peacecamp 2014

This was peacecamp 2014:
For me, the peacecamp started the minute we landed in Austria.
The warm welcome, the signs, the hugs – there was the feeling of peace in the air.
When we got to Lackenhof, we were divided into our rooms: 1 Israeli, 1 Arab, 1 Austrian and 1 Hungarian.
We put the luggage in the rooms, and immediately went to our first large group. Each participant introduced himself, and said what he came for.
Every morning, we did some "getting to know" activities like yoga, and ball games, with the amazing Lukas and AnnPhie.
After that, we went to the large group again, and talked about the problems that prevent us from making peace. We mainly talked about the problems in the Middle East.
We fought a lot with the Arab participants, but at the end of the day, we were best friends, and they were the participants that we felt closest to.
In the evenings we either had an artist activity (we learnt how to create music, and how to combine different kinds of it) or we had the culture evenings.
In the culture evenings, each country showed its culture – dances, famous places, food, traditions, clothing, etc.
Each evening, all the participants stayed up until 3am (or earlier), we sat in the hallway between all the rooms, played the guitar, sang, talked, laughed.. And around midnight each night, Lukas would come with his guitar and played "Californication" for us. We sang along, and played it a few times and it was great. During the last few days, we built the show4peace, and presented it in Lackenhof. The day after, we went to Vienna and presented it there in front of a large audience.

I met the most amazing people, girls and boys.
They supported me when I had something on my mind and when we found out about what's going in Israel (A war between Hamas and Israel started again), the Arabs and the Jews never felt closer.
So, thank you Evelyn and Ronny, for bringing me here, and give me this amazing experience that I will never forget.
Tsuf Ron, Israel

When I have been asked if i was interested in participating at the peacecamp i was so happy to get this opportunity again. I had to think about last year, how i missed the people so muchand how the experience was great. And i started wondering if me going to the camp a second time would be the experience i expect it to be or would it disappoint me because i would set my expectations too high. I knew that this camp would be something amazing and that every year is different thanks to the people, to their reflexions on subjects, to their personalities and them being simply them.

The first time we were all sitting in that cold room where we had plenty of activities waiting for us during this ten days, i have looked at everyone sitting there and telling something about themselves and wondered if i could ever remember all those names and if ten days would be enough to get to know them.

In the large group we had to face conflicts which we don’t have in the EU. We got to know the sentimental face behind the facts from the Jewish side and also from the Palestinian side. It was hard but along with the days passing by the camp has helped us understand that it is not about who has more victims or suffering to overcome but the important thing is to understand the others pain and to realize that the problem comes from both sides: no one is the bad guy or the good guy. But together and step by step we can seek for a solution.
The acticities chalenged our teamwork by giving us a problem to solve. The problems were from time to time ot easy to manage but at the end all of them were only manageable if we all worked together and helped each other out. So the camp proved that different cultures can work together peacefully even if their countries have conflicts with each other. We can solve the problems and difficulties if everyone wants to do that.

I think this idea of the peacecamp is amazing, because it actually gives different people, a chance to meet people from the same age, with totally different opinions, and cultures, and thoughts, to meet together, and to simply connect. This project helped me realize that we’re not that different and we have so much in common.

The final show was a big success, i loved it due to the teamwork realized by everybody taking part in it and we showed how we could work as a real group after a few days.
The peacecamp is a truly wonderful experience that can change your way to see the world.

Peacecamp 2014, Lackenhof
On July 3rd, 2014, at 3 o’clock in the morning 8 students from Carmel Zvulun Regional High School met the students of the Hand in Hand School in Jerusalem and set out on a trip to Austria together. Eight Jewish teenagers and eight Arab teenagers left friends, family and familiar surroundings to meet with eight Hungarian and eight Austrian teenagers and spend 11 days in Lackenhof, a small village surrounded by green hills and mountains around 100 km south-west of Vienna and a popular ski resort in winter. The purpose of the trip: to talk about peace, listen to the opinions of others, learn about others and voice opinions.
The two groups from the Middle East came to Lackenhof under the shadow of tragic events that had recently taken place in the region: the kidnapping of three Jewish teenagers, the searches and curfews that were imposed on the Arab population in the attempt to find the missing teenagers and the senseless murder of an Arab teenager, once it was clear that the three Jewish teenagers had been murdered. This was not a comfortable and easy time to talk about peace, understanding, tolerance and friendship. There was a lot of anger, frustration and pain, a feeling of misunderstanding and suspicion.
As the coordinator of the Jewish teenagers from Israel, I watched as my 15 year-old students listened to the pain and frustration of their Arab counterparts, and I listened to their own anger , frustration and helplessness. They didn’t have answers and they didn’t strike back with examples of what the Arab side had or hadn’t done. They listened to the critique and accusations voiced by the Arab teenagers, with dignity and patience, without lashing out, without making counter accusations. Instead, these eight young teenagers did their utmost to find a way and build a bridge of communication and understanding, to reach out to the other side. It took a lot of belief and persistence, but they succeeded in creating a good bond with their Arab counterparts. Surprising? Hardly….after all, they share the land, the weather, the food, the problems and both groups understand each other much better than people usually give them credit for. The friendship and mutual concern became evident when things heated up in the region: Hamas started shelling towns in the South of Israel and the IDF was forced to react.
Students from both sides expressed their concern for families and friends, but more importantly, for the newly formed friendship between them. How would the situation affect the relationship between them now? Would they have to choose sides? Would they start arguing again? Would the bond that they had formed in this short time be strong enough to withstand the tensions or would it be too fragile and break? Sixteen teenagers decided to protect and develop their bond, recognizing the fact that neither of them had any responsibility for the situation.
Will their efforts succeed? Will they be able to talk about the differences and still see the person, the human being, on the other side of the argument? I am not a prophet and cannot see the future, but I know that in this peace camp, 4peace-2014, seeds have been planted from which the hope to a better future for all people in the region can grow: a future of mutual understanding, mutual recognition of the needs of the other side, mutual condemnation of violence and a common wish for a lasting and just peace.
Liz Vanun, coordinator of the Jewish delegation from Carmel Zvulun Regional High School.