cross-posted at pardesyehuda.blogspot.com

Ha’aretz reports that a new team will debut next week at the Australian Football League’s International Cup, a joint Palestinian-Israeli team dubbed, the “Peace Team”.

16 nations will compete for the prize, but only one team will be made of two nations. According to the article:

“The Peace Team is funded by the Peres Center for Peace and the East Jerusalem-based Al-Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue. The idea for the team originated when James Demetriou, brother of AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou, was introduced to the Peres Center during a visit to Israel. Soon afterwards the AFL approved the project…”

According to the AFL’s official site, “The combined Israeli-Palestinian Peace Team will make its International Cup debut against Great Britain in the second group of matches played from 1pm. Sweden, China, Finland and India will also compete for the first time.”

In my opinion, real peace, not diplomatic peace, but real peace, peace between people, starts with cross-cultural projects like this one. Even something less public, like the G.ho.st online endeavor, is a positive thing. Palestinians and Israelis need to cooperate, and work together, to be able to live together. Even if peace is signed on paper, peace is not real until it is in the hearts of the inhabitants of the countries.

The Ha’aretz report implies as much, and adds this bit regarding the political difficulties:

With half the squad coming from East Jerusalem and the West Bank, there have been some difficulties. Training sessions, held mostly at Kibbutz Netivah Lamed Hey, near Ben Shemen, have been cancelled a couple of times due to closures of the West Bank.

One player from Hebron even pulled out of the team after receiving threats from fellow Palestinians who suspected him of collaborating with Israel.

But as Barassi said, the project’s success is best measured by its effect on ordinary members of the community. And judging by the friendly interaction amongst team members, this has been the case.

The team has stuck to a tight schedule, given only a few months to learn the game and train before they leave for Australia on August 19.

But the important part is that the team is getting along; the team can serve as models for their home communities on the possibilities of coexistence and cooperation in the future.

For more information on the team from the Peres Center, look here.

The Democratic National Convention will include an interfaith service, bringing together leaders from the Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities. There will be four rabbis present for the service:
Rabbi David Saperstein, of the RAC, will be reciting an invocation, as noted in the previous post on Jewschool by KRG.
Rabbi Marc Shneier, founder of the Foundation of Ethnic Understanding
Rabbi Amy Schwartzman, a DC area Reform rabbi
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

I’m just saying, we make up about 2.5% of the population of the US, and of that 2.5%, what percentage goes to synagogue or relates to someone they call “rabbi”? It’s got to be small. I don’t know how many people are going to be addressing this interfaith event that is commencing the Democratic National Convention, but isn’t it a bit Jew heavy? And is it even representative of your average American Jew? I don’t know what I think about this. Others have thoughts?

by Karin Kloosterman

Known for its biotech advances, high-tech, clean technologies, and superb agricultural research, Israel is becoming a country that Canadian business developers can’t ignore. A couple of years ago I had the joy of meeting a bunch of Newfoundlanders in Israel hoping to partner with Israeli companies for R&D in the area of water technologies and security.

“Leave your tie at home and bring your fiddle!” were the last words spoken in Canada at a meeting hosted by Mayor Andy Wells from St. John’s, before the group headed to Tel Aviv. See the whole story: Canada and Israel Share the Great Big Sea.

The organization that brought the group to Israel is a joint Canadian-Israeli foundation, known as CIIRDF (say: sir-diff). Spelling it out, the Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation, offers money and resources to willing Canadian and Israeli companies who see a mutual fit. Proposals are being accepted until this September.

(Canada Ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen (right) and Les Abelson, Israel Manager of CIIRDF (left) at Israel’s annual Biomed conference. Credit: Karin Kloosterman)

While at a recent Biomed event in Tel Aviv (it’s THE annual Israeli biotech conference), I ran into Les Abelson, the Israel Manager for CIIRDF, where I caught him on video (see above). Moments after I speak with Les, John Allen, the Canadian Ambassador to Israel pops into the CIIRDF booth.

I had to know. What does Allen think about Israel?

“Canadians who come here are blown away by what they see. This conference is a window [into Israeli innovation],” says Allen, expressing his hopes that the Canadian visitors to the conference will encourage Israelis to come to Canada to establish R&D and investments benefiting both sides.

Actually it is pretty common to run into “celebrity” types, like politicians and ambassadors, at Israeli conferences and events. Not long ago I brushed shoulders with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and President Shimon Peres. Despite the fact that Israel has tight policies on security and safety, events like Biomed, feel very personal and open.

For more on CIIRDF, see www.ciirdf.ca.

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