Ex-IDF soldier talks peace with students

A FORMER Israeli soldier visited Londonderry’s sole integrated post-primary school recently to talk about the conflict in Palestine as students paused lessons to mark United Nations’ Peace One Day.

The event marked annually in the college since 2003 sees students reflect on the importance of those who work for peace.

Those whose work for peace is celebrated range across the world and the centuries, and this year remembered current peace activists in the middle east.

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This year, the event honoured by a visit from Noam Chayut, Co-Founder of the Israeli organisation Breaking The Silence, which enables Israeli soldiers to talk about the occupied territories.

Chayut was in the city as guest in a joint venture between Trócaire and Christian Aid.

Oakgrove College Vice Principal John Harkin welcomed the visit and said it was important for people in Northern Ireland to become informed about the middle east.

“For too many, the conflict between Israel and Palestine is a far away one, but for many, including relatives of children in our school, it impacts directly on their family members.

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“Today’s talk, to co-incide with Peace One Day allowed students to hear directly from someone who has been involved in the conflict and to realise that all of us can make choices in our lives which make life better for others,” he said.

Trócaire and Christian Aid work jointly on a range of issues around human rights and justice for people in Israel and Palestine, supporting local initiatives, and providing international solidarity.

Year 8 students are introduced to the idea of Peace One Day, a brain-child of Jeremy Gillet, who argued: “If we want to build a house, we start with one brick. If we want to build peace, we should start with one day.”

Oakgrove annually holds a special assembly at which senior students present stories of some peace-makers. Music includes the Omagh Community Choir’s “Across A Bridge of Hope” written after the bombing in 1998.

Students symbolically plant daffodils representing their hopes for peace. They also reflect in a period of silence on the contribution which they can make to peace in school, family and community.

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