Israeli and Palestinian youth for Malta peace-building mission

A team of young people from Israel and Palestine could be coming to Malta in August to continue on their own peace-building mission started in Oslo, on the initiative of the Peres Centre for Peace in Israel.

The centre has written to President Guido de Marco asking him to intervene and help the centre finance and host a follow-up seminar for the Israeli/Palestinian Youth Forum in Malta.

"Although the situation in the Middle East seems to be deteriorating, we at the centre are increasing our activities and are motivated to continue with our endeavours," the letter said.

The youth forum, made up of 10 Israelis and 10 Palestinians, met for four days in Oslo at the Centre for Conflict Management and Peace-Building to discuss how they could give their share to bring about peace.

Professor de Marco said he had already discussed the matter with the Foreign Ministry and plans were under way to determine how this seminar could materialise.

"Malta can bring about a mentality towards peace by giving young people hope," he said.

Professor de Marco said that it had been the dream of Kerygma Movement director Fr Charles Fenech, OP, to invite six young people from Israel and Palestine to take part in the this year's Volleyball Marathon.

"When I had gone through the diplomatic channels, it seemed that the timing was not right. However, Providence has now shown otherwise, because young people from the Middle East could still be coming to Malta," he said.

If this visit materialises and the youth forum comes to Malta for the seminar, they could hopefully join in the marathon, thus realising Fr Fenech's dream.

President de Marco was yesterday speaking at St Agatha's Auditorium, Rabat where Fr Fenech gave a start to this year's solidarity campaign through sports.

Fr Fenech said that 1,700 young people had volunteered to help out in this year's campaign which starts with volleyball tours in different villages on July 1 and culminates with the 17th edition of the Go Mobile Malta Volleyball Marathon being held between August 12 and 22.

This year the marathon will last for 240 hours, 18 hours more than last year's, when Lm182,022 was collected.

The money collected from the marathon this year will go towards Dar tal-Providenza and to the Maltese Dominican mission in Albania.

The priests in Durres are helping the poor who live in slums, by building them new homes, a church and a centre for social assistance.

President de Marco praised the young people who had chosen to help this cause and to bring a smile to the faces of those who were less fortunate than them.

"Fr Fenech is an inspiration for all of us and through the Kerygma Movement he has given us a cause to work towards," he said.

Meanwhile Archbishop Joseph Mercieca also paid a quick visit to the auditorium to encourage the young people in their cause.

"Seeing young people sacrifice their summer to help others is a noble gesture and if we all followed suit the world would be a better place to live in," Mgr Mercieca said.