Asian Geographic2017

Sowing Peace

SEEDS OF PEACE EDUCATES AND

INSPIRES YOUTH FROM AROUND THE

WORLD TO TRANSFORM CONFLICT –

SOWING UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIPS IN

THE MIDST OF POLITICAL TURMOIL

Text Christine Hogg

Photos Maggie Svoboda

Two years ago, while in Amman for a

two-week workshop with organisation

Photographers Without Borders,

Maggie Svoboda took an image that,

to the average onlooker, appeared to

be nothing out of the ordinary. In the

photograph, two women – named Ruba

and Alina – are locked in an affectionate

embrace, beaming at the camera. What

Svoboda’s portrait of friendship did not

reveal at first glance is the politically-

charged back story: one woman is

Palestinian, and the other is Israeli.

Locked in political dispute since

the early 20th century, Palestinians

and Israelis have raged a series of wars

against one another in the fight for

separate, independent control of this

contested territory. Heightened tensions

from Arab Muslims and Jewish civilians

who reside in such close living quarters

have bred a long history of violence.

Civil wars have ravaged the

territory: the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,

and the Six-Day War of 1967, which

concluded with Israel occupying two

critical landmasses, the West Bank

and the Gaza Strip. Many Jewish

minority communities were exposed

and subsequently displaced within

Palestinian-occupied neighbourhoods.

The ancient Palestinian city of Hebron in

the landlocked West Bank is the

only city where Israeli citizens live in

relative peace alongside Palestinians.

It is currently under Israeli control.

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