Dear Pathologist Colleague,

In 2000, at a pathology meeting held in Florence, Juan Rosai and I conceived the idea of holding academic exercises within the framework of a cultural setting, specifically at sites along famous pilgrimage routes,
inspired by the lines of the Spanish poet Antonio Machado: “Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar”. Two such meetings have now been held, travelling through northern Spain in 2004 and Portugal and Galicia in 2010. This style has had the advantage of allowing attendees the opportunity to visit places of natural beauty and historic significance as well as fostering social bonds among lecturers and participants.

Faculty and registrants have greatly enjoyed the social and scientific aspects of the meetings buoyed by the mystical feeling of reaching a special final destination point, which on both prior occasions was Santiago de Compostela. Having accomplished this goal with great success, we grew even more ambitious. We thought of holding it again but over a different route.

We regarded that Jerusalem was an ideal choice to be the destination this time. It has been a reference point over the centuries for individuals of all creeds and nationalities, and continues to attract a huge number of visitors. It has been devastated and built over and over again, and it remains the fulcrum of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Our aim is the same as that of the Israeli-Argentinian virtuoso Daniel Barenboim and the famous Palestinian-American writer Edward Said. In our case, it represents a modest but hopeful gesture on the part of a small international professional group towards the dream of the normalization of relations between Arabs and Israelis.

Jerónimo Forteza Vila, M.D.