Playing for Peace: Israel/Palestine

[updated: 7-30-2006]
ESPN the Magazine on Playing for Peace:

With violence escalating on several fronts in the Mideast, many are wondering what, if anything, can ever stop the madness consuming a region that, for many Jews, Muslims and Christians, is one of the holiest places on Earth.

Wars, diplomacy and mediation have failed to bring peace to the region. The cloud of failed accords hover over the area.

Not everyone has given up hope. A handful of brave and visionary people think the answer may lie, believe it or not, in basketball, specifically a nascent program called Playing for Peace.

Before the most recent hostilities began, ESPN.com sent Chad Ford, a professor of international conflict resolution at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and an ESPN basketball writer, to Israel on May 1-9 to check out PFP in action. What he saw was complicated, risky … and hopeful.

Playing for Peace Player Blogs:

July 26 -- Recently Brent Barry of the San Antonio Spurs and Mike Dunleavy of the Golden State Warriors traveled to Belfast, Ireland to take part in a clinic which brought together Catholic and Protestant children from the Short Strand and Dee Street Community Centres for an afternoon of basketball instruction at Queens University Physical Education Centre.

Playing for Peace's Building Bridges basketball camp 2005:



more info from the Playing for Peace website...

Playing for Peace has four main objectives:

• Bridge social divides
• Develop future leaders
• Educate children to lead healthy, constructive lives
• Build community involvement to ensure long-term sustainability

Since June of 2005, Playing for Peace has used the game of basketball to foster mutual respect and tolerance between Jewish and Arab youth in Israel and the West Bank. The participants are taught by a cadre of committed coaches, both local and from the United States, who have the knowledge, training, and tools necessary to address the difficult issues brought on by the conflict.

Playing for Peace's program in the Middle East involves two main components. First, it provides opportunities for meaningful interaction between Israeli and Palestinian children through joint basketball and social activities which take place on a regular basis. Secondly, the program works with the Palestinian Ministry of Youth Sport to develop the basketball infrastructure in the West Bank.