A Thaw in Relations

Who says that Israelis and Palestinians can’t work together?
On New Year’s Day, a group of Israelis and Palestinians embarked on a 35-day
expedition to Antarctica that culminated in the scaling and naming of an
unexplored mountain.

The group, Breaking the Ice, was honored this month for
diplomacy through sport by Search for Common Ground, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to conflict resolution.

“[I] felt paralyzed not being able to do anything,” said Heskel
Nathaniel, an Israeli living in Germany who launched the project in order to
make a contribution to peace. Nathaniel teamed up with an Israeli climber
friend, Doron Erel, to assemble the expedition.

Through their connections, including Israeli journalists
working in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, they found four Israelis and four
Palestinians willing to sail from the southern tip of Chile through the  Drake
Passage to Antarctica. They also organized an eight-person support crew,
including a physician, mountain guides and cameramen to produce a documentary.

The hikers included an Ethiopian Israeli who had lost most
of her family trekking across Sudan en route to Israel, a Palestinian from Jerusalem
who had been jailed for attacking Israeli troops with Molotov cocktails and a
lawyer who served in an elite Israeli army commando unit. Despite their
differences, members of the team knew how to “treat each other as human
beings,” said Olfat Haider, an Israeli Arab from Haifa.

But the expedition had plenty of rough spots. Crossing the
Drake Passage, which Nathaniel calls the “largest ships’ graveyard in the
world,” meant enduring waves nearly 50 feet high and winds up to 80 mph. Almost
everyone became seasick and two participants suffered bruises as the boat was
tossed around.

There also were political battles, like the one that
occurred when Nasser Quass, the Palestinian who had been in an Israeli jail,
said Jews have no claim to the Temple Mount.

“We were completely insulted,” Nathaniel said.

Avihu Shoshani, the Israeli lawyer who often butted heads
with Quass, was furious. Haider began to cry.

The parties separated, avoiding each other until the next
evening, when they had to continue navigating, Nathaniel said.

Now, with the trek behind them, Breaking the Ice leaders are
working to turn the event into an annual program — though not to Antarctica.
The next trip, slated for March 2005, will be a camel trek across the Sahara Desert
for Jews and Arabs from several countries.

The group also hopes to inspire children with the example of
bold adventurers who will symbolize a “new kind of hero,” Nathaniel said. He
explained that the group plans ultimately to create programs to instill
friendship among children from countries of conflict.

For more information about the program
and to read a diary of the trip, go to