Youth Delegation
Visits Washington

The visit to Washington by a del-
egation of young people repre-
senting the Israeli-Palestinian
Youth Dialogue, a program of Is-
rael's Peace Now movement, was
supposed to be a reminder of just
how far the peace process has
come in the past few years.
Instead, it turned into a re-
minder of how much emotional
durability it will take to reach the
goal of a genuine, stable peace.
Three Palestinian and three
Israeli young people left their
homes only hours after suicide
bombings in Jerusalem and
Ashkelon for a Washington vis-
it that included meetings with
First Lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton, a Capitol Hill briefing
and a session at a Washington
high school.
The Palestinian delegates had
a hard time reaching the airport
because of the closure of the ter-
ritories; in fact, one participant
was delayed.
The flight to this country was
emotionally difficult, said Chen
Raz, a 25-year-old Israeli.
"The mood was very somber,"
he said. "But I'm ashamed to say
it — we get used to it. This is all
familiar to us. We've been
through it before; we know we
just have to fight longer and
harder for peace."
The bombings, which killed at
least 25 Israelis, had a sad per-
sonal meaning for Mr. Raz.
"Only two hours before I was
supposed to go to the airport, I
found out that the son of my un-
cle was dead in the explosion," he
said. "They couldn't even recog-
nize the body. I didn't know what
I should do — stay in Israel for
the funeral, or come here."
All of the members of the del-
egation, he said, have lost fami-
ly members to terror attacks, or
had family and friends arrested.
"We've all had difficult experi-
ences," he said. "But what we
want to do is give the new gen-
eration new experiences."
The youth delegation, he said,
sees no alternative to some kind
of separation between Israelis
and Palestinians, despite the per-
sonal ties they have developed
through the program.
Ala' Abu Ein, a 21-year-old
Palestinian from Ramallah,
agreed.
"There has to be some kind of
separation into two states," he
said. "We have no common tra-
ditions; these are two nations,
two cultures. But we have to stay
in contact so we can get benefits
from both sides. It will be diffi-
cult."
Mr. Abu Ein said he spent the
morning of their flight "calling Is-
raeli friends to check on what
was going on, to make sure they
were all OK. ❑

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