Please click here to read first-hand accounts from participants of the "Twinned Peace Sport Schools" program.
Sport is a powerful tool for bringing people from different backgrounds together, providing a common platform for contact and interaction. In particular, Football and Basketball – two very popular sports among both Palestinians and Israelis – have the power to unite youth from different sides of the divide, as Palestinians and Israelis play football and basketball according to the same rules, and even idolize the same sport stars.
With this in mind, the Sports Department of the Peres Center for Peace created the “Twinned Peace Sport Schools” program. Catering to boys aged 6 to 13, and girls aged 9 to 13, this extracurricular after-school program imparts the values of peace and mutual understanding, encourages acceptance of cultural differences, and breaks down negative stereotypes. Additional objectives include improving sports skills, coordination and agility; promoting excellence in competition; fostering confidence, leadership skills, sportsmanship and responsibility; and improving academic abilities and encouraging high scholastic performance.
The program includes 4 integral components: (1) Sport Training; (2) Peace Education Activities; (3) An Auxiliary Educational Support Program; and (4)
Joint Palestinian-Israeli Sporting and Social Activities. The Palestinian and Israeli youth meet separately within their respective communities approximately 3-4 times weekly to participate in the first three components of the program. The groups then come together approximately once every three weeks for joint Palestinian-Israeli sporting and social activities (see
diagram). Additional activities are held throughout the year, including the Peres Center's annual
Mini World Cup Tournament,
summer camps, celebrations for the International Day of Peace, distribution of
Back-To-School Kits, and end-of-year parties.
The program, which was launched in 2002 with a mere 70 participants on each side, currently reaches some 1,600 Palestinian and Israeli youth from disadvantaged and peripheral communities (see
map), and touches the lives of thousands more secondary and indirect beneficiaries.
The Peres Center also holds various training and development activities for
coaches within the program framework. To read feedback received by the Peres Center in relation to the "Twinned Peace Sport Schools" program, please click
here.
The "Twinned Peace Sport Schools" program is supported by: Association François-Xavier-Bagnoud, Children of Peace, Gestifute, Irish Development Cooperation, JNF, Mr. Antonio de Moura Santos, Mr. Arn Tellem, Mr. Jose Mourinho, Mr. Sven Goran Eriksson, Mr. Joseph Brandt, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, Playing for Peace, Right To Play, the Canadian Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Canadian Heritage), the Embassy of Greece in Israel, the Embassy of Portugal in Israel, the Pratt Foundation, the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Israel, the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swiss Working Group on Sport and Development, Truce International and others.
The 2007-2008 "Twinned Peace Sport Schools" for Girls is generously supported by the Canadian Government and
Canadian Heritage.
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