Ofir: I tried to get into the full program of high-school studies. I got through some of the selection stages and in the end I was accepted to the camp. Now I feel that the camp justified the whole long process I went through. I met people from all over the world. The camp opened my eyes to what’s going on around me. There were also Palestinian kids and I learned things about the conflict from their side that I couldn’t have known. What they go through and the restrictions Israel creates for them. It’s important not to be stuck in your bubble and think that everything is all right. Mais: I have a teacher who is active in EcoPeace, and he told me about the program. The truth is that I wanted to come to the camp to meet people from different countries, but I wanted even more to get information about what is going on in Israel. I hoped that information like that would help me do important things in the future. What went on in the camp itself? Ofir: We started with a hike in Ein Gedi, on the Dead Sea, and we learned about the area’s economic and ecological difficulties. Then we went to Mitzpeh Ramon, Sde Boker and Kibbutz Lotan. Our camp was ecological in two senses: preserving the environment and coexistence. What was your strongest experience in the camp? Ofir: A night of sleeping in the desert. We did a solo workshop at Mount Kana’im. We walked along a trail and did self-observation. We also saw scorpions. A bit scary. Ikram: The camp was my first time ever in a swimming pool! I went into the water at Sde Boker. I had never been in a pool before. There aren’t so many pools in my city, Karak, even though it’s a big city. It’s less accepted than in Israel. Didn’t the Israelis stick with the Israelis and the Europeans with the Europeans? Ofir: Maybe at the beginning it was like that. Oliver: At first the Palestinians, the Europeans and the Israelis stuck to their own groups, but as the weeks went on people from different sides grew closer, and I think real friendships were formed − not of a week but of a lifetime. I learned not to make snap judgments. I expected people from a particular country to have certain traits, but I discovered that everyone is a person in his own right. People don’t conform to stereotypes, and in the end you connect to people on the basis of their personality and not their religion or origin. haaretz/weekend/departures-arrivals/.premium-1.546740
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 08:54:07 +0000
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