Road blocks, required alternative roads, and checkpoints also almost double travel time for center manager Atallah Kassis, 29, a Catholic from Bethlehem who travels almost 1.5 hours each way to reach work.

An outgrowth of the Good Shepherd Sports Club, the center was built on Franciscan-owned property and financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, American Near East Refugee Aid and IREX, a U.S. nongovernmental organization. It opened its doors in March to youth 14-29, offering free courses such as English lessons, art, theater and computers, as well as sports.

While there are other options for summer classes in Jericho, Kassis and Franciscan Father Mario Hadchity, the local parish priest, are in the process of getting the courses at the youth center recognized by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, which would allow participants to receive academic credit and certificates at the completion of each course.

Father Hadchity said he envisions the center as also being a place of social encounter and education toward peace by exposing the youth to different cultural and social ideas and norms.

"We are so pleased to be able to give the people here new opportunities. We can give people the opportunity to discover new horizons," he said. "They can also meet up together and join together."

Some 500 Christians, both Catholic and Greek Orthodox, live in Jericho, which has a Muslim-majority population of about 53,000.

Most notably, the center not only hopes to introduce the concept of new possibilities to the young people whose parents are largely merchants or farmers, but also hopes to provide them with an opportunity to socialize with different youths.

The more people are exposed to "the other" -- whether it be people of the opposite sex, of different religions or nationalities -- the more they are able to respect one another, and that sense of respect extends to other social or political situations, Father Hadchity said.

"Because the Franciscans are a point of peace, it is our job here in Jericho to also educate people to be open-minded and accept others. They must love the other," said Father Hadchity.