Lauren Barr and Ryan DuBois are donating their first two weeks of summer to an ambitious cause – peace in the Middle East – as part of American University’s first Alternative Summer Break to Israel and Palestine.
Barr, a 20-year old student from Ellicott City, Md., teamed up with DuBois, a 19-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., to organize the logistics of the program. The trip, Grassroots Peace Activism in Israeli and Palestinian Societies, will take students on a two-week trek across Israel and the West Bank in hopes of gaining an in-depth perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From May 10 to 24, students will visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Nazareth in Israel as well as Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramallah in the West Bank. They hope this will give them an equal and well-rounded perspective.
Last winter, Barr and DuBois participated in an Alternative Break to the Thai/Burma border. “I was just really eager to get out and see the world,” DuBois said.
Barr and DuBois returned home full of excitement, ready to lead a trip of their own. That’s when Shoshanna Sumka, AU’s Coordinator of Global and Community-Based Learning, suggested a trip to Israel and Palestine. “Of course, I jumped at the chance,” said Barr, the president of AU’s OneVoice movement. OneVoice promotes peace and dialogue in Israel and Palestine.
Barr and DuBois believe that “top down” negotiation by powerful political figures has failed and that an active and involved society can achieve peace. They are also concerned with American and international policy towards the conflict.
“I think this trip is really unique because it’s specifically focusing on the peace movement and working on the grassroots level,” Sumka said.
Barr and DuBois got to work on the project, turning in an extensive 25-page, single spaced application. The hours of hard work are evident by their close and developing friendship. However, the two sophomores still remained skeptical that a trip to Israel and Palestine would be possible. “I thought that it would be too controversial, too dangerous,” DuBois said.
Security issues posed because of the constant conflict in the region caused the Barr and DuBois to remain somewhat apprehensive. “We put a lot of love into this application,” said Barr, “but the whole time we were writing it, we thought ‘this isn’t going to happen.’”
A question-and-answer session with the Alternative Break board proved Barr and DuBois wrong. The committee initially expressed mixed reactions to the proposal but thought it was important for students to be involved in the peace process, according to Sumka. Many were excited but some had safety concerns, and others were concerned with the trip’s balance between Israel and Palestine. The committee approved the project and Barr, DuBois and Sumka began meticulously planning the details.
Sumka linked Barr and DuBois with some of the contacts she gained after having spent some time in the region herself. She travelled to Israel as a volunteer after high school. “I’ve been back a few times recently in the past two or three years because my family lives there,” she said.
Sumka’s sister works for peace organizations in Israel, while her father works with international development in the West Bank and Gaza. It was her family that helped partner them with some of the local organizations.
Barr and DuBois plan to learn about grassroots peace activism by working alongside professionals in the field. They will spend approximately half the time with the Jerusalem Peacemakers, an independent, interfaith organization focused on reconciliation. Their website states that their mission is to “support people in Israel and Palestine who have taken it upon themselves to work for reconciliation and peace.”
The rest of the time will be spent with Holy Land Trust, a non-profit, nonviolent awareness organization that “seeks to deepen international awareness and advocacy.”The trip leaders have been in constant contact with the organizations. “We feel very comfortable with them,” Barr said.
The recent turmoil in the Gaza Strip has caused the duo to be even more enthusiastic about their cause. “We’ve heard from people on the ground over there that the peace movement is feeling really isolated,” DuBois said. They are hopeful that the grassroots movement can help change the course of the conflict. “It’s imperative for us to get over there, to show support for the peace work being done.”
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