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On a 35-day expedition, 4 Israelis and 4 Palestinians will try to put hostilities behind them. "We can prove that we can overcome obstacles and dangers."
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| By Ellis Shuman December 30, 2003 |
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Four Israelis and four Palestinians will leave Chile this week in hopes that an expedition to Antarctica will show that the two sides can work together to forge strong bonds and put hostilities behind them. "An Israeli will give me a hand and I'll give my hand to an Israeli - it's very symbolic," said east Jerusalem journalist Ziad Darwish.
The goal of the "Breaking the Ice" project is to build immense trust between the team members by giving them a common goal that will put them in life and death situations. During their 35-day sea and land expedition, the eight members of the team, only two of them with mountaineering experience, will climb an unnamed and unexplored mountain near Antarctica's Bruce Plateau.
"I'm not naive and I know we are not going to change the world or bring peace," said Doron Erel, a professional mountain climber who climbed Mt. Everest in 1992 and is one of the initiators of the project. "We are going to be together ... in very difficult conditions and we will have to protect each other with ropes on the ice."
The Israeli members of the team are Erel, 44, and lawyer Avihu Shoshani, 44, who were in elite IDF commando units; real-estate developer Hezkel Nethaniel, 40; and Yarden Fanta, 33, a PhD candidate, who trekked from Ethiopia via Sudan to Israel at the age of 14.
The Palestinians on the expedition, all Muslims, are Darwish, 53, whose brother was killed in an IDF raid in 1982; soccer coach Nasser Quos, 35, who spent three years in an Israeli prison for throwing a firebomb in the first Intifada and later was bodyguard to PLO Jerusalem representative Faisal Husseini; Fatah member Suleiman Jamal Hatib, 32, who spent ages 14-25 in prison for his activities for the group; and gymnastics teacher Olfat Hyder, in her time the only Palestinian on the Israeli women's national volleyball team.
"They not all 'peaceful pigeons'," Nathaniel said of his Palestinian teammates.
"We're not a political group," Nathaniel explained. "We're a group of individuals. We shall be traveling under very harsh conditions. We shall have to work together as a team. I wanted to show that Jews and Arabs can work in peace together."
"In the Antarctic, there is no way to turn back," Nathaniel told the BBC.
"When they first told me [about the expedition] I laughed to myself, it's a crazy idea," Darwish said. "But it took me only one day to decide okay, I'm willing. The world is fed up of these peace treaties. Peace is like a pyramid and you have to have a good base for a pyramid - understanding between the two peoples.
"We can prove that we Israelis and Palestinians are going as one group, not two, and together we will overcome obstacles and dangers. An Israeli will give me a hand and I'll give my hand to an Israeli - it's very symbolic."
As he prepared to depart for the expedition, Darwish said, "I think in a way, by this expedition we are drawing the attention of the whole world that the two people ... can make peace by themselves before the leaders can sit together and make peace."
Because the Israelis and Palestinians are not professional mountain climbers, a second team, including two mountain guides and a doctor, will accompany them. German Telecom, a cosponsor, will join the second team, to broadcast two-three minutes daily, and two additional
cameramen, one French and one Israeli, will be making a documentary.
The expedition is the first organized by Extreme Peace Missions, a charity that aims to bring people together through adventure and sporting endeavors. The 35-day expedition will be followed by people throughout the world via daily Internet and Videophone dispatches.
"Breaking the Ice" enjoys the political support and patronage of, amongst others, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European Parliament President Pat Cox, German Parliament President Wolfgang Thierse, the Dalai Lama and the Peres Center for Peace.
"In every sense," Nathaniel says, "we still have a long way to go. We hope there are people out there who share our belief that what we're doing can make a difference for Israelis and Palestinians. We need their support."
More information about the "Breaking the Ice" project can be found on its website.
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