Israeli and Palestinian girls have until the end of next month to apply to take part in an upcoming beauty pageant that aims to build bridges between the two estranged communities, organizers said.
"We want to promote peace between the two sides, try to use understanding rather than guns," says Uzi Nagar who lives in Gilo, a south Jerusalem neighborhood built on Palestinian land annexed after the 1967 Six-Day War.
Only contestants from Gilo, the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem and the two adjacent villages of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala can take part in the event.
Nagar, who says 20 Gilo girls have already applied, dreamt up the idea of the contest, describing himself as "a believer in peace" and a member of the center-left, opposition Labor party.
Aware that the project may seem like a drop in the ocean of distrust between Palestinians and Israelis after decades of violence, Nagar insists "it is better to do a little than nothing at all."
"In the future, if Palestinians from the Bethlehem area attack Gilo and if the army raids that territory, girls on both sides will be sensitized to the suffering of others," he adds.
A valley separates Gilo from the Palestinian town of Beit Jala.
The area was dogged by frequent exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising in late September 2000, until Israel built a concrete wall.
Jacqueline Yussef, who owns a hair salon in the nearby Israeli Arab town of Beit Safafa, is in charge of recruiting Palestinian contestants.
"I've had seven entries so far. I am expecting much more by end-May. We have a nice, representative sample of girls aged 15 to 20, both Christians and Muslims," she said.
But some in Bethlehem think the idea of a joint beauty contest is utterly inappropriate as long as Israel continues to occupy Palestinian land.
"I am against it because we are still at war with Israel. Such a pageant will only be appropriate once Israel gives us our rights back," says Safa Massalam, 20.
"This is nothing less than normalization and completely wrong at this time," she adds.
Ahed Jaraissah, 18, also slammed what he called an attempt at normalizing Palestinian-Israeli relations.
"I am against normalization when Israel is illegally occupying our land. I am sure Israel will want to use the pageant to show that it wants peace when in fact it wants war," he adds.
Both Yussef and Nagar brush off the criticisms, saying merely that they are acting with good intentions.
"Even if what they say could be true in principle, what solution do they offer? We won't solve every problem with the pageant but at least we are trying to make things better between the two sides," Nagar says.
"There is nothing wrong with bringing people closer," adds Yussef.
Nagar intends to apply personally for army permits needed for every Palestinian contestant who will have to cross from the West Bank into Gilo for the pageant.
West Bank identification holders cannot cross into Israel without army clearance, a process that can take weeks or even months.
"If there is any problem, I will call the ministry of defense to seek their support and tell them we believe peace is better than shooting," he said.
Nevertheless, he readily admits that it will be difficult for Palestinian girls to meet their Israeli peers beyond the one-off contest event.
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