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September 17, 2004
Peacing it together in B.C.
Palestinians and Israelis leave their comfort zones to talk face-to-face.
SARAH EFRON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Sixteen-year old Israeli student Noam Tobias stands at the Vancouver
International Airport, waiting for a group of Palestinian teenagers
to arrive. She's excited – and a little nervous – to meet
the young people she will be spending the next two and a half weeks
with.
"I hope everything is going to go alright," says Tobias,
standing with several other Israeli teenagers holding up "Welcome
to Vancouver" signs in English and Arabic.
Five Israeli and five Palestinian teenagers came to Vancouver this
summer to take part in a camp designed create a new generation of
peacemakers. Participants in the event, called Peace it Together,
spent two and a half weeks camping, hiking and talking about solutions
to the problems in the Middle East.
Yuval Maduel, one of the organizers, immigrated to Canada from Israel.
Like most other Israelis, he had had almost no contact with Palestinians.
Last year he met Adri Hamael, a Canadian of Palestinian descent,
and the two have become good friends, based on their mutual love
of soccer and their desire for peace in their homeland. The two
connected with Reena Lazar, a Jewish woman who had participated
in a peace camp the previous year in New Mexico. They decided to
work together to bring Israeli and Palestinian teenagers to Vancouver
to see if they could connect with each other the way Maduel and
Hamael have.
"The goal is that by the end of this camp, those 10 faces,
Israelis and Palestinians, will really get a chance to communicate
on a humanitarian base," said Maduel.
"We want to create awareness about the impact the conflict
is having on these youth and to provide them with a safe space where
they can express their feelings in a respectful manner with each
other," added Hamael. "We hope they will go back with
a message that peace is possible and this will foster future collaboration
together."
The Israelis flew from the Tel-Aviv airport, but the Palestinians
came from Jordan because it was too difficult for them to pass through
Israeli checkpoints.
"I'm really interested in meeting Palestinians because although
we live near each other, we don't have many opportunities to meet
each other," said 16-year-old Jerusalem resident Hagar Yulzari,
as she waited at the Vancouver airport for the Palestinians' plane
to land.
Once all the participants arrived, they got a tour of Vancouver
and went to meet the families with whom they would be staying. Over
the course of the next two weeks, they took part in art workshops,
played sports and stayed at Camp Jubilee in Port Moody. It sounds
like a typical summer camp, but the underlying idea was that the
teens would grow comfortable with each other and talk about the
more serious issues that divide them.
During the camp, the teens had discussions without the adults where
they talked about the suicide bombings, the security barrier and
possible solutions to the conflict.
"There was some hard discussion between us and Israeli students
about political issues," said Abdalla Kamel, a 10th-grader
from Bethlehem. "They told us to discuss anything you want
so we discussed very sensitive things, which created some bad feelings
and shouting at one point."
One of the Israeli teens, Ben, spent a lot of time with Kamel, and
they talked to each other in depth about their opinions. Kamel said
it's helped open his mind to new possibilities.
"When we arrive back home, I will tell my community there are
people like us in Israel who want peace. We can sit with them at
the same table and talk peacefully," Kamel said. "I will
also tell them that not all Israelis agree with what the government
and military are doing."
Tobias agreed that some of the discussions were difficult. They
didn't always reach an agreement, but they at least gained some
understanding of the other side.
"I think it's important to start with little things, little
relationships, and grow from there but we have to wait because it's
going to take time," she said. "You're not going to feel
it right now or when we get home. It may take years. We'll see."
Tobias said it will be harder when they go back home because they
won't be as open as they were in Canada, far away from their normal
environment, and they'll be separated from each other by military
checkpoints and the security barrier. However, these teenagers have
decided to make an effort to meet with each other again and continue
building their relationships together.
However, not everyone agreed with the organizers' strategy. Hanna
Kawas, a member of the Canada Palestine Association and the host
of the Co-op Radio show The Voice of Palestine, said the
peace camp isn't helping the situation because it doesn't openly
denounce the Israeli government's actions.
"Dialogue is nice but doesn't lead anywhere, and sometimes
it is misleading. It covers up and gives the Israeli brutality a
nice face," said Kawas, who is originally from Bethlehem. "Our
objective is to show that there are war crimes, and people of good
will, it's their duty to denounce these war crimes. In a way, if
you are whitewashing Israeli brutality, you are helping perpetuate
the war crimes and in a sense you are part of it."
Khalid Barakat, the director of the Palestine Community Centre,
agrees with Kawas.
"Organizations like this exploit Palestinian children,"
he said. "The camp is based on the idea that the Israeli army
does awful things, but the existence of the state of Israel is OK."
Barakat said the organizers have no credibility in the Palestinian
or the Jewish communities. However, the Jewish Community Centre
of Greater Vancouver supported the camp and even hosted a lunch
for the participants.
"We felt this was an important initiative and we wanted to
approach it with no political agenda, but to offer a warm welcome,"
said assistant executive director Rhonda Schwenk. "The road
to peace has to start somewhere. I think anything like this is worth
the effort."
Maduel said the goal of the camp wasn't to take a political stance
on the Middle East conflict.
"We aren't an advocacy group," he said. "We want
to put politics aside and look at the humanitarian face of the conflict."
Reena Lazar and Robyn Wark of Peace it Together will speak at the
Canadian Memorial United Church Sept. 26.
Sarah Efron is a Vancouver freelance writer and broadcaster.
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