Emily is a Junior in high school who splits her time between the Jewish city of Netanya and the Arab town of Nazareth. This piece is titled “Reflections”
As little kids, the world promised us a safe future, as if they could guarantee us one, maybe in the long run.
As a teenager, all I witnessed was a world divided into two parts: One for ones who hold sovereignty and strive for ruthlessness, and the other is an audience with crossed legs, eyes wide, jaw dropped with zero actions.
The world treated the conflict as a piece of art, the blood its artists had on their hands was just a red paint, the kind of piece people visit the gallery to see once a year, or once a decade. “More replicas” is what the gallery wanted to create.
We got used to the bomb alerts and rockets flying above our heads became our routine like it’s something we ought to normalise. Was it all a sacrifice?
They call them hostages, we call them innocent lives trapped in a nightmare they never signed up for. They call it genocide, we call it erasing history and the spirits of its ancestors from their land. The kind of history that no propoganda will prohibit us to carry until the light no longer enters our eyes, until the last breath our lungs will hold on to.
Lack of peace leads to lack of lives. But the world wants to put the theme of peace in the largest of billboards on one condition: that they define it in their own way. We want peace, but the next day on one side there is death and grief and on the other there is fear and sounds of bombs here and there, everywhere. How many masks should a person put on to have the urge to say that there is peace when the word is not used for its meaning in the first place?
Speeches here and there, that get a round of applouse so loud we forget the sound, that sound of bombs and crying. Of traumas and scars that will never heal.
Today the little kids shall arise from the bottom of our souls to remind the world of the false promises we have fallen for.
This second piece from Gaza is by Hour, and part of the “Light throught the Darkness” collection. For more details on the Writers Matter project, please see here, here and here.
In a world filled with pain and unanswered questions, there is always a ray of light breaking through the darkness, giving us the strength to carry on.
From Gaza—under siege, among ruins—I write these words to speak of the light that never dies within us, no matter how heavy the darkness becomes.
I do not write from a quiet place, nor do I live a normal life.
I write from a place where everything seems ready to collapse: walls, schools, dreams—even childhood itself.
But despite the darkness that surrounds us, there is a small light that lives deep inside me—a light that ignites my heart when sorrow tries to extinguish it.
That light is not something seen with the eyes. It is faith that lives within us, the hope we cling to when all doors close, the smile we draw even while in pain.
It is those moments when we help each other, when we comfort the tired, when we give from the little we have, and keep walking as if nothing hurts.
“Light through the darkness” is when you open your book during a power outage and decide to keep studying because you believe in your future.
It’s when you console a mother who lost her child and whisper, “He’s safe in heaven now.”
It’s when you rise from the rubble, put the broken pieces back together, and smile because you survived.
Gaza taught me that light doesn’t always come from outside—it grows inside.
In the heart that refuses to give up, in the eyes that have seen too much yet still seek beauty, in the call to prayer during an airstrike, in the smell of bread despite the shortage, and in the laughter of a child who only knows he wants to live.
Darkness is not the end—it is a test of how strong our light can be.
The road may be long, but we will walk it, carrying our light in our hands, lighting our steps, and sharing its glow with others.
From Gaza, from the heart of pain, we write, we dream, and we love—because we believe true light cannot be defeated, even by the deepest darkness.
Debate for Peace led its fourth delegation to the United Nations in Vienna, with top MUN and diplomacy students from 12 schools holding meetings with several UN agencies, missions to the UN, the foreign ministry of Austria, NGOs and thinktanks. This year’s delegation was proud to take part in a special conference titled “A Sustainable Future of Peace starts now- with Education: SDG 16”.
This year’s delegation held briefings and meetings with UNOOSA, UNHCR, UNODA, UNODC, and the International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, as well as with the Foreign Ministry of Austria, the International Institute for Peace, and the heads of mission of both the Delegation of the European Union to the International Organisations in Vienna and the US Mission to the UN in Vienna (USUNVIE). During the meetings, students discussed the challenges of multilateral diplomacy, different fields of work at the UN, and peacebuilding, particularly in the Middle East.
The highlight of the delegation was a three hour session at the UN on Youth and Peacebuilding, organized by the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), with support from the UNODC Youth Mainstreaming unit, and participation from the missions of Burkina Faso, Mexico, and the Philippines. Four of the participants sat on a panel, where they shared their thoughts and experiences on the challenges that youth face in building peace, and how adults can support young peacebuilders to create positive differences and build bridges. A recording of the panel can be viewed here.
Following four intense days of briefings and meetings, the delegation made time to take in some cultural highlights of Vienna, including Schonbrunn Palace, the Imperial Treasury, Military museum, Welt Museum, city boat cruise, House of Music, Mythos Mozart, and Madame Tussauds wax museum and the amusement park.
The participants included students from the following schools:
Hand In Hand, Atid Raziel, Ohel-Shem, Al-Hikma high school, Deshalit high school, Darca Begin Gedera, Ort Hilmi Shafie, Meitarim, Al Galil High school, Prishtina High School, Schmidt Schule, and El Ein Junior High School.
Debate for Peace extends its gratitude to the Women’s Federation for World Peace Vienna office (WFWP), International Institute for Peace (IIP), Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs of Austria, US Mission to the UN (USUNVIE), Delegation of the European Union to the International Organisations in Vienna, International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
This three day well organized conference brought together lots of participants from different parts of the world to better understand injustices and conflicts globally and come up with realistic solutions.
This year’s Resolve conference was held in Bosnia-Herzegovina; a place which has experienced many conflicts, yet is full of interesting people. From the minute we arrived at the conference location we were welcomed by energetic participants and volunteers who we really enjoyed our time with!
The first day, the topic was about youth in peacebuilding which in fact we really related to– since our main goal is to focus on youth groups all over the world to be aspiring peacebuilders and activists. In addition to the opening panel and workshops, as volunteers in this conference, listening and seeing all the participants for the first time brought us lots of new ideas and hope.
That first day we had some inspiring guest speakers, one of them that really caught our attention was a woman who spoke about her experience working with youth in Afghanistan, which shifted the gears of our minds. Because the obstacles she had to overcome in order to make change in the world especially in such a “dangerous” zone made us realize that no matter what we face at the end we can achieve one of our goals, which is being the change and making what is so called impossible possible.
Another one of the speakers was a representative of the Post-Conflict Research Center in Bosnia, who opened our eyes to using the method of educating kids from a young age in schools about peacebuilding and how to speak up rather than staying silent, which is an ingenious idea that we can also apply here in Israel.
Although we learned a lot that day, we also had fun playing a simulation game called MORE. Since we had the opportunity of playing roles that were assigned to us and really feeling the pressure of making decisions that may determine the results of the simulation game. After an interesting day we had the opportunity to discover the old town of Sarajevo, with the amazing participants and volunteers from five continents.
The second day started with us decorating the conference room, as us girls and volunteers always do. We had the honor of hearing Jo Berry’s story about how she managed to hear the enemy’s story and the motivation of the man who had murdered her father and how that decision to meet and listen changed her whole reality. During her talk she said “Perhaps more than anything I’ve realised that no matter which side of the conflict you’re on, had we all lived each other’s lives, we could all have done what the other did”. When Jo finished her story, she talked to the audience individually. After hearing everyone’s perspective Jo was interested in Debate For Peace members Hala’s perspective on the story . So Jo decided to give Hala a book signed by her, which Hala was so surprised and thankful about. Because during Jo’s talk Hala picked up the methods of forgiveness that Jo mentioned and used to forgive the soldier who killed her father.
During that day we snuck out during our lunch break to visit the synagogue, however we are glad that we did. Seeing the faces of our new friends approaching the synagogue, many for the first time in a synagogue, and them taking pictures of the place was amazing, because then we realized no matter what your background or ethnicity is, everyone has a soft spot when it comes to accepting and admiring new things that comes their way.
When we came back to the conference room, we learned how to really write a heartfelt well structured paragraph, that we really did the old style with a couple of tears, pens and paper.
That night after our bellies were full of authentic Bosnian food we had the chance to get to know each other on a deeper level, by playing a card game called “Empathy Box” that was facilitated by Steven, which actually had some of us participants in tears by the end of the night.
The third and last day of the conference started with laughter and joyful tears that were shed while playing simulation games to highlight the complexity in peacebuilding. Then to continue with our topic we heard from an inspiring speaker with a complex yet real story of coming from an unrecognized village. Our own Sharehan Alwakiliy had the opportunity to share her story: where she came from, and how she had the courage to speak up and overcome many obstacles.
After that amazing session we played more simulation games led by Steven, and the twist was that people who participated and very much enjoyed the games got an Israeli chocolate as a reward. Unfortunately the conference time passed quickly, and before we knew it was time to say goodbye to all of our new friends. Even though we had only known them for three days it felt like an eternity now?
Another interesting thing we did post conference was to experience every religion in one day, highlighting the beauty of Sarajevo, the Jerusalem of Europe. First we heard the adhan call to prayer, so we decided to head to the masjid to pray since some of us are Muslim. Afterwards we were invited to Friday nights prayers and Qiddush in the synagogue which was really interesting and new to all of us. On our way back to the old town we heard the bells of the church ringing so we decided to follow the sound and visit the church. People practice their religion in many different ways yet at the end we belong to one human race which for those of us in peacebuilding is a really huge reminder that at the end of the day we are one, no matter our differences.
With deep appreciation to the Asfar team, all of the partner organizations, and the wonderful participants, volunteers, and locals of Sarajevo who helped us have such an amazing experience!
Debate for Peace 