JDBASKETBALL For World Peace
I never thought I would be conducting a basketball clinic in the middle of desert – – then again growing up in NY, I could have imagined addressing 80 Palestinian and Israeli youth and Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders in a Bedouin tent 100 kilometers outside of Eilat (Israel).
The underlining message at the Sulhita youth gathering in February was a simple, divine- yet profound. The Sulha Peace Project (www.sulha.com) is a grassroots organization dedicated to the healing and reconciliation of the children of Abraham through developing of co-existence between Arabs and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians.
Many of the youth from Gaza had never met an Israeli before, and vice versa. I had met the founders a week earlier in the Arabic section in the old port city of Joffa, and planned our section of the event.
I knew this session of JDBASKETBALL would be special when leaving the tent, I came to learn that many of the youth had to make a 3 kilometer trek down a hill (passing 2 camels), around and up a hill to the court located on a nearby kibbutz — no small feat. The ever-resilient kids mobilized with enthusiasm, singing songs and laughing; although I noticed many of them sticking to their own.
Myself and coaches Roy Mizlik (Coach, Rishon LeZion) and Itamar Reik (Player, Natanya Jr. Team) carried the basketballs and equipment as a 2nd year Israeli army lieutenant carried his machine gun next to us.
The desert backdrop and full moon provided the perfect setting for the initial ball handling and shooting drills. Once the balls started bouncing, I felt like we could be at West 4th; or anywhere for that matter. It was amazing to see the various colors and different variations of the dress contrasting the peace gathering youth, peer counselors and adults. Dually exciting, as many of the kids had never played basketball before and were very eager to learn. After a long skills session, he clinic climaxed when separating the youth and coaches into integrated teams for a friendly full court match.
Running up and down, sharing the ball- sharing themselves.
Smiles and hi-fives were abundant! The game transformed from a bouncing orange sphere into a mechanism for communication and connection. Some of the youth chose not to play instead setting up cheering sections and cheering loudly after every basket. There was no score kept and no winners and losers, just a bunch of kids in the desert playing together, having fun and shooting baskets.
It was the most profound basketball experience I have ever had.
The new language of peace requires a creative solution, I said Gabriel Meyer co- founder of Sulha — Sports and Arts can surprise reality and make change. JDBASKETBALL came in and relieved tension and assisted in creating bonds between Palestine and Israeli teens after hours of intense discussion, emotion, and bereavement. JDBASKETBALL coaches really broke the ice, and furthered our peace gathering.
Although it would be naive for us to think we made a major difference in the struggle for peace, co-existence and understanding in the Middle East. But – -for that short time, in our small court on top of a big desert mountain amidst major conflict, life was fun, issues were put aside and peace was upon us.
For World Peace,
JD Walsh
JDBASKETBALL’s new travel blog will be featured onwww.insidehoops.com, one of the worlds leading basketball websites for news and information