Israeli, Palestinian girls model Creativity for Peace
Wednesday 09 August 2006
"The
pain! I cant bear the pain!
My heart! My heart is beating wildly!
I cant keep quiet; I hear the trumpets and the shouts
of battle.
One disaster follows another; the whole country is left in ruins.
Suddenly our tents are destroyed; their curtains are torn to pieces.
How long must I see the battle raging and hear the blasts of trumpets?
The LORD says, My people are stupid; they dont know me.
They are like foolish children; they have no understanding.
They are experts at doing what is evil, but failures at doing what is good.
- Jeremiah 4:19-22 TEV
And before Jeremiah was the Garden.
There was the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil.
And we were encouraged, from the beginning, to
choose Good -- what is for Life.
Prophets
like Jeremiah were the neve'im, the
"shouters" of principles to guide all humankind toward the highest.
Together, inclusively -- always
together.
Today, modern Arab and Jewish Jeremiahs are getting
shouting-help from the best of news reporters and broadcasters.
Listen how THE WORLD, a co-production of the BBC
World Service, PRI and WGBH
This story-that-matters is also told by the
Santa Fe Reporter:
These Jewish and Palestinian leaders-in-training
will not give up.
"Through it all, the three girls vow to keep in
touch: to travel to the monthly gatherings Creativity for Peace holds for
alumni, to tell everyone about their time in
"'I will never forget this as long as I live,' a
camper says.
"Her new friends nod in agreement.
These are Palestinian and Jewish teen girls at
Creativity for Peace Camp -- http://creativityforpeace.com/ .
They choose Life.
Best of all, they chose each other.
And these brave Semites do not leave their
relationships.
Even in these times.
Especially now.
Now nine other similar North American programs are
accelerating this long-awaited "public peace process:"
Like prophets,
increasing numbers of exceptional women and men can see a future that works for
all.
Without hesitation, they are already living this life
together.
And it looks Good.
Published in the Albuquerque Journal -- New Mexico, USA --
Sunday, July 30, 2006
On the Web at http://abqjournal.com/
Camp in Glorieta Brings Israeli and Palestinian Girls Together
By Erica Cordova
GLORIETA Maya Hochstadter
tightly squeezed the hand of her new friiend, Raz Ben-Ari, tears streaming down
her face, as the girls spoke Wednesday of their fears about returning
home to Israel.
They both had just completed three weeks in the peaceful confines of Glorieta's
Creativity for Peace Camp, which each year brings together a mix of
Palestinian and Israeli youths.
For Hochstadter, the latest
round of violence in the
Back in
In response, Israeli soldiers pushed their way into
"At first, we didn't know if he was killed or kidnapped," Hochstadter
said. "It was hard. It takes time to sink in."
The peace camp is sponsored by the nonprofit Creativity for Peace, founded by Rachel Kaufman of Glorieta. It is in its fourth year
on a 55-acre site in the foothills of Glorieta Mesa.
Its goal: to promote understanding among Israeli and Palestinian youths.
For several girls, it was the first time they'd been face to face with someone from "the other side."
And no time was wasted.
During art classes, intense sessions known as "dialogues" and other camp events, the 12
Palestinian and Israeli girls expressed their fears, spoke of the dangers
they face at home and worked to gain each others' trust.
This year's camp faced unusual difficulties.
Participants were in
Free of the fighting
Working her hands in clay on July 9, the second
day of camp, Diana Fraija,
a Palestinian from Tulkarem, created a pot that
featured impressions of her fingerprints to take home to her village.
Later, she and the other girls would spread out in a circle and work on a project called "One Bowl
Serves Many."
Each girl made a coil to add to a large pot that was fired with shades of purple, green and yellow.
"The place here is so beautiful," said Fraija after the girls
finished the pot, intended as a symbol of peace and reconciliation.
"No soldiers. No
checkpoints. It's exciting. I feel like I'm dreaming. I don't
want to go back."
After the pot was finished, the girls walked to their quarters to relax before a hike.
Fraija and Jwana Ghaleb Mohammad, also Palestinian, paired up to talk about the violence back home.
"It's the first time we meet an Israeli
girl," Fraija
said. "We can't just imagine how they are. It's so nice to be around them."
She said home means checkpoints, raids and random arrests, and she almost felt guilty for spending time
in
"There are millions of them that haven't
experienced peace. They will never know what
peace means."
Ghaleb Mohammad who wore a
black and white shemagh, a
shawl-like ssymbol of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said she consoled herself by talking
about the suffering in her country.
"I want to send a message as a Palestinian person that we want our peace," she said. "I like
my land. I don't leave my land."
Danger at home
Midway through camp, Sylvia Margia,
a staff coordinator, learned that her own two
children were in danger in northern
Margia has volunteered with
Creativity for Peace the last two years. Part of
her job is to recruit girls ages 15 to 17 for the camp.
Margia said her ex-husband
was taking care of her children Jhony, 12, and Aia, 7 when
Hezbollah-fired rockets started falling near his home close to the
Israel-Lebanon border.
She advised him to take the children to
"I talked to my parents and my family to be sure that they are reporting to me," Margia said with tears in her eyes, debating whether
she should go home.
Margia said this session was
more difficult than last year's because of the
war.
She and Anael Harpez, the other camp coordinator
from northern
destroyed and that campers would be in danger upon their return.
"I never imagined this," Harpez
said. "I'm scared about losing the people
that I love."
Harpez will stay in
She said her son phoned her and advised her to stay in
Harpez said, "Where I
live, rockets have fallen every day. I'm staying
for the second camp and I'll decide what I'll do after
that."
'A lot of fun'
During a bowling outing in Santa Fe, Liat Esther, 15, from Kibbutz Kfar
Hanassi in northern Israel, gave a high five to Fraija, her new Palestinian
friend. They danced to music playing in the background as
other campers bowled.
"We have a lot of fun together," Esther
said. "I love these girls. They are amazing
girls. I just enjoy being around everyone. I always
have fun with
them. It doesn't matter what we do."
But home remains heavy on her mind.
"It feels wrong sometimes," Esther said.
"I feel safe right now, but I feel like I
should be with my mom and friends. It's a bit scary
right now, but I
know we'll be OK. At least we have shelters."
Saying goodbye
At Wednesday's closing ceremony, teary-eyed Ben-Ari volunteered to sing a
peace song. She said she'd heard that at least three
rockets had hit her town: "The government has some kind of (base)
there so they are always bombing."
The girls paired up and exchanged written wishes for their new friends and buried them near a peace pole.
Most girls sobbed and hugged one another tightly as they prepared to go their separate ways.
"I'll really miss you all. I know I might not see you again. Thank you for everything," Esther
said.