Sowing Peace
SEEDS OF PEACE EDUCATES AND
INSPIRES YOUTH FROM AROUND THE
WORLD TO TRANSFORM CONFLICT –
SOWING UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIPS IN
THE MIDST OF POLITICAL TURMOILText Christine Hogg
Photos Maggie SvobodaTwo 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.CARE