What began with a group of young people being strangers to each other, distanced, characterized by the political situation of their home country and tensed and stressed, quickly turned into a welcomed and long overdue platform of exchange, exploration of similarities and warm personal discussion.
And it turned in the basic conclusion that in our core we are not so different from each other and yet all that one really wants in life is the same: to be happy and to live in peace.
Peace camp initiator Dr. Dafna Paz says 'Actually, everyone wants to live peacefully in Israel, but no one knows exactly how to achieve that. The emotional barriers between each other are very strong. There is a mental wall between Jews and Arabs, between Israeli and Palestinians. The situation is very much charged emotionally. People can get easily angry and upset if you start talking about it. Daily life is often characterized by tension and stress.'
Thus, a core component of the program were the stress management and breathing techniques from The Art of Living that resolve tension and fears, and thus help participants to re-discover their inner peace and tranquility.
'Stress and tension are the root cause of violence', says Dr. Dafna Paz, the initiator of this peace camp. 'When stress is released from the system, peace results in the mind, and human values such as cooperation, responsibility, friendliness and a sense of belongingness naturally develop.
The group activities of the program also foster social skills and a willingness to take on personal and social responsibility.