YOUNG AMBASSADORS FOR PEACE

Fourteen young people from each community in Israel, in Jerusalem and in the West Bank, two interpreters and two facilitators spent ten days in Switzerland in a chalet and then in host families with the aim of reinforcing their relationship far from the conflict and of developing their notion of becoming future members of the Young Ambassadors for Peace. A conference took place on Saturday 10 June 2023 in Lausanne.

The Bereaved Families Forum or PCFF is a prominent binational organisation from the civil society founded in the beginning of the 21st century. It is the only organisation which reunites 600 families from both sides who have been closely affected by a bereavement, either that of a child, a father or a mother, a brother or a sister or an uncle or an aunt. The Forum organises a host of activities: presentations in schools across the country, internal dialogue, education, international advocacy, and is at the origin of an annual event, The Alternative Memorial Ceremony, which commemorates the memory of both peoples’ losses. At the beginning it was followed by a few hundred people, the ceremony now draws more than 17,000 in situ and around 300,000 worldwide. Four years ago, the Forum decided to set up the Young Ambassadors for Peace programme in order to develop a space of leadership for the young people in the network.ARRIVAL AND STAY IN THE MOUNTAINS
The group we hosted this summer have been working for two years. Fourteen youngsters, eight Israelis (7 women and 1 man) and six Palestinians participated in the trip, two other Palestinians did not receive their Swiss visas. The group arrived on Friday 2 June and stayed with host families until 4 June. All these families spent lovely moments at the welcome evening and the family day which followed were opportunities to get to know each other.
The group then left for the chalet in the Diablerets from 4 to 8 June, where they lived a unique experience of intense coexistence through moments organised by the facilitators and a lot of informal time devoted to preparing meals and cleaning the chalet. They all worked in groups on their practice as witnesses, devising ways to make short videos to show their programme on the internet and creating games for the yearly summer camp for the children of the network aged between 8 and 12. The aim of these games, inspired by their mutual experience here in Switzerland, is to learn words in both languages, and address subjects stimulating acquaintance with the other. This uninterrupted living together for four days allowed them to get to know each other more profoundly, to experience live what living together could be and reinforce the ties within the group.
EXCURSION, FORMATION, COMMUNICATION
On Thursday 8 June, we took them to Bern on a guided visit with emphasis on the Federal Parliament where they met Mario Carrera (ex-diplomat of the DFAE (Federal Department for Foreign Affairs) and head of the DDC (Department of Development and Cooperation) followed by a visit of the House of Religions, which intrigued them.

We are so proud to have offered them two days at the IMD, a management school of high standing, where seven professors gave 5 master classes on the following themes:
1    Allow oneself to take leadership as leader of peace
2    How to steer difficult and constructive conversations
3    Establish a communications strategy
4    Manage one’s stress and build up one’s resilience
5    Setting up of a unifying narrative

The group had the feeling it was treated like VIPs and adults, giving them a sense of responsibility. They were inspired, committed and highly appreciated these classes. At the end of the day on Friday 9 June, the group gave a public conference at IMD in front of a public of about 40 people, conference which was broadcast live to 1000 ex-students of IMD.

On Saturday 10 June there was the farewell evening which constituted a beautiful and warm moment of sincere thanks and utter joy.
The group was filmed by team of the RTS (Swiss radio and television) as the subject of a report by Stephane Amar transmitted for the 30 years of the Oslo accords. It was broadcast in the programme Mise au Point on the RTS on Sunday 27 August:  Des Romands tentent de faire avancer la paix

THANKS
SINCE THEIR RETURN
In view of the situation on the ground (massive demonstrations in reaction to the tentative of a judiciary overhaul, the situation in the POT, they came together as a sign of solidarity, are proactive and ready to answer all the demands for voluntary work the Forum requests of them, a clear change in comparison to the participants of previous years. They would also like a follow-up alumni programme. Above all, they all participated (except for two participants barred from entry into Israel) in the Forum’s summer camp organised in July over the last 8 years. This camp brought together 50 children aged 8 to 12 from Israel and the West Bank. According to their facilitators and donor who took part, it was the most successful yet. They demonstrated and exemplified, by their behaviour and relations with one another, what trust, solidarity and respect between Israelis and Palestinians can be. The group participated on 21 September 2023 in the UN International Peace Day and signed the Charter.

NEXT STEPS
•    They will receive training on TikTok videos to improve the quality of their films in the aim of putting out their action on the social network, and the getting-to-know-each-other games used  during the summer camps;
•    The communications strategy professor from IMD offered them two other classes in 3 and 6 months to help them develop their strategy on the social networks;
•    The Young Ambassadors for Peace programme which was threatened to disappear continues; the facilitators are in the throes of recruiting a new group;
•    The facilitators would like to come back to Switzerland in 2024 with a new group, thanks to Coexistences.

Since 7 October, despite and shock and horror, the feedbacks of our hosts reveal a great self-control. They have held several “uni-national” meetings in order to advance and exchange their reactions in a protected discussion group. In the same vein, a mixed meeting is planned. Thus, the group is filling its role as a support network reference.

Fiuna Seylan-Ongen, 9 November 2023