North Shore Woman Plants Seeds of Middle East Peace

Should peace between Israelis and Palestinians sprout from the renewed talks starting Tuesday in Washington, some of the seeds may have been planted on the North Shore by Glenview's Gretchen Grad. They grew a little in Deerfield July 19.

Grad started Hands of Peace 11 years ago after being disturbed by the aftermath of Sept. 11. The organization brings teenagers from Israel, Palestine and the United States together for two and a half weeks each summer to get to know each other as human beings.

“We want to give them the opportunity to live together and form a connection in their daily lives,” Grad said of the goal of bringing Palestinians, Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis and American teens together. “They can put a face on the enemy and come to believe peace is possible.”

What is clear from listening to two Middle Eastern teens, Uriel Sallon from Jerusalem and Basel Arafat of Nablus, July 19 at the First Presbyterian Church in Deerfield is while they have come closer together they and their nations still have a long way to go. Arafat is not related to the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

“I only see Jews at the checkpoints,” Arafat said referring to Israeli soldiers who occupy his West Bank homeland. “They have no morals, they love fighting.” After getting to know Sallon and others Israelis he thinks differently. “They are not my enemy anymore.”

Now able to shake hands and embrace Arafat, Sallon would not have been able to do that before spending two and a half weeks on the North Shore. “They (Palestinian Arabs) want to kill me or blow something up,” Sallon said of his perception before taking part in Hands of Peace. “Now I know it’s not so simple.”

Raised to be enemies, they have gotten to know each other. Some of their views have changed during their time at Hands of Peace, but their personal ties to the same land they call home are rooted in millennia of their own traditions.

Arafat, a sophomore at Islamic High School in Nablus, has been taught the land that comprises Israel and Palestine has been the heritage of his people for more than 1,300 years.

“Palestine is mine,” Arafat said. “They left,” he added referring to the Jews who had sovereignty until the country was conquered by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago. “They came back because of religion.”

For Sallon, a high school junior at an institution that emphasizes religious Zionism, his attachment to the country is entrenched in history and philosophy as well. “Zionism is a deep seated dream,” he said. “It’s more than religion. This is our land.”

While their beliefs remain strong after two and a half weeks together, they have come closer to appreciating the hopes and dreams of the other.

“I’ve changed a little,” Arafat said. “Things are better now. We have to have peace.”

“There has to be a balance between reality and the dream,” Sallon said. “We have to create that balance (together).”

Will the Israelis and Palestinians sitting down together in Washington be listening to teenagers from Nablus and Jerusalem?

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