Just kilometers from where the Iron Curtain once stood, youths from another divided region — Israelis and Palestinians — are coming together to seek a dialogue and learn about each other.
They are between 16 and 20 years old, boys and girls from two different worlds who at home have no opportunity to meet.
“This is the first time I meet people from the West Bank and Gaza and hear their side, their point of view,” said Yoni, 17, from the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.
PHOTO: AFP
And yet over the past week, they have eaten their meals together, played football and danced together.
Entitled “Dialogue 4 the future,” the two-week camp in Rechnitz, a small town near the Austro-Hungarian border, was organized by Austrian evangelical groups and partly funded by the EU.
A first camp was held in 2007 and the idea was again to bring these communities together through discussions, games and outdoor activities.
Eight youths came from Ramallah in the West Bank, eight from Haifa, eight from Hungary and three from Austria.
“I was a bit afraid of hearing what they’d have to say, maybe they wouldn’t want to talk to us,” Yoni said of his initial concerns.
But “they’re really nice, and I have new friends now,” he said.
Under camp rules, everyone must eat the same food — no pork is served — and the rooms are mixed, said Klaus Pahr, one of the camp’s organizers.
He recalled picking the groups up at the airport.
“The looks the Palestinians threw the Israelis and vice-versa ... it was extraordinary. You could tell they lived completely separate lives,” he said.
But now, “there’s mutual understanding: They’re starting to teach each other swear words,” Julia, the Austrian group leader, added with a laugh.
Some of the Palestinians have had problems with English, the camp language, but improvised football matches in the courtyard and cultural evenings with lots of dancing have helped overcome language barriers.
“As the Palestinians said, it’s really important to know that they’re also people: They are the same, they like to have fun,” said Peter, 17, from Hungary.
The camp is one of many in Europe to bring Israelis and Palestinians together, and several hours were dedicated to discussing the political and historical background of the conflict and sharing stories.
A Palestinian told of Israeli soldiers searching his family’s home and arresting his uncle. An Israeli girl recalled hearing sirens “15 times a day” and having to rush into shelters during the 2006 Lebanon war.
Others spoke of neighbors being shot while taking their child to school, of suicide bombings and long waits at Israeli checkpoints.
For many, this was the first time they had heard the other side’s point of view.
“We are neighbors, but we don’t know much about each other, we’re strangers,” said Jalal, one of the Palestinian group leaders.
The Austrians and Hungarians, divided for decades by the Iron Curtain, serve as an example.
“They are past it ... They built a future and you see, it’s a nice future,” Jalal said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS