Students' trip to Israel aims at Mideast peace
By Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Monday, January 28, 2008

Barry Gutierrez © The Rocky
Matahira Hassan,16, listens to a speaker during a gathering of the Student Interfaith Peace Project this month.
Presidents, secretaries of state and special envoys have all tried to broker peace in the Middle East.
Now a group of 27 high schoolers from across the metro area - equally divided among Muslims, Jews and Christians - will fly to Israel in June in an effort to bring a measure of peace to the region.
It's a heck of an after-school assignment.
"I think it will make us more well-rounded, and I think it will show us that life is more complicated than walking down to McDonald's and grabbing a double cheeseburger," says Omar Murib, a 17-year-old junior at Douglas County High School, who is Muslim.
"You've got to start somewhere, and we're taking baby steps toward (solving) the war, guns, bullets and achieving peace."
During their 10 days in the region, students will learn firsthand about the facts on the ground, as diplomats say, and meet with peacemaking groups.
Places they are expected to visit include a Jewish-Arab community center in Ramle, Israel, called Open House; and the Geneva Initiative Offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Ramallah, West Bank, which aim to carry out "realistic and achievable" solutions based on official Middle East negotiations.
Organizers are putting together a similar group in Israel, and the Denver students also will meet with them.
"If we make a difference in the hearts and minds of 50 students and families here and there (in Israel), it is peace," says Shaul Gabbay, an Israeli-born, Jewish professor who helped launch the program. "You cannot tell me peace doesn't exist."
The program, it is hoped, will not end after the trip.
"If one of them becomes a congressperson, businessperson or ambassador, they can draw on this network," said Deborah Rohan Schlueter, the project director.
In some cases, students might just lend a sympathetic ear.
"Listening to the stories of real people being affected . . . and truly hearing what they have to say will impact them in some way," 17-year-old East High School junior Claire Simon, who is Jewish, wrote in an e-mail.
"Helping them vent or showing one person that their opinion is heard will hopefully show them that simply talking and listening is more powerful and productive than hatred and violence."
The Student Interfaith Peace Project, SIPP for short, came out of discussions between Gabbay, head of the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East at the University of Denver, and Rohan Schlueter, the institute's former project director.
They came up with the idea 21/2 years ago but couldn't start until Dr. Paul Dragul helped with the finances that got it off the ground. The total SIPP budget, which is handled by the institute, is $25,000, which includes stipends for teachers - Jewish, Muslim and Christian - and Rohan Schlueter.
The students will have to help raise the estimated $65,000 they need for the trip. They are working on events, including a Feb. 10 fundraiser at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, and a dinner and silent auction March 7 at Strings Restaurant, both in Denver. (About seven are not expected to make the trip for reasons ranging from safety concerns to cultural issues.)
The heart of the program is a three-hour class held one Monday night per month since October. Other activities have included a Keystone retreat and attending a play about teenage Holocaust victim Anne Frank.
This month's class was on the media. Desks were arranged in a large circle at a University of Denver classroom as the students munched on pizza and offered their definitions of propaganda. Influence, catchy and convincing were among the words teacher Fran Sterling then wrote on the board.
The group is already dealing with one tragedy. Among the participants is Katy Parr, whose sister, mother and father were killed in a car crash in December. Katy was the only survivor.
This past meeting was the first since the crash, and it offered a chance for students to discuss their feelings. The teachers also talked of having a fundraiser for the trip in Katy's honor.
It appeared that few in the group knew Katy well, but fellow East High student Megan Carlson said her story was inspiring.
"The thing that is really exciting to me is she still wants to do it," Carlson said, referring to the trip.
kassj@RockyMountainNews.com