All WE Are Saying Is Give Peace a Chance

I was born into what many people would view as a war zone. As a little kid I learned in kindergarten that the Arabs are the bad guys and I should be scared of them. “This is our country” I remember hearing all the time.I never questioned that because as a kid I grew up on the night news show that always showed another terrorist attack that has just happened. Another family lost its loved one. Another family had to live with a hole in their heart.I remember living in what seemed like a constant fear. “No you cannot take the bus I will drive you.” My parents used to say. “Remember you have to call me when you reach Noam’s house.” I used to get so annoyed by it.It was not a surprise for me when my brother decided to become a soldier.I used to be so proud of my strong brother who did things that seemed impossible to me. After all he was there protecting my country. I don’t know if it was the family I was raised in or the kind of people I used to hung out with. By I started to view the other side ( The Arabs) as not so bad anymore. Of course there were still those terrorist and those terrorist group leaders who scared the crap out of me. But there were also those teenagers. Those innocent teenagers who were just like me. My first real experience was in 7th grade. My school won a national leadership competition and our prize was to go visit an arab school in the west bank. The experience was amazing .We played games, talked ( mostly English but we tried to use our very broken Arabic) and later exchanged MSN addresses and ICQ numbers. For a second I thought. Maybe it is possible. Maybe we can make peace.

My perspective changed again in January of last year. We were in Israel and on the day we left back to Curacao my cousin Dan and my cousin Tom were both called into the army in the middle of a family dinner. In that very moment I turned to look at my older brother Yoav and he just shook his head. I knew something was wrong. You all obviously know what happened after. Israel and Hamaas went into a war causing the death of many innocent people. It wasn’t until a few months ago that my point of view about peace changed.

A few months ago I got an email from my old drama teacher titled "All WE are saying Is Give Peace a Chance". I opened the email and found a link to a website called 'Peace Child' I entered the website. And at that very moment my life changed.

Peace Child Israel was founded in 1988 by the late Israeli actress Yael Drouyanoff and uses theater and other art forms to encourage dialogue between teens who might otherwise never meet. So far, seven groups have been formed, pairing Jewish and Arab towns throughout Israel, among them Misgav-Sakhnin, Raanana-Qalanswa, and East and West Jerusalem.

The Peace Child comes to educate for democratic values, tolerance and mutual respect. Arab and Jewish teens from partnering Arab and Jewish schools around the country meet weekly for 8 months before creating original dramas about coexistence and its challenges. The plays, in Arabic and Hebrew, are performed for the public at-large and in a second year of activity, for student audiences. Here are some things some of the children have said :

"We don't care about politics; we just like each other,"

"Even though Arabs live close to me, I have never had the chance to get to know them. I have always been afraid of Arabs as a group and now I know this fear has been unjustified,"

"On the bus from Washington to northern New Jersey, the students cried because it was their last journey together. We promised to keep in touch and start making arrangements for our visit to Israel. The hosting families intend to help me found 'The American Friends of Peace Child'. Knowing there are more people willing to work for the success of this project was quite a relief for me. I delivered this baby but now a whole new future awaits it." ( Talking about their show in the United States)

Although it is not one teenager but a group of teenager the Child Peace group inspired me to believe that peace is possible . it inspired me to believe that there are some people who are still optimistic about peace. And for that? I am extremely thankful.

"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."

Shira Hebel 10B