Building bridges in the Middle East

Over the past week, Zaviews has been observing the work of Ultimate Peace (UP), a non-profit sports initiative teaching the relatively new sport of Ultimate Frisbee to integrated Israeli and Palestinian youth teams.Rifkin and Roth are travelling to a small farming community called Far'un which is situated in the northeastern West Bank, about 5km south of the town of Tulkarm near the border with Israel. The aim of the day is to spend time with some of the Palestinian children they coached in Tel Aviv, in the hope of being able to pass on the fundamentals of the sport to the community teachers who will drive this initiative in the coming months.More than this however, it is an opportunity to visit the Palestinian children who participate regularly in the integrated teams co-ordinated by the Peres Centre for Peace, and to experience firsthand what life is like in Palestine.Far'un is high on a hill, with views looking out over a valley towards the Mediterranean, to the checkpoint at Tulkarm, and over a nearby Israeli town called Netanya.Rifkin and Roth are both American, and so as non-Israeli's they are allowed to pass into the West Bank. This opportunity is not afforded to Israeli residents.