While governments alone remain
inept and uncreative, the citizen, face-to-face public peace process is
stepping ahead creatively and courageously.
These Arab and Jewish "cultural creatives"
-- youth and adults -- are exhibiting exactly the models for listening,
speaking, and acts of goodwill that are the foundation for a new, forgiving,
cooperating Middle East community beyond war.
Faithfully, Crossing Borders, the every-two-months
Mideast youth magazine, is written cooperatively by Palestinian, Israeli
(Jewish and Arab), and Jordanian young women and men, to encourage dialogue
among youth in the Middle East. The colorful, hard-hitting, inspiring
publication is made available to thousands of youth and educational
institutions in those countries and throughout the region. It can be
ordered by others, too. For more information, you can contact Garba
Diallo at CB@crossingborder.org. Crossing Borders is on the Web at:
http://www.crossingborder.org/
"If we can reconcile - anyone can!"
say the 150 Palestinian and Israeli families of The
Parents Circle/Bereaved Families Forum who have all had family
members killed during the conflict. Yet they come together and stay
together in a call for peace. Information is on the Web, at:
http://www.theparentscircle.com/
"We are breaking down the wall,"
some said, as they recently met at a checkpoint of the Separation Fence -- a
mile inside the West Bank. The occasion was the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr,
for which the Israelis brought food for the Palestinians. They also met for a
whole weekend in the Seven Arches Hotel, East Jerusalem. Photos of
these exemplary people are at:
http://www.pbase.com/yalop/parents
Finally, exceptional Jerusalem Post journalist Lauren Gelfond (
LGelfond@zahav.net.il ) writes for Israel121c about 150 Palestinian
and Israeli schoolchildren who "unveiled last week its version of a new
reality in Jerusalem," the result of "a two-year series of art
workshops for the children of Jerusalem ages 9-12, called Painting Pain, Dreaming Peace.
In their separate parts of town, at first, the Palestinian
youngsters created such words as 'We are not Caged Animals,' 'Cerfew,'
'Pain and Fear,' 'Shelling,' and 'The Old City in Mourning.' The Israelis
similarly painted 'Bombs in City Center,' 'My Pain,' 'A Country in Pain,'
'A River of Tears,' 'We Became Rough,' 'Escape to a Peaceful Place,' and
'Jerusalem is so Sad.'
Next phases included coming together to share their
feelings and experiences of mourning and fear, and then their hopes for the
future. Their final paintings were liberally scattered with symbols of unity,
partnership and serenity.
"We learned to work together; it was fun,"
said Muhammed Al-Khatib, 12, who, like his classmates, had never previously met
a Jewish-Israeli peer.
Bar Ama, 12, said meeting Palestinian children for the
first time was different than she expected. "From the first meeting it was
very nice. It was fun to work with them. I discovered they are good."
"They are human - each one is a person unto
himself," said Israeli student, Lior Yochanan, 11.
Thanks to reporter Lauren Gelfond, who also wrote on
"Breaking the Ice" for the Jerusalem Post, for continuing to discover
stories to live by.
-- L&L
Published by Israel121c: A Focus Beyond the Conflict
-- Sunday, 15 February 2004
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Articles%5El625&enZone=Culture&enVersion=0&
Not Just Child's Play
by LAUREN GELFOND
A group of 150 Palestinian and Israeli schoolchildren
unveiled last week its version of a new reality in Jerusalem. Weary of
violence, they crafted on paper a world where bullets are made of chocolate,
flowers grow from fists, and loud noises that go bang in the night are just
fireworks of joy.
The reflections of optimism are the outcrop of a
two-year series of workshops for the children of Jerusalem, called Painting
Pain, Dreaming Peace.
Initiated by child Holocaust survivor Dr. Kitty O.
Cohen in response to the intifada, the program led Palestinian and Israeli
children, ages 9-12, to first work in their own communities to express pain,
fear and anger through painting.
During the initial leg of the program, the Palestinian
youngsters created such words as 'We are not Caged Animals,' 'Cerfew,' 'Pain and
Fear,' 'Shelling,' and 'The Old City in Mourning.'
"We worked during hard times, violent times,
quiet times. It gave the children a good feeling," said Palestinian art
teacher Issam Sabbah.
The Israelis, on their side of town, similarly painted
'Bombs in City Center,' 'My Pain,' 'A Country in Pain,' 'A River of Tears,' 'We
Became Rough,' 'Escape to a Peaceful Place,' and 'Jerusalem is so Sad.'
Later, the Israel and Palestinian children joined
together for a second series of individual and joint projects that looked at
their shared feeling and experiences of mourning and fear, and then to their
hopes for the future. Their final paintings were liberally scattered with
symbols of unity, partnership and serenity.
One hundred of their paintings from the last two
years, selected from among hundreds, are now on exhibit through at least March
4 at Jerusalem City Hall.
"We learned to work together; it was fun,"
said Muhammed Al-Khatib, 12, who, like his classmates, had never previously met
a Jewish-Israeli peer. Smiling uncontrollably in his oversized sweater at the
opening, he pointed out his contribution to the exhibit, a drawing called 'The
Wall That Separates Us.'
"We want peace," said Reem Al-Halawani, 11,
another Palestinian student, with her two little brothers in tow, explaining
that the workshops seemed like any normal situation of kids playing together.
"We painted, we talked, we played."
Among the many optimistic paintings she made, She drew
her vision of springtime, with Israeli and Palestinian flags shaped like
hearts, side-by-side, with flowers and butterflies swarming around them.
"I am happy to see that the children found
something hopeful to paint from within their pain," one Israeli parent
said at last week's opening at City Hall.
The Jerusalem Municipality partnered with Cohen and
her Institute for the Study of Religions and Communities in Israel to sponsor
the project and exhibit. The Municipality's East Jerusalem Department of Social
Affairs recruited the Palestinian children and teachers, with support from the
Jerusalem Foundation, an Israeli NGO.
The children rated the program as successful though
there were logistic problems. Israeli children did not receive security permits
to travel to east Jerusalem. And the students and most of the parents do not
share any common language, save a few words here and there.
But even that language was rated as the most difficult
challenge, youngsters from both sides said they were able to communicate
through shared activities and with a little help from translators.
Bar Ama, 12, said meeting Palestinian children for the
first time was different than she expected. "From the first meeting it was
very nice. It was fun to work with them. I discovered they are good."
"They are human - each one is a person unto
himself," said Israeli student, Lior Yochanan, 11.
Palestinian mothers in traditional dress stood
together with Israeli parents, as their children took them on a tour of their
creations. City Hall, an Israeli municipal government facility on the seam of
west Jerusalem, is frequented daily by scores of Israelis and Palestinians. The
exhibition and its catalogue are translated in Hebrew, Arabic and English
Bianco Sanc, 11, an Israeli 6th grader who
participated in the project for one year, didn't see anything unusual about
Israeli and Palestinian children looking at each other's portraits of pain and
hope.
He raised his eyebrows and shrugged: "There is
nothing like simple children."
The Jerusalem Municipality is considering extending
the exhibition, before it travels around Israel and abroad. Curators at the US
Congress facility in Washington have also expressed interest in hanging the
exhibition, organizers say.