: 78 Jewish group asks AG to halt dig in J'lem Muslim Quarter Responses: 56 Rosner's Domain What does "change" mean for Israel? 2008 race: The marathon is far from over Rosner's Guest: Israel at present is not a light unto the nations Rosner's Mailbox: Anti-Semites within Ron Paul's camp "It is not enough to launch a peace process" (WTR) More Headlines 19:37 Bush in Israel: West Bank outposts 'have got to go' 20:42 Israeli Arab parties join leftist protests against Bush visit 18:00 Palestinians: IDF strike kills two civilians in northern Gaza Strip 18:14 Report: Syria rules out military solution to conflict with Israel 20:50 Coming soon to a Spanish theater: Anne Frank the musical 15:25 ANALYSIS: Bush can spur peace talks, but can't solve Gaza issue 17:22 Bush quizzes Shas chief Yishai over threat to quit government 19:43 Panel says aviation security in Israel is in 'catastrophic state' 17:01 University heads to seek labor court injunction to end strike Previous Editions Select Day 08 jan 07 jan 06 jan 04 jan 03 jan 02 jan 01 jan 31 dec 30 dec 28 dec 27 dec 26 dec

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