One girl's vision leads to
more
Jewish-Palestinian camp programs
Saturday, 28 July 2007
January 1, 2007, TIME Magazine defined The Person of the
Year.
It's you.
The front page was a mirror.
You determine the future and are the one the the world has been waiting for.
You control the information age -- deciding on your
stories of choice, the future you choose to put into motion.
- - - - - - - - -
Beginning in 2002, three high school girls -- Muslim,
Christian and Jew -- met in
These daughters of diplomats engaged, communicated
well, and transcended borders to find their shared humanity and dreams.
Three Faiths, One Dream of Peace
Feb 29 2003 -- The Ottawa Citizen
http://traubman.igc.org/youth3.htm
One girl, 18-year-old Michelle Divon, had a dream of expanding relationship building
that she wouldn't let go of.
With tireless pursuit, her vision soon became PEACE
http://peacecampcanada.org/ .
It is part of an expanding family of
independent North American camps for the
Now the Canadian experience has spread to
The camps' co-directors are Palestinian, Ibrahim Miari (
imiari@gmail.com ) and Jewish Elan Divon ( elandiv@hotmail.com ).
To know them and their motives, consider the
statement of organizing principle each has chosen:
Ibrahim
Miari
You too
must mingle my friends
since the
earth and the sky are mingled
just for you
and me.
Elan
Divon
Peace
may sound simple - one beautiful word but
it requires
everything we have,
every quality,
every strength, every dream, every high ideal.
-
At this 2007 moment -- July 25th to
August 9th -- PEACE CAMP CANADA is again convening with 10 Israeli, 10
Palestinian and Canadian youth delegates.
Their camp experience includes intensive dialogue, the
creative arts and leadership building.
To spread this story around Earth, a film team from
They will produce a
feature documentary about the campers and their transformative experiences.
Their story on film will help change many more hearts
and minds -- and human relationships.
"People become the stories they hear and the stories they tell." - Elie Wiesel
Pass on this story that matters.
You are the Person of the Year.
You're the one that matters in the 2000s -- The
Citizens' Century.
Engage people -- connect, communicate, change, create.
Wherever you live, whoever you are.
- - - - - - - - -
Published in The Ottawa Citizen -- Friday 20 July 2007
Ashbury to host 3rd Peace Camp for 20 youths
10 Palestinians, 10 Israelis to spend 16 days
working toward better understanding
by Tony Lofaro
Michelle Divon, a former Ashbury College student, and daughter of former Israeli
ambassador Haim Divon,
began the camp while she was in Canada.
The 20 youths arriving in
It's that philosophy of understanding one's neighbour in that troubled part of the world that makes
Peace Camp Canada such a success. It's the third year for the 16-day camp,
which brings together 10 Israeli and 10 Palestinian youths in the collegial
setting of
The idea for the camp came from Michelle Divon, a former
"This became an example of what one person could
do," said Tam Matthews, the headmaster at Ashbury.
The youths, between 16 and 18 years old, will
participate in daily sessions on the political conflict in the
"This is a youth-to-youth program. It's a youth
idea, it's for the young people and we've been very careful on the advisory
board not to have the adults, the political or ambassadorial community overly
involved, although they are supportive," said Mr. Matthews.
Former
Mr. Matthews said the youths are selected from dozens of
applicants living in the
"People see the dream and the success of the camp
and they see how it changes the lives of people. Our dream is that these people
return home and there will be peace in the future," said Mr. Matthews.
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The full text can be ordered at:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=ca760024-355c-4cad-96f2-7185e6b3d69a
