Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
OR PLANET OF WAR?
T
he Peace Research Village (PRV) is based in the ecovillage, in relation to the question of whether we will have a planet of
Tamera, in Portugal. It is working towards building a peace peace or of war. There are therefore strategic reasons for our
village in the Middle East for Israelis, Palestinians and strong involvement there. Although there are huge parts of the
Internationals. The main objective of the project is to actively world in which people suffer more, the Middle East has a much
research, study and create an effective and durable non violent stronger continuous global media attention. We often view our
social model for a peaceful culture that can be replicated in other political activities as the search for the right acupuncture point in
areas of conflict the world. the whole of the organism Earth. The current attention as well as
The unique elements of the project are its active concentration the decisive cultural impulses deriving from there for over 10,000
on humane sustainability and the placement of such an experiment years now, makes the Middle East such an acupuncture point.
within the global context of our time. The Peace Research Village Also I come from a German Jewish family, and as such I cannot
aims to become a place of education where the elements of truth, deny that I am keen to do this. The protection of my family during
trust, tolerance and our very human responsibility for the care of the Third Reich was, in some ways, a miracle. The privilege of
the world is rediscovered, and solutions found that are based on coming from such a background and the fact that I am able to
concrete strategies. Leila Dregger interviewed one of the core criticize the politics of the State of Israel without immediately
organisers of the project, Benjamin von Mendelssohn. being called anti-Semitic, also gives me a certain responsibility to
engage myself in this conflict for a change to the better.
A small group of you at Tamera started the Israel/Palestine Peace The Israeli government is engaged in a psychological repro-
Village project in 2001. What was your motivation? duction of its peoples’ past trauma of the holocaust. On the
It was the suffering of the people in Palestine when the second whole and in many details, the historical parallel cannot be
Intifada began. We wanted to find a way to help. Compassion – the denied any longer. I remember the sensational news about two
almost childlike wish to really do good when you dare to face the years ago when pictures were published showing Palestinian
suffering of the world yet again – is a strong motivation in the prisoners of the Israeli Army with shaved heads and numbers
whole project. Tamera is a global peace project and there are many printed on their bodies. The historical and psychological chain
historical/political facts that make the Middle East a crucial place of violence needs to be broken.
Title page: The Peace Research Village, Tamera, Portugal. Centre top: Moses Mount.
Centre left: Benjamin von Mendelssohn. Centre: Jahalin Bedouin camp.
Boxed item: Performing ‘We Refuse To Be Enemies’. Centre right: Lunch at the peace camp.
Above: A mindful listening session. Above: The Sinai, a possible site for a future Peace Village.