History

After month of preparation and hours of negotiations between the Israeli, the Palestinian and the German delegation, the breaking moment arrived on April 9th, 1996 in Ramallah: The Jusos (German Young Socialists), the youth organization of the Israeli Labor party (Mishmeret Tse’irah), and the Palestinian Fateh Youth (Shabibet Fateh) signed in Ramallah the article of agreement on the foundation of the Willy-Brandt-Center (WBC). Purpose of the contract was the creation of a center for encounter and communication on the border between East and West Jerusalem. To run an own center was at this stage still utopia, and everybody was well aware that the realization of this idea was still a future dream.

The opening ceremony for the Willy Brandt-Center for encounter and communication took part on the 11th anniversary of the dead of Willy Brandt. The WBC is situated in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor / Al Thouri exactly on the Green Line – the former "no-man's-land" that was separating the Jordanian East Jerusalem from the Israeli West Jerusalem.