"Every person has the right to be equal, and the equal right to be different" Shimon Peres

I am just about to start my fifth week of my internship at the Shimon Peres Center for Peace in Tel-Aviv. These first weeks have been an eye-opening experience into the many facets of modern Israeli society; from trying new foods, to making new friends from Jaffa, to learning that the weekday starts on Sundays, I have been seeing a different, less polarizing side of Israel.

Not being a tourist per say, I have been able to get to know local Israelis and Arabs, who have deeply enriched my experience thus far. Although I always knew this to be true, we can sometimes forget how inaccurate the media can be when it portrays Israel, or any other country/social problem for that matter.

Every day, I am surprised by how many assumptions I had about Israel, and how many of them are not based on fact. Israel is made up of so many different people whose voices are often unfairly brushed into certain narratives by the media. My time here has allowed me to hear many unique voices that I would never have been exposed to at home.

Peres Center Girls End of the Year Tournament:

Two weeks ago, I got the opportunity to take part in the Peres Center's Girls End of the year soccer tournament. This tournament brought together 240 Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish and Arab girls to play on mixed soccer teams.

Below is a paragraph I wrote for the Centers Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TPSS2002/) including the translations in Hebrew and Arabic . If a picture could speak a thousand words, I believe the one's I have included could speak volumes.

End of the year Girls Soccer Tournament

Summary of Event:

This past Tuesday, we held our end of the year girl's FairPlay soccer tournament with all 240 of our female participants, their coaches, Student leaders, and families.

On this special day, Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, and Arab young girl's, against many odds, played soccer together in mixed teams, celebrated each other strengths, and learned to see each other as teammates and friends.

This day was made even more meaningful as it was part of the International Children’s rights tournament in the FLG (Football Learning Global) Network. During the tournament, the girl’s teams were named after the 8 countries in which the FLG organizations are located. This tournament marked the end of a year in which the girls learned more about their rights as children, specifically, their rights as young women.

In addition to the peace-building aspect of our program, playing soccer provides young girls an opportunity to develop confidence both on and off the field. This message of empowerment and self-esteem was echoed in USAID West Bank/Gaza Director, Dave Harden’s speech. He told them to never give up on their dreams and not let society's expectations of young women stop them from reaching their goals.

The fantastic day concluded with an award ceremony and left us all more inspired by the strength and determination of the young girls in our program.

ביום שלישי האחרון פרויקט כדורגל הבנות קיים טורניר פיירפליי לסיום השנה בו השתתפו 240 ילדות הפרויקט והוריהן, סטודנטיות ומאמנים. ביום זה, ישראליות, ערביות, פלסטיניות ויהודיות שיחקו יחד בקבוצות מעורבות ולמדו שוב לראות אחת בשנייה חברות.

יום זה היה משמעותי עוד יותר בכך שהיה חלק מטורניר בינלאומי לזכויות הילד/ה. ילדות הפרויקט שיחקו בקבוצות המייצגות שמונה מדינות בהן ישנם ארגונים שהנם חלק מה-FLG, רשת של ארגונים העושים שימוש בספורט ככלי לשינוי, בה חברה מרכז פרס לשלום. טורניר שמעמיד במרכז את זכויות הילד היווה סיום מושלם לשנה בה הילדות למדו טוב יותר את זכויותיהן כילדות וכנשים צעירות.

מטרה חשובה נוספת לפרויקט זה היא פיתוח ביטחונן וכישוריהן של הילדות על המגרש ומחוצה לו. מטרה זו הודגשה על ידי מר דייב הארדן, מנהל USAID בגדה המערבית ובעזה. מר הארדן אמר לילדות שלא יוותרו על חלומותיהן ושלא יאפשרו לחברה לעצור אותן מלעמוד במטרות שהן שמות לעצמן.

יום מוצלח זה נגמר בטקס חגיגי אשר הותיר את כולנו נפעמים מכוחן ונכונותן של ילדות הפרויקט.

يوم الخميس الماضي، اقمنا بطولة فيربلي لفتيات مشروع كرة القدم للبنات لاختتام العام. شاركوا في البطولة 240 فتاة برفقة الأهل, المدربين وطلاب الجامعة.

في هذا اليوم، إسرائيليات، عربيات, فلسطينيات ويهوديات لعبوا معا في مجموعات مختلطة وتعلموا أن جميعهن متساويات. كان هذا اليوم أكثر أهمية لأنه كان جزءا من بطولة حقوق الطفل العالمية. فتيات المشروع لعبوا في فرق تمثل ثماني دول حيث توجد المؤسسات التي هي جزء من FLG، وهي شبكة من المنظمات التي تستخدم الرياضة كأداة للتغيير، التي تعمل مع مركز بيرس للسلام. وكانت البطولة التي تتركز على حقوق الطفل نهاية مثالية لسنة التي من خلالها استفادوا الفتيات.

هدف مهم آخر من هذا المشروع هو تطوير الثقة النفسية ومواهب الفتيات داخل وخارج ملعبهم. وقد أكد هذا الهدف عن طريق السيد ديف هاردن، مدير الوكالة الأمريكية لتنمية الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة . وقال هاردن للفتيات ان لا تتخلى عن أحلامهن وتحقيق اهدافهن دون ان يمنعهن احد.

انتهى هذا اليوم الناجح في حفل الذي تركنا جميعا في رهبة من قوة المشروع وسعادة الفتيات.

Language Barriers:

I included the Hebrew and Arabic translations because in Israel language barriers are an everyday challenge. Many Arabs and Palestinians only speak Arabic and English while many Jews/Israelis only speak Hebrew and English. The affect that this language barrier has on the everyday reality of the peacebuilding process cannot be overstated. Without knowing each other’s language, social stereotyping, miscommunications and biases emerge.

When I first arrived in Israel, I was surprised by the magnitude of this language barrier. Because I do not speak Hebrew or Arabic, I have learned how frustrating and arduous it can be when you do not speak the main language.

This experience has opened eyes to what many American immigrants face every day. Often, we can take advantage of the privileges we have, such as assuming that everyone speaks English, and it is not until we are forced to be in the minority, that we become aware of them.

The Peres Center is aware of the importance of language. All of the sports programs include inter-language learning activities that teach Arabic and Hebrew vocabulary, relating both to football and social interaction.

I got the opportunity to see these activities in action at one of the school outreach programs with Arab and Jewish Schools.

I saw how facing language barriers together helped to advance partnership and cooperation between the students.

Technology as Language:

The Center also uses technology as a common language between Jews, Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs. Their Bridges to Peace Program utilizes google hangout to reach different communities across the country, including Bedouin, Druze, Arab, and Jewish youth. The project works by partnering Arab, Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian Schools together to work on joint projects that are planned through google hangout sessions.

The students work together and plan project's that represent a vision of what shared-living in Israel can look like. Past projects have included ,bi-lingual songs about peace, and a cooking video where students cooked traditional Arab and Jewish dishes and bonded over the shared language of food.

Using technology, the Peres Center has been able to connect youth, who due to their geogrical barriers, would never have met and learned about each other. The video below shows an example of one of the projects, and offers you an opportunity to really see the power of technology in connecting people

As you watch the video, you can see that they went to a place called Acre. I also got the opportunity to go to this sea town where Jewish and Arabic sailors have worked together peacefully.

The Staff in the Peace Education Department

Working at the Shimon Peres Center every day, I have had the opportunity to be surrounded by people who believe in the power of sports to bring about peace. The people who I work with, Sivan, Lori, Hiba, Tami, Rinah, Ryan(although he is the grant writer) and Khouloud are some of the most passionate, hardworking people I have ever met.

Every day they come to work ready to tackle a challenge, finding commonalities between Palestinians, Israelis, Jews and Arabs, that most people believe is not possible.

They have made me feel like a part of their team since the first day, and their willingness to answer all my question (Because I ask a lot of questions) has been a testament of their patience and passion for Sport for

Development.

In Israel, everyone bring RAW VEGTABLES to work and THAN makes their salads at the office. On my first day, I found this to be so strange since in the states we always bring ours salad from home. Often they even make big salads for the entire department!!!

Meeting Shimon Peres:

I also got the opportunity to meet the venerated world leader, Shimon Peres.

His belief that peace and social change are possible by finding a common ground with those perceived as the "other" has been an inspiring message in my life. He is at the center almost every day and attends all the events that the center has for its programs. He is the embodiment of the centers mission, and is truly an amazing human being.

I told him he had great shoes!!!

Other Highlights:

• Spending Shabbat Dinner with a religious family in Jerusalem

• Going to the Tel-Aviv Food Fair

• Visiting Acre and the seaport

• Hiking up Mount Meron

• Hiking from the Mediterranean the Sea of the Galio

• Spending time with my amazing, kind, funny roommate Galiet and her friends

• Celebrating Shavuot with my friends family

• Enjoying the beautiful landscape of Tel-Aviv

• Hiking up Masada

• My amazing Israeli Friends who have showed me a side of Israel I would never had experienced (Eilit)

• Going to the Dead Sea

• Playing lacrosse with Israel Lacrosse and organization that seeks to bring the best game ever to youth across Israel!

• Birthright Friends

And many, many, many more!!!

Warm Wishes from Tel-Aviv,

Julie Platt

Check out Israel Lacrosse Website, they offer great opportunities for highschool students to travel to Israel and teach lacrosse to youth. They also have their own partnership with Birthright where you get to travel with other Jewish lacrosse players as part of your program!!!

http://lacrosse.co.il/

Israel's heat was starting to get to me..!!