The group from a campus religious center in Madison had gone to Israel and Palestine to see ways people in that conflicted region were trying to make peace. In the middle of their trip last week, they wound up just seven blocks away from a fierce gun battle in Ramallah between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians that left four of the Palestinians dead.
The group of 18 University of Wisconsin students was part of a service learning trip to Israel and Palestine known as Quest I-P, which is a project of The Crossing, an ecumenical ministry located at 1127 University Ave. just off the UW-Madison campus.