Building Bridges over the World

25.07.2007

On one of my visits to the Salon des Solidarités in Vincennes (Paris), I had the chance to get acquainted with a group called “Generation Palestine”. Nuria, a kind, passionate and determined girl, in her early twenties, explained to me what this group was all about. Are you Palestinian? I asked. No I’m Spanish, and like me there are hundreds of active members from all over Europe interested in learning as well as encouraging others to learn about the Israeli-Palestinian reality through an exciting program of visits and encounters in the Holy Land.

Their mission is both to stimulate the thinking and to reinforce solidarity in favour of peace and human rights. Their project, “Bridges over the Wall”*, brings together every year a couple of hundred young people, namely students from various European universities, in a sort of a travelling summer camp making a first stop in Jerusalem to learn about Israel before starting off for a tour of Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps, eventually winding up in Ramalla.

On their discovery journey, these young travellers become missionaries, animating educational workshops for children and offering all kind of assistance in the name of international solidarity. Back home, these young travellers become spokespersons delivering to friends and entourage, accounts of their experiences and findings and of the not-always-too-happy events they might have witnessed. You can read some of the stories on their website http://www.generation-palestine.org

Now the young peace builders are looking forward to building bridges over the oceans and would like to see their group grow and spread across the continents. Why not all the way to Australia?**

* My translation of the French name : "Des Ponts au-delà du Mur".
** This is a private message to a Lebanese-born Australian friend, who, like Nuria, is passionate about human rights and who believes that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, especially the people of Palestine.