Our first program in Jerusalem took place at Neve Shalom, Wahat al-Salam, an intentional community of Jews and Palestinian Arabs of Israeli citizenship. The community started small and has grown so much in popularity that it is likely to be full (unable to house any more people) in the next few years.

Neve Shalom (Hebrew) and Wahat al-Salam (Arabic) mean “Oasis of Peace.” In this community, Jews and Palestinians live as neighbors, share their homes with one another, and watch as their kids grow up together in a safe and loving environment. Before my friends and I met with a member of the community, Rayek, to talk about his experiences, I didn’t know what to expect. I tried not to hold onto any ideas about what it would be like because I didn’t want to be disappointed when I realized that the group of people had their share of ups and downs.

Rayek did not hide anything from us. He talked about the positives and negatives of an intentional community-some aspects we understood from our own experiences living at Lotan and in the Bustan neighborhood. He didn’t sugar coat the peace aspect of his intentional lifestyle either. One might think that the members of Neve Shalom, Wahat al-Salam learned something about the Jewish/Palestinian conflict that we don’t know-something that allowed members of both “sides” of the conflict to live together in harmony. Rayek responded to a question about this knowledge, saying, “Living together doesn’t mean we have the answers to every question. It is enough that we are taking this step.”

It was inspiring to see a community of people who were tired of waiting for others to solve the conflict and decided to show the world a peaceful community comprised of Palestinians and Jews is possible.

Quotes from Rayek:

We are not just an organization. We are also a community.

In Neve Shalom, Wahat al-Salam, we try to live as though everyone is equal. However, as the country of Israel, we are not living on this level.

When asked about how the youth of Neve Shalom, Wahat al-Salam deal with moving from their community peace school to schools outside of the community:

Jews and Arabs are not mysteries to our children. They can add to discussions when other children can’t.

All religions have reached the same level of enlightenment.

It does not matter how you practice your religion, but how you act as a person.

Nobody who came here came with specific conditions.

There are many things to be sad or depressed about in our life, but there just isn’t time.

I no longer believe in collective change, only individual change.

We choose to live the peace now rather than wait for others to bring peace in the future.