Oasis of Peace Memo

To: 1311 Students                                                                                                                          

 From: Sarah Alhatib                                                                                                                                                                    Date: February 14, 2011                                                                                                                                                          Subject: The Oasis of Peace                                                                                                                                                       Overview                                                                                                                                 

Oasis of Peace, Neve Shalom or Wahat al-Salam, is an organization that brings together the Palestinian Arab and Jewish that live in Israel.  These two groups will engage in work that will allow them to understand the opposite group and work together to establish peace.  There is a “School of Peace” that was established in 1979 in the middle of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The school really teaches students how to coexist and how to compromise even though they come with totally different views about many issues they have in common.  There are other organizations such as the “Creativity for Peace,” which also helps the coexistence of Palestinians and Jews.                                                            

 Communication                                                                                                                                                                    It communicates with the community by having an up and running website. The website gives updated information on what activities and programs are going on now.  On the website, itself, there are videos of what kinds of topics that are talked about when all the girls join together.  There is room to blog or write comments on the website on any question, concern or comment you might have! The website is very nicely formatted that you could reach all the information that you wish to know in a few short clicks. It is very simplified for the convenience of the audience. This organization also allows many people to come visit them in person. On the website, it tells you all about the wonderful activities and programs that they offer visitors.  They even have a hotel that the visitors can stay in for easy access to all events around them.  Another way they spread the word is by the school that they established. “School of Peace” brings Palestinians and Jews together at an early age to learn and accept the other religion.  I believe the more they inform these kids of what’s going in their countries early on, it will give these kids a chance to grow up and change how things are in their country.  We hope that we can make these kids the future leaders of the country.                                                                                                                      

Solves a Problem                                                                                                                                                                        The problem that this organization solves is violence and hate between two groups of people who are similar in so many ways. It gives them the opportunity to express how they feel in an appropriate way that can lead to discussion about the issue. They are so accustomed to hating the other side, but when they get together they see that there are so many ways that the issue their countries have been fighting for years about can be resolved. They see the good in the other group and we hope that more and more people like them come together and solve problems in a civil manner rather than fighting about it.  I believe if these kids follow through and stay strong together they could grow up and solve this ongoing problem.  Just from the videos and what the girls say afterwards, they seem like they have a really strong feeling about being able to make a difference.