Two young boys wearing sports clothes run together on a grassy field with their arms around each other’s shoulders, suggesting friendship and teamwork, while people sit in the background.

Peres Center for Peace and Innovation
Peres Center for Peace and Innovation

Peres Center for Peace and Innovation

Israel

United by Sport

Project specific

Peres Center for Peace and Innovation

Partner

Israel

Location

3 Years

Duration

Community details

Relationships between Arabs and Jews in Israel, and between Israelis and Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, are marked by complexity. A lack of opportunities for meaningful interaction between communities has made it difficult to build a foundation for peaceful coexistence, with young people feeling the effects deeply. The Peres Center offers sport programs that intentionally bring together Jews, Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians enabling participants to co-create a more tolerant and peaceful society.

About the project

The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation builds on its decades of experience fostering cross-cultural exchange and dialogue in the region. The first component of the project is a “training the trainers” model, working with coaches who take part in the Peres Center’s anti-discrimination and leadership training. The coaches learn to confront prejudices, stereotypes, and preconceptions through joint dialogues and activities on the topics of identity, diversity and coexistence before applying their learnings.
The second component of the project is working with Youth Leaders from different backgrounds. Participants attend bi-cultural workshops on leadership and anti-discrimination, accompany coaches during their training, and grow into role models in their communities. After a year of gaining skills and fostering understanding, they take what they have learned into practice, teaming up with football teams from a different community to their own,implementing joint football-based peace education activities for Jewish and Arab children across Israel (and when possible, in the West Bank) engaging hundreds of children each year.

Two young men wearing orange vests, one with PEACE written in English, Hebrew, and Arabic, happily hug during an outdoor activity, while others in white shirts smile in the background. — **Photo by: Shiran Golan** - Young Leaders in the “Playing Fair Jerusalem” program embrace during an on-pitch training activity.

Two children in soccer uniforms laugh and playfully wrestle on the grass during a game, enjoying themselves and smiling brightly. — **Photo by: Efrat Sa’ar** - Children play during “Sport in the Service of Peace” activities in the mixed city of Lod, Israel.

United by Sport

When tensions and divisions persist for generations, the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation offers football as a uniting element to break the cycle of discrimination.

Requested grant amount

€700.000

Media Gallery

Photo by: Efrat Sa’ar - Children during “Sport in the Service of Peace” activities - from the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.
Photo by: Shiran Golan - Young Leaders in the “Playing Fair Jerusalem” program embrace during an on-pitch training activity.
Photo by: Efrat Sa’ar - Children play during “Sport in the Service of Peace” activities in the mixed city of Lod, Israel.