Peacecamp

13/10/2004
A separate universe indeed

Today it is the 13th of October, three months after the Identity camp took place.
Since then I have moved to the north part of Israel- that means moving to a new house, living in it while it is being constructed, meeting a new society, going to a new school, and getting to know the completely new and different area that I live in. with all these, my head is constantly full…
And yet, over the last three months, not one day went pass without me having thoughts about the Identity camp. The word ‘unforgettable’ has a whole new meaning for me .
The feelings, emotions, bonds, thoughts and experiences that I went through in this camp will follow me to the end of my days.
It was the most intense episode I have ever experienced in my life, in which I also learned many significant things about my self and about life in general.
During the on-going peace camp I felt separate from the world, from humanity. It was as if someone halted the clock we live by everyday, and we then entered a separate universe, made just for us, with no one and nothing to disturb us…fulfilling the absolute potential of the project.

The camp was a milestone in my life, and I am sure that it also was for all of it’s participants.

I want to thank anybody who helped putting this camp together and make it happen!!
I also want to thank all the kids that took part in the camp!!! 


Good bye, hopefully until soon!!!!
Yours,
Ben Serota,
Jewish Israeli group.

A wonderful world full of mistakes

If I look at the world I can see a lot of things which are definitely wrong, which can’t be right. People are dying of hunger while other ones get fat, people are making wars and the devil looks at us with a smile on his face while God looks away. No, God sees us but he knows that we are intelligent enough to solve our problems.
For hundreds of years people have been fighting- fighting for a land which isn’t rich but very important for religious people. The crusaders wanted to have their holy land, the Jewish people want to have their wonderful Zion and also the Arabs want to have their land. Israel- a point in controversy all over the world. Somehow ironical- in the land where Jesus “invented” brotherly love and told people about peace, has been war for hundreds of years…
Peace, a dream in Israel?? No, there are signs for a better world. The peace-camp. Somewhere in Austria, somewhere far away from the Middle-East, there’s a meeting between Jewish and Arab teenagers. Eight Jewish kids, eight Arab ones and eight kids from Austria are spending a week together having fun and talking about the Israel-conflict. For me, one of the Austrian-group the week was fantastic- I really had a lot of fun and learned a lot about other cultures and mentalities . Nevertheless I made a big mistake, which I realized after the project: I hardy talked with the Arab people because I had other interests. Also the other ones of the Austrian group say that they had more contact with the Jewish kids because the Arabs couldn’t speak English very well, because they were shy, they didn’t want to talk or because our cultures were too different. Arguments which are kind of stupid. Sure these facts are little problems but easily to overcome. Berthold Brecht, an Austrian author wrote the following poem: “Some are standing in the light, and others are in the dark- and you just see the ones in the light, the ones in the dark stay hidden” For me this poem shows exactly the situation at the camp. Because of the facts that it was easier to communicate with them, and that our cultures are similar, for me the Jewish people were standing in the light. I was just too lazy too look into the dark, to see the other ones.
But all in all I think that the project was successful. We all had a wonderful week together and I hope that we all meet again some time, somewhere, somehow. Just the fact that Arab and Jewish kids take part in such projects shows that the dream of a peaceful Israel isn’t impossible to realize. A camp in Austria isn’t the solution or a big step to peace- it’s just a small grain of sand in the desert to the wonderful oasis peace, but God smiles about it. God smiles because he knows that everything will be okay in the future because we can also solve this problem.



Andreas Wieser 19.9.2004

אני מזהה את עצמי כישראלית, ערבית, מוסלמית ופלשתינית. מבחינות אחרות אני מזהה את עצמי כילדה עם אופי חברותי מאוד, חיובית, עצמאית, רגישה, חברה נאמנה, ביטחון עצמי, אחראית, שחיינית, מלאת חיים ונחישות.
המשלחת עצמה והמחנה עצמו מילאו אותי בהתרגשות רבה. כמה שאני אחפש מאחורי המילים, אני אף פעם לא אמצא את השם שיכול באמת לתאר את המחנה וגם את המילים לתיאור המדריכים שהועילו לנו ומילאו את מקומם של הורים וחברים הדואגים לאלה שחשובים להם.
מבחינתי, שמחתי מאוד להיות עם כל החברים ואני אף פעם לא אשכח כמה צחקנו עם המדריכים הערבים: עותמן, מיכאל וחוסנייה. ואני לא אשכח את נילי שמילאה לי תפקיד של אם.
אפשר לכתוב עוד בלי סוף על החוויות ולא לסיים אף פעם, אבל מילים לא יכולות לתאר את ההרגשה והמצב שחווינו. כל משאלתי היא לחזור ולהיות שוב כולנו ביחד בקרוב.
אנא מסרו לחברים האוסטרים נשיקות חמות ממני ושלא ישכחו אותנו. הלוואי ואוכל לבקר אותם שוב כיוון שאני מאוד מתגעגעת אל כולם. נפשי כולה תקווה לפגוש את כולם בשלום ואהבה רבה.

אלאא נטור

Allaa's report

I identify myself as Israeli, Arab, Moslem and Palestinian.

At some other level, I identify myself as a child with a very sociable personality, independent, sensitive, a truthful friend, assertive, responsible, as a swimmer, as forceful and alive.

The journey itself and the camp itself filled me with a lot of excitement. Much as I am searching for the right words, I can never find the right name to describe the camp, nor the teachers who supported us and cared for us like parents or friends who care for those who are important to them.

As far as I am concerned, I was very happy to be with all the friends and I will never forget how much we laughed with the Arab teachers: Othman, Mickael and Husnia. Nor will I forget Nili who acted with me like a mother. It would be possible to keep writing forever and not to stop at all but words cannot describe the experience and the feeling that we experienced. My only wish is to meet and to be together again in the near future.

Please give the Austrian friends my warmest kisses and tell them not to forget us. I wish I could visit them soon again because I am very much longing for all of them. My whole soul is full of hope for a reunion with everybody in peace and in love.

Allaa Natour

Ahmed Beshir:


Als das Flugzeug zum ersten Mal gelandet ist, sah ich die grüne Wiese und das fließende Wasser und als das zweite Flugzeug gelandet ist, und sah die Lehrerin auf uns warten, ist die Freude bei mir immer mehr und mehr gewachsen. An diesem Tag war einer der schönsten Tage, die ich dort erlebt habe und an diesem Tag ist das Lächeln auf meinen Lippen bis zum letzten Tag [geblieben?] als der Professor zu uns kam und fing an über Widerstand zu sprechen, die Besetzung von Israel und hat unsere Herzen wieder verletzt. Warum?

After the first airplane had landed i saw the green lawn and the flowing water and after the second airplane had landed i saw the teacher waiting for us and the joy inside me rose bigger and bigger. This was one of the most beautiful days in my life there and the smile stayed on my lips until the last day, when the professor came and started to speak about resistance and the occupation of israel and hurt our hearts again. why?

A Klagenfurt Composite

Three groups of teenagers, who, under normal circumstances, would never come eye-to-eye or face-to-face, converged on Klagenfurt with a mission to put identity and narratives on “center stage”. No easy objective; no easy way down.

I was there, basically, to work with the “performance” part of the event, but found myself more involved with the “processes” taking place than I had anticipated. There were multiple and parallel processes going on – in abundance.


last evening show

However, what I’d like to share is the fact that I am extremely glad I was part of the group, because two weeks after returning, my daughter Alexandra, who participated in the workshop despite being two years younger, was invited to her new girlfriend’s house to sleep over. ”.

This need not seem of any particular interest, or worthy of mentioning. However Alexandra’s new girlfriend’s name is Alla and she is an Arab who lives in Qalansua. This is a rather unusual scenario – not TOTALLY unheard of – but rare these days. And it did not go as smoothly as it sounds. Alexandra’s father was against the over-night, which brought Alex to a tearful panic. (I had agreed without thinking twice, but then, I guess that’s why he’s getting married again to a different kind of woman, at this very moment, as a matter of fact). Due to the nature of my profession, Alexandra has met and interacted with quite a number of Arabs in Israel, young and old. But this is the first time she really developed a “buddy relationship with anyone.

In any case, when I suggested that perhaps I go pick up Alla and bring her to our house in Givatayim, Alex shrieked: “What, forever????!!!” Isn’t it supposed to be an alternating thing – once at her house, once at mine??!” I was sorry that she was crying her eyes out, but VERY proud of her logic and sense of “justice”. (In the end, her father relented, and Alex DID spend a night at Alla’s. Now it’s Alla’s turn to come hang out in Givatayim).

Without the Klagenfurt composite, this growth spurt would still be on the horizon.

Melisse Lewine-Boskovich

A few days ago we returned home - 26 Arab, Israeli and Austrian youths who had participated at a 10-days camp in Austria. The camp dealt with aspects of the personal and group identity of people, with the ability to know and respect the identity of others and offered various workshops – art, drama, music, plastic art etc. We had also trips and tours in the surrounding region as well as group sessions with a psychologist.

In spite of the expected conflicts which arose amongst members of the different groups, these did not diminish the intense personal ties which arose amongst participants and many of the originally stereotypes and prejudices were lessened. This was one of the most important experiences I had in my whole life and I enjoyed (almost) every moment I spent in Austria.

I learnt much more than I had expected, especially about the Arab group. None of us knew, how hard a burden their religion and tradition is for them and how much it dictates their behaviour. What they told me about themselves is the reality which they experience, and it is quite different from the picture that television conveys about them. Also the encounter with the Austrians was quite stunning. We are already preparing our next encounter with them, our next trip to Austria.


three cultures, three girls, one friendship

In addition, a documentary film was made about the camp and will be shown at the festival of the Jewish Film in Vienna and on a number of television channels.

Livnat Holinger
Emek Chefer High School


Livnat's article in "Maariv la'noar". August 2004

Before the peacecamp in Austria there had not been any contact between the Arab and the Jewish groups. In fact, even though the two schools are only a few kilometers apart, none of their students had ever visited the neighboring village, nor seen the other school, not met any of the pupils from of "the other side".
After the summer things changed for them: with the help of Nili, our Jewish-Israeli project manager, and Otman and Hosnia, her Arab counterparts, a few reunions of the two groups took place, at which participants of peacecamp 2004 exchanged photographs, impressions and memories......