2005 Directors' Word
To all Peace Seekers:
Welcoming you to Peace Camp Canada (PCC) this year takes me back to 1997, when at the age of 15, I was welcomed to a Peace Camp in the USA bringing Palestinian and Israeli youth together. Right on the border of Canada and in the woods of Maine, I have lived what you are going to experience this August in Ottawa; at camp, it was my first time meeting youth my age from the other side. Yes, I lived, ate, slept, walked, played and made friends with the other side. This was not easy at a time, but today, I am looking forward to seeing you going home with contact details of your new friends from the other side.
In our disputed area in the Middle East, learning to live in peace is much more difficult than living in peace; and so, Peace Camp Canada, is offering you the opportunity to live in peace, know the other side, discover the hidden stories, and learn how to co-exist peacefully with the other side. Day after day, you will be building characters, strengthening rights, clarifying duties, and enjoying life at PCC.
As peace seekers, despite the fact that cultural factors vary widely from one nation to another, we expect you to respect moral values and do not expect you to practice hypocrisy or behave self-interestedly; a few ethical principles, or attitudes and perhaps religious or personal models sometimes might guide us; however, I would like to bring it to your attention that Peace Camp Canada not only declares its general aims in terms of bi-national interests but also the global and most importantly the human values.
Such chances come once in a life time; therefore, always remember to make the best of your time, learn the most from your stay, put the maximum of efforts, share the most, remember the good, tell the truth, witness the future, go home fresh and ready to make a change, and that is how we bring peace to the region.
Personally, I am confident I will enjoy your company; I promise to be there for you and give the best; I hope to pass the good, and most importantly, I am looking forward to witnessing my past and our future in peace building.
"We, the youth of Palestine and Israel, are the architects of our own future"
Peace,
Dalal Erakat
Dear Friends,
I come to Peace Camp Canada as an Israeli who is utterly tired of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and with the belief that I can, and indeed will, make a difference.
My philosophy is simple; I do not believe in the existence of hatred, only ignorance. Children are not born to hate, they are not even born with a cultural or religious identity. These are merely taught and transmitted. Hatred therefore is the byproduct of fear; of not knowing, not understanding and not recognizing the humanity of an ‘other’ person or group. Last year at Peace Camp Canada, it was therefore beautiful to watch how young Palestinians and Israelis, by sharing intimate moments together… without walls, without checkpoints, propaganda or incitement… could come to see that the hatred and mistrust they felt in their hearts was only a consequence of ignorance - an ignorance founded on false precepts and negative stereotypes with little basis in reality.
Having said all this, it is important to remember that there are very real problems that must be dealt with in the Middle East; highly sensitive issues that require practical solutions, and painful compromises that require much negotiation. But these can be dealt with and reached if both sides come to see each other as human beings and neighbors, not as bitter enemies.
This is the goal of Peace Camp Canada, and this is what we have set out to do! To illuminate similarities between both sides, encourage personal responsibility over the conflict, and provide our participants with the tools, knowledge and understanding necessary to deal with the conflict at home.
I am honored to be given the role of camp director this year, and look forward to working with our Palestinian and Israeli participants in cultivating real change in the hearts, minds, and consciousness of the people of the Middle East.
As Lao Tzu said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". It is my honor to be taking one of them.
Shalom, Peace, Salaam
Sincerely,
Elan Divon