"Hi, I'm Kara. I'm Palestine."

"I'm Israel."

"Nice to meet you, Israel."

If only if were that simple. But even for Kara Christianson and Ryan Harris, it quickly got more complicated yesterday as they played their roles as delegates to the Washington State Model United Nations, an exercise in diplomacy for high school students staged at the University of Washington.

Although model United Nations date back pretty much to the birth of the real one in 1945, the Washington state version lay dormant for several years until it was revived last year by UW undergraduate Jorge Roberts, who had participated in one in high school in Mexico City. The 2001 edition drew 270 students from 21 high schools to the UW campus; this year, 450 students from 29 schools in Washington, one in Idaho and one in Texas have gathered for two days to wrestle with the problems of disarmament, decolonization, human rights, the environment and international crime. But no model conclave was more in the crosshairs of current events than the Middle East Multilateral Peace Summit, for which Christianson, Harris and 20 other student-delegates assembled in Room 310 of the student union building yesterday.

Each high-schooler adopted the guise of a head of state, collectively representing most Middle Eastern nations as well as the United States, China and a handful of European countries. The summit focused on the Palestinian refugee question in a tightly regulated discussion moderated by UW students.

There were speeches and caucuses and whispered conversations, as well as hastily scribbled notes carried between delegates by the summit's junior-high page.

The Palestinian position drew strength from numbers, with a majority of the countries at the summit sympathetic to the refugees' plight, and from Christianson's skill and experience in advancing her cause. A senior at Ferndale High School, she represented Denmark in last year's model United Nations, and was voted best delegate on the committee on AIDS in developing countries.

"I had a very fun time last year," Christianson said during a break in the proceedings yesterday. "It was certainly a lot of work, but it boiled down to a wonderful experience."

The model United Nations, she said, dovetails with her plans to study international business in college. In preparation for this year's session, Christianson spent many hours studying the history and background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Getting here is certainly intimidating for me, being Palestine," she said.

Nonetheless, she's optimistic the students can resolve the issue in the two-day summit. But to do so, they'll have to win agreement from Harris, who, as the delegate from Israel, holds one of five vetoes over any final agreement. A sophomore at Lynden High School, he was sticking to his guns on behalf of "the Israelis back home," and he rejected the need to make concessions to the Palestinians.

"We fought; we won," he said simply.

Today's conference schedule and other information is available online at www.wasmun.com.