peacecamp 2013

All of us are very excited to meet all of you and to get to know you all
and for you to get to know us. We assume that we all have one common
goal: to further peace in our area and in the world entire. So, let's get
together and see how we help change the world….

The coordinator of the Jewish Israeli delegation Liz Vanun

My name is Liz Vanun and I am an English teacher at Carmel Zvulun Regional High School, which is situated near Haifa, in Kibbutz Yagur. I was born in Amsterdam, Holland and moved to Israel when I was twenty years old. Though I have lived in Israel ever since, I have had the opportunity to spend time in many other countries; I love to travel, meet new people and their culture. Israel, being a melting pot of so many different cultures, is therefore the perfect place for me.
I am both honored and excited about having been given the opportunity
to be part of a delegation that represents our country in such a
wonderful and important program. I strongly believe that meeting each
other, exchanging different, and often opposite views, are essential in
the attempt to get a better understanding of each other. It is not enough
to talk about peace; actual steps must be taken to attain what we all
want. The 4Peace camp is a great opportunity to lay the foundation for
better understanding, better communication and empathy for the pain
and loss of the other side.
I am looking forward to meeting everyone and hope that, alongside the
differences, we will be able to look beyond them and discover that we
have far more in common than we initially thought.

1. Ofir Ya'acobi

My name is Ofir Ya’acobi and I am 15 years old. Iam a student at Carmel
Zvulun Regional High School and I am in the 8th grade. I have lived in
Nofit since I was 4 years old. Nofit is a small, rural place, not far from
Haifa. I like to read boos and listen to music. I also enjoy watching TV.
However, the thing I like to do best is gymnastics. I train 3 times a week
with a professional group of gymnasts, representing our regional council.
I also dance once a week.
I am glad to present my country and be a part of the 4Peace project. In
my opinion, I am a peaceful and friendly person and I will be able to
connect to the people and contribute to the project.
This project is important to me because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
which is the biggest issue that we deal with in the Middle East today.
Therefore, it is important that teenagers on both sides talk about it to
promote peace on our region.

2. Dror Richter-Baruch

Hello, my name is Dror Richter-Baruch and I live in Nofit with my
family. I am 15 years old and I was born in 1998. I am an 8th grade
student at Carmel Zvulun Regional High School. I love music and have
played musical instruments since I was in the second grade. I played all
kinds of flutes and later on started playing the guitar and the harmonica.
Now I am playing the cello. Another thing I like very much is
orienteering and I participate in an orienteering competition every
week.
I am glad I was chosen to represent my school and country in front of
teenagers from other countries. This delegation is important to me
because I believe that world peace is impossible to reach in this decade,
but can be reached in the future. In my opinion the future of our world is
in the hands of the teenagers of today: our hands.
The camp and its goal – peace – can help us to develop the means to
make the world a better place and that is something I really want to be
part of.

3. Ido Ninburg

My name is Ido Ninburg and I am 15 years old. I live in Nofit, a small
place near Haifa. I like to listen to music, play the piano and the
harmonica. I love art and spend a lot of time painting, drawing and
creating art on the computer.
I am so glad that I was chosen to be part of the delegation because I like
to influence other people and be influenced by them. I would really like
the world to be a more peaceful place and want to do my share to
accomplish this.
I expect to hear opinions that are different from mine, knowing they will
have an influence on me and on my environment. I would like my
opinions to influence others, as well. When that happens we will be able
to understand each other better and can work together to get closer to
peace.

4. Itay Lotan

My name is Itay Lotan and I live in a Nofit, a small village east of Haifa in
Israel. I am 14 and half years old and my hobbies are playing the guitar
and playing tennis. I have one sister and one brother, who are both
younger than me.
I want to participate in the 4Peace Camp because I want people to hear,
basically, to listen to the things I have to say on the subject. I think that
there are many people who don't know all the sides to the story and
don't think about it, either.
I think it will be a great experience for me to tell our side of the story
and to hear the other side of the story, as well. I think I have something
to contribute to the Camp and hope I will get a lot out of it, as well.

5. Itay Mick

My name is Itay Mick and I live in Nofit, which is a small rural place,
about 20 minutes each of Haifa. I like to play the saxophone and the
flute. I also love sports, especially tennis and riding my bike. I play soccer
with my friends and used to play basketball in the past. I love to be
outside and go on hiking trips.
It's important to me to participate in the 4Peace Camp because I love my
country. I want to serve in the army and I know why I want to do so. My
parents have always told me that it is important to fight for my country.
I want to hear what other people think about Israel and will try to
understand why they have these opinions. It gives me the opportunity to
voice my opinions and give my point of view, and, at the same time,
listen to the opinions of others and try to understand the point of view
of others.

6. Tomer Aviv

My name is Tomer and I am 14 years old. I live in kibbutz Sha'ar
Ha'Amakim, which is near Tivon and about 20 minutes east from Haifa. I
like to read a lot, sing and play the guitar. I also love to draw. When I
have time to watch TV I prefer shows like Friends and the Big Bang
because they are funny and make me laugh.
I am glad that I was chosen to join this delegation because it is a once in
a life-time opportunity. It's important for me to show the world that
there is more to my country than what people see and hear on the
news.
I am looking forward to meeting new people, make new friends and
listen to opinions that are different from mine. I have my own opinions
but am willing and interested in listening to others because, if we don't
learn to listen to each other we will never get close to peace.

7. Adi Marciano

My name is Adi Marciano and I live in Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, which is 20 minutes east of Haifa. I am 15 years old and have a brother and a sister. My hobby is dancing; I dance 3 times a week. I have danced since I was a little girl and my favorite styles are Hip-Hop, Classical and Modern Dance. Dance is like medicine for the soul for me. Whenever I am happy, sad or upset dancing cheers me up and it enables to express myself. In my free time, or what is left of it after school, dancing and family, I go out with my friends. I love my friends, they make me happy.
It's important to me to be on this delegation for peace because I think that the troubled relations between our two nations and other nations in the world hurt us and humanity as a whole. For example, because of a lack of cooperation the technological progress is slower. If we used the means and resources together, we would be able to get better and faster results. Good relations with neighbors and friendly relations between people are good for our world and for a better future. The possibility to travel to all places in the world, hear different languages and see different customs will contribute to the general awareness and acceptance of different people and different cultures.

8. Ido Patish

Hello, my name if Ido Patish and I'm 15 years old. I was born in Israel, on
December 7th, in 1997. I live in Kfar Bialik which is 15 minutes from Haifa
and I am a student at Carmel Zvulun Regional High School. My hobbies
are playing the guitar, watching TV, playing computer games and
listening to music. I also like to run and do so almost every day.
I am glad I was chosen to join the delegation of the Peace Camp because
I think that I can represent my country very well. In addition, I am
looking forward to meeting new people from different countries, who
speak a different language and come from a different culture.
It is important for me to go to the Peace Camp and do the best I can to
represent Israel and the Israeli side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and
to promote peace, not only in our region, but worldwide. I was chosen
from among many students who wanted to go to this camp and I am
really honored.
I want to share my knowledge and experience of the State of Israel and
help others understand not only our point of view, but also what we are
all about: our language, culture and more. In addition, I want to hear the
opinion of the Palestinian people on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and
try and understand their point of view.

1. Yvonne Kaderavek

Hi, my name is Yvonne Kaderavek. I'm fifteen years old. I live in Vienna, Austria. I am half austrian and half bulgarian. I go to the french school in Vienna. I can speak 4 languages. I have an older brother and an older half sister. I am christian, orthodox.

2. Yaël-Marie Dimbour

Hi! My name is Yaël, and I'm 15 years old. I living in Brunn bei Pitten, in Austria, but I'm from France.
I go in a French school. I hate chocolate and cake. I love sport. I believe in God but I have no specify religion because my mother is Jewish, but my father is catholic.
I have one sister and one brother.

3. Solal Guillermet

Hello, I am 15 years old and I come from France. I lived in France (9 years), Sénégal (4 years), Vietnam (1 year). Now I live in Austria, I study in the LFV (Lycée Français de Vienne). I like rugby, climbing, surf, video games and books.

4. Pierre Alabrune

Hello! My name is Pierre Alabrune and I am 14 years old. I am French eventhough I have been living in Viena Austria for now 4 years. I study in the LFV (Lycée français de Vienne) where I started to participate on the Peace Camp Project. I listen to a lot of music and love to learn about new cultures. I also like to watch series like Terra Nova, How I met your mothers, ... I speak or learn about six languages (French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) and I'm looking forward to meet you all this summer; Participating on this Peace Camp Project is very important to me, given the fact that I've never been in real contact with people from Israel, Palestine or Hungary and I think that we never stop learning from each other.

We are trying to understand how young people imagine peace.

Please answer briefly (in two to three sentences) each of the following questions – and give only your personal opinion!

1. What does the word peace mean to you in the context of your own life?

2. What are the main obstacles to peace in the context of your own life?

3. What have you done so far to promote peace in your own country?

4. What can you do in the future to promote peace in your own country?
___________________________________________________________

(01 - male, Austrian group)

1. The word peace is for me a way to find inner harmony and outer understanding and serenity within my relations with others. Peace is a very big notion; it can be used to define a country, or a simple person. I always lived in relatively peaceful countries, so peace is something very normal for me.

2. Peace is most of the time restrained by the persons I have to deal with and myself. People in general have a tendency to privilege their own interest, which is for me the biggest obstacle to peace; Because someone is more likely to defend his interest whether than someone else’s interest, a lot of people are going to enter in conflict to defend their opinion/interest. This is what happens very often. Human greed is also an obstacle to peace.

3. The only activity I’ve been participating to is MUN (Model United Nations), a simulation of the United Nations in Milan. There, I had the opportunity to represent a country (Ecuador) and right a clause on a special issue (Protecting female labor force in Mexican maquiladoras).

4. In the future, I think that helping to reduce discrepancies in my country could be a solution. In every country, there is always a thing to do. Helping people to find a job, become a social worker, being voluntary... A lot of jobs enable to spread peace or to reduce inequalities.
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(02 - male, Austrian group)

1. Because I never knew war, peace is something very normal for me. I can’t understand the meaning of war, so I don’t understand peace. As for me peace is more like a collective happiness, a global understanding.

2. The human cupidity is one of the main obstacles. Also all the form of extremism is a danger for peace, if anything became extremism this can lead to fanaticism, and fanaticism lead to war. But those obstacles are only what I perceive of the world.

3. I have done nothing, nothing that can change something. When I was younger I made recycled paper in a sort of ecology exhibition I felt very important and helpful. Now I feel very small in front of the world, this kind of stops me in my peace fight.

4. The first thing that we can do for peace is being non-violent. I can help in all the humanitarians’ actions. The power of one is nothing , the power of all is strong.
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(03 - female, Austrian group)

1. The word “peace” means for me to respect people and to have the freedom to say, to think and to do what you want to. It also represents the way of living with each other without fights. Peace has for me almost the same definition as freedom.

2. Sometimes there are some people who are racists and against the immigrants. I think this is the biggest obstacles in this country.

3. I have resolved some conflicts and reacted as one of the students was mobbed.

4. After returning from the camp, I hope that I could continue in supporting peace in our country.
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(04 - male, Austrian group, *non participant*)

1. For me, peace is associated to war. Where there is no war, there is peace. I think peace nowadays is the status of a country and nothing more. Peace nowadays is not meaning enough, it should be about the happiness between one another.

2. Peace is like saying hello to your baker in the morning when you bought your baguette and giving money to the usual beggar going back home. I think peace in the context of my own life is serenity in my neighborhood and in myself. Now the obstacles would be our mood and our little problems in life, like the bill to expensive or even a bad mar. Those events would prevent us from doing a good deed in the day.

3. I think that it is difficult for a teenager to have done some thing at the scale of a country. This is why I don’t consider having done anything for peace AT THIS SCALE of course.

4. I think that it is impossible alone to bring peace for a country. The best way is by not provoking wars and having no army. But for everyone, to be in good conditions with your neighbor. This way the whole country will be at peace.
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(05 - female, Arab Israeli group *non participant*)

1. To meet new friends – Jews and Arabs, to learn together

2. To know much more each about other. To speak the other language so this way it is easier to understand each other.

3. I believe that it's very important for 2 sides to live in peace.

4. I would be a peace maker. Last summer I participated in kids4peace program in Boston and I'm continue this important program this year. I have a lot of Jews and Arab friends. I can speak English, Hebrew and Arabic.
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(06 - female, Austrian group)

1. The people are quiet. My family doesn’t have the entire problem that we have now. To be alone.

2. I am Asperger Autismus. It provokes problems of communication. My brother disturbs me a lot of time because he doesn’t understand my handicap.

3. Until now, nothing. But I go to peacecamp for this reason.

4. To be in an association like peacecamp. Learn how manage the things for to help. Listen and understand the people who suffer and to try to help them.
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(07 – male, Jewish Israeli group)

1. Peace means a life of sharing and living in harmony with the Arab population in our country and around us.

2. The obstacles to peace are the disagreements between our two cultures and our inability to listen to each other.

3. I participated in the “Reaching Out” program that the school organized in the 8th grade. We met with 8th graders from an Arab school and did all kinds of things together in these meeting.

4. I want to continue to meet people my age from all over the world and try to find ways to reach understanding and build friendly relations with them, and especially with the Arabs.
___________________________________________________________

(08 – male, Jewish Israeli group)

1. The word ‘peace’ means to me the way to an equalitarian society that supports the weak and respects the sides and finds compromises.

2. I believe that the biggest obstacle to peace is the erroneous thinking of the two nations regarding concessions. Peace should be made into the most important thing.

3. I have participated in a school project called “Reaching Out”. The purpose of the project was to put the conflict behind us for a while and promote real peace with Israeli Arabs.

4. I can help influence friends and people around me to accept different people who have different opinions and behave differently. I want to help fight ignorance and help people overcome their fear and hate as a result of lack of understanding.
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(09 – male, Jewish Israeli group)

1. Peace in the context of my own life means to be satisfied with myself, to be a peaceful person and to be aware of my abilities, who I am and who I am not.

2. The main obstacles to peace are my body and soul. Other always want to ‘improve’ my personality, which sometimes may be a good thing, and sometimes may be a bad thing. Sometimes you have to reconcile with the idea that there is good and bad in you.

3. I have never done anything so huge as to promote peace in my country. However, I will argue with people who have racist opinions. The reason that I want to participate in Peace camp is that I haven’t done anything to promote peace yet.

4. After I come back from Peacecamp I hope I will be able to talk about the importance of peace, especially in my country and post writings that support peace on social networks like Facebook, so other kids are exposed to the importance of peace, too.
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(10 – male, Jewish Israeli group)

1. The word ‘peace’ means a relationship of trust and friendship between two people, groups or states.

2. The main obstacles to peace are ego, the fact that people care more about themselves than about the lives of other people. The second obstacle is that people have different opinions and often disagree.

3. When I see a person with a right-wing orientation, I try to convince him by explaining my point of view.

4. In the future I could share my knowledge of the camp with other people and they to affect their way of thinking and maybe they will think differently about the situation in our region.
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(11 – male, Jewish Israeli group)

1. Peace means war and conflict to me. We talk a lot about peace at home and I hear many opinions. It helps me understand that there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

2. The obstacles to peace are that in war people think that there is a wrong and a right side. If people were able to see the point of view of the other side, things would be better.

3. In the 8th grade I participated in a program alled “Reaching Out”. All the students of the 8th grade in our school met with 8th grade students from an Arabic school in our neighborhood. In addition, I play soccer with an Arab boy on my team and we get along very well.

4. I think it is important to educate and incorporate Arabs in society so that they become part of our country as equals. They are similar to us, the only difference between us is religion.
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(12 – female, Jewish Israeli group)

1. The word ‘peace’ means to me the possibility to sleep without worrying about wars and murder. “Peace” means stopping the hate in Israel and stopping the terror.

2. The main obstacles to peace are the inability of Jews and Arabs to listen to each other and ccoperate.

3. Till now I joined “Reaching Out”, a project whose purpose is to establish contact between Jewish kids from our school and Arab kids from a school in a village nearby. In addition, I went on a trip in the desert with a Druze family.

4. I would like to continue to work on better relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel.
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(13 – female, Jewish Israeli group)

1. Peace means a world without racism or war. Peace means that we listen to each other without yelling at each other straight away.

2. People don’t listen to each other and only thing that their own opinion matters. They don’t realize that they may have the same goals as the other side, because they don’t listen.

3. I participated in a special project last year, called ‘Reaching Out’. We met with Arab 8th graders from a school in a village nearby. We met 4 or 5 times and did all kinds of things together. At the end of the project we put on a play together.

4. I want to help the world understand that we can choose differently. I want to teach the next generation to make different choices.
___________________________________________________________

(14 – female, Jewish Israeli group *non participant*)

1. Peace means interactin with other people from other cultures and living together in harmony.

2. People aren’t open to toerh opinions and points of view of the other side. They just don’t listen to others.

3. In the 8th grade our grade level participated in “Reaching Out”. A program that brings Jewish and Arab students together in 6 meetings.

4. I intend to participate in demonstrations and movements that promote peace and will continue to educate the children that I am responsible for in the youth movement to the idea of peace.
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(15 – male, Arab Israeli group)

1. the word peace mean to me a lot of things like peace is freedom , peace is love , peace is something we must to go on with it like to learn things about the other side and to learn how to deal with them ! And peace will come when the tow sides will understand the problem in dealing with the other side !

2. the main obstacles to peace in the context of my life is that the other side don't listen to us and he not interested to understand our problem with them ! And they just want to be alone without other people in their land !

3. I have done a lot of things like I go with some friends to Jewish places and we trying to explain to them that we can live together and we can to be friends.

4. I will do a lot of things like I will make posters with Phrases aimed at peace and I will make a groups that aimed at peace and I will do other things.
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(16 – female, Arab Israeli group)

1. Peace means to me, to live in harmony with my environment, which to me that means to live my daily life in a state of blending with my fellow citizens. It means that I feel that I should be able to live my life freely. It means that I should be privileged to the same privileges that my fellow citizens enjoy, and It means that I should not have to worry of being killed by terrorist and pass by checkpoints whenever i want to visit my friends in the west bank which is just ten minutes away from my home. It means that though I must live in government laws and regulations that still I should be allowed to live in harmony with nature as best that I can. Peace is so much more than just agreeing not to hurt each other. It is a state where our hearts, minds, and bodies exist in harmony together.

2. The main obstacles to peace in the context of my own life is that people are not giving up on things or they're too greedy. people are'nt trying to get to know and meet the other side or sit and talk. people think just because the others are different in color, religion, or from a different country that they're enemies.

3. I have joined a couple of peace peace programs for example perece center for peace, ultimate peace, peace players, and seeds of peace i met new people talked to new people and discovered that even though we are from different counries and believe in different religions we still have a lot in common for example sports, shopping , and more.

4. In my opinion one person can't promote peace alone things cant change from one day to another, but dialogue between people can settle things and promote to peace step by step, and for me the only thing i think i can do is talk to others about the issue and solve problems in a non-violent way.
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(17 – female, Arab Israeli group)

1. The word peace mean to me is freedom and knowing self and then knowing those around you and then knowing and reaching.

2. The peace obstacles its the war its what we watch is the people that hates others.

3. I go to a special school that is arab and jews together i think its a big step of my life.

4. I will help to open minded and i will show the people the good things that every religion can do and to love each other because we are all equal.
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(18 – female, Arab Israeli group)

1. peace for me is living in a quiet and non-violent planet without racism and everybody being equal and having the same rights

2. in my opinon the main obstacles for peace is that people are so stubborn and judgementary that they would'nt even try to talk to the people that different from them for example different in religion, culture, color, and etc.

3. i participated in peace players program and made lots of jewish friends in school

4. one thing i can do to promote peace is to be non-violent and teach that to others, and continue to meet new people with different concepts of life.
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(19 – female, Arab Israeli group)

1. Peace for me is being able to sleep at night having sweet dreams of the future .
2. I believe the obstacles are not being able to forgive or accept.If we accept others as they are and acknowledge their right to be and if we forgive others for what they have done I think then peace and love will prevail .

3. I am in a school that focuses on the idea of co existence and it will be achieved as I said before by forgiveness and acceptance . I try my best to accept those who are different from me .

4. I will condemn any kind of violence and maybe I will organize a group called : "Forgive and Live :"
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(20 – female, Arab Israeli group)

1. Peace… 5 small letters but means much more than this peace is the love in the life it's the happiness that we're chasing for it's the freedom that everyone wish for it's the beauty in this world that everyone hopes to see.

2. There's a lot of obstacles in my own life because I live in Israel we have a conflict between the Arabs and Jews more like a conflict between the Palestinian and the Israelian which is a bad thing because they do not contact with each other, but if they will maybe one day we will get to a one solution.

3. I study in hand in hand school which is a hope for the peace in Israel because Jews and Arabs study and play and live together in the same area (school) and I used to go the YMCA for a peace conversations and making movies for the peace from our own free time.

4. I hope that I will promote in the future a peace foundation that supports peace in Israel and fight for the right things in this world and especially in Israel and maybe one day the world will become as one big and happy family.
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(21 – female, Jewish Israeli group)

1. Peace is a positive word that represents friendship, love and cooperation between two or more parties.

2. The main obstacles to peace are territorial issues and differences in religion and cultures.

3. In the 8th grade I participated in a special program whose aim is to bring Arab students and Jewish students closer together. The program is called "Reaching Out" and all the students at our school participate in it. We met with the Arab students, had classes together and put up a play together.

4. I can organize activities that promote the idea of peace among teenagers, who are the our future, to encourage tolerance and cooperation.
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(22 – male, Arab Israeli group)

1. The word Peace means for me a world without racism or war . peace means that we listen to each other without yelling at each other straight away .

2. I think the main obstacle is the past, very much people are caught in a trap of their own prejudices and traditions .

3. I study in hand in hand school which is a hope for the peace in Israel because jewsh and arabs study and play together in the same school . and I participated in a group of young jews and arabs that’s called “madatsem” .

4. I will to open a group of arabs and jewish sorrows and the aim to put the dispute behind us for a while and promote real peace between arabs and jewish in Israel . ___________________________________________________________

(23 – male, Arab Israeli group)

1. I think peace it’s the happiness and calm and quiet peaceful the we wants to see. Peace is the love in this world and no one really knows what it is peace unless he felt the ravages of war, it’s the conflict against the war. and a lot of people sees in peace more safe than war.

2. I live in Israel and I don ‘d feel belong and the language that I speak it’s not my first language and all the conflicts between the Arabs and Jews support the obstacles to peace and I hope one day it will over and Israel will become a peaceful place to live in.

3. I study in hand in hand school that supports peace and we learn and live Arabs and Jews together as one nation and I hope that one day the world will become better and a nicer place to live and love in.

4. I hope in the future I will get in to a pace communities’ that supports peace and Arabs and Jews will talk together and try to understand each other because after all we all are humans being . ___________________________________________________________

(24 – male, Arab Israeli group)

1. the word peace mean to me a lot of things, like when two other sides understand each other and they know how to deal with their problems.

2. the main obstacles to peace in the context of my own life is that every nation want their own favor and they want their own land alone without a deferent nation /

3. I did a lot of things… I play soccer and go out with other kids (jwish,arabs…) and I text some jewish teenagers like me.

4.I think I should tell other kids about my school, that arabs and jewish study together… and maybe that will change the idea about the other side.
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(25 – female, Hungarian group)

1. Peace means that I do not have to be afraid, when I am alone in our house at night. And that my parents do not have to worry about my safety, if I stay out later than usual, and vice versa. In a peaceful environment, you will not be insulted in anyway – neither physically, nor verbally.

2. In my opinion, nobody is born to be an absolutely bad and aggressive person. Their environment makes them become one. Childhood, family and financial problems are the most considerable factors.

3. I am too young to do anything significant, but if everyone contributes with little things, we can make a difference. I think that tension between people, even between teenagers can become dangerous and poisonous for their environment, so that’s why I have always tried to be friendly, or at least not to hurt anyone. When I see people I know having a heated argument, I also try and convince them to solve their problem in a peaceful way.

4. I will be trying to preserve peace in my nearest environment and raise my children accordingly.
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