CATHERINE JUN Palestinian Adham Rishmawi
(left) and Israeli Aviv Liro spent time together
last summer discussing problems of the Middle East.
By Josh Wolf
Daily Bruin Contributor
At home they would be on opposite sides of a deadly dispute, but
on April 12, Israeli and Palestinian teenagers spoke together to a
group of UCLA students about the ongoing conflict in the Middle
East.
“Instead of going to the streets, instead of making riots,
we talk,” said Aviv Liron, an 18-year-old Israeli.
It is this desire to talk that brought Liron and Adham Rishmawi,
an 18-year-old Palestinian, to UCLA as part of a program to educate
American students on the situations and prevailing sentiments in
the Middle East. The program is one of many run by Seeds of Peace,
a worldwide organization dedicated to helping teenagers learn the
skills of making peace.
“It’s a great idea, but it’s not so easy to do
it,” Liron said.
Two years ago, Liron participated in the Seeds of Peace summer
program. At a camp in Maine, he lived with other teenagers, both
Israeli, Arab and Palestinian, from the Middle East, including
Rishmawi.
“The general idea is to bring kids from both sides
together and to let them talk,” Liron said.
He added that the success of the program lies in its ability to
put children in situations where they forget their differences.
“We have so much fun that we accidentally make
friends,” he said.
But the program has greater goals than building friendships: it
pursues the difficult task of improving understanding between the
groups.
“We came to camp with sincere intentions to prove the
other side wrong. Getting us to listen is not easy,” Liron
said.
The camp structure employs soccer, basketball, water skiing and
ice skating to bring the children together on the playing field,
but goes to even greater lengths to bring them together
emotionally.
For two hours a day, campers participate in facilitated
discussions focusing on topics such as Palestinian and Israeli
claims to the city of Jerusalem, and Israeli occupation of the West
Bank.
“You start to have a conversation. You’re not just
trying to make your point,” Liron said.
Rishmawi told the group about childhood run-ins with the Israeli
army. One day, he saw the door to his house kicked in and his
father arrested and dragged out, shattering the peace of his
home.
On another occasion, his school was flooded with tear gas during
a skirmish with an adjacent Israeli army base, and bullets whizzed
past the bus as the children were evacuated.
Seeds of Peace gave Rishmawi the opportunity to interact with
Israelis in a different environment, removed from the violence and
animosity of his home.
“As a Palestinian living in the West Bank, I grew up
knowing Israelis only as soldiers. At Seeds of Peace I was able to
meet what my father called good Israelis,” Rishmawi said.
After a summer away, the teenagers returned home to the ongoing
turmoil. The only change was what they had learned at camp.
“Getting home is going back to reality,” said
Liron.
With three explosions in his home town since his return, Liron
says that he fears for the safety of his family.
But now he is concerned for people falling under a broader
definition of family.
“When something goes wrong, I call my friends. It
doesn’t matter if they’re Israeli or
Palestinian,” Liron said.
But this new perspective is not something that is easily
understood by the people around him.
“It’s not something I can talk about with friends,
teachers, or family. They just don’t understand,” Liron
said.
Rishmawi had similar experiences.
“I go home faced with a lot of questions,” he said,
expressing the lack of sympathy he receives.
The two continue to follow their summer teachings despite
tension in their communities. They keep in touch with their friends
from camp, and reunite at the Seeds of Peace center in Jerusalem.
They take trips to Jordan and Egypt, activities that they never
would have previously considered.
Liron says that his father went to Jordan years ago as a
soldier, fighting for his life, but when he himself visited Jordan
he stayed at a friend’s house and was accepted into the
family.
He cites this as proof that change is possible and that
differences can be put aside, though not necessarily overcome.
“We’re more willing to listen, but it doesn’t
change what you feel or who you are,” Liron said.
Rishmawi echoed a similar sentiment.
“What’s more important is to understand, not
necessarily to agree,” he said.
Two teenagers have had their lives changed by the Seeds of Peace
program, but the organization isn’t in a position to solve
the entire problem.
“There needs to be a spectrum of efforts that builds
peace,” said Michael Wallach, the project coordinator, adding
that Seeds of Peace needs help in achieving its larger goals.
The organization has already recruited two young men who are
willing to make the sacrifices necessary for peace.
“Building is much harder than destroying, but I believe it
is worth the try,” Rishmawi said.