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April 2, 2004/Nisan 11 5764, Vol. 56, No. 28
Israelis, Palestinians unite in Antarctica
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - Just before news networks flashed footage of furious Palestinians vowing to avenge Israel's killing of the leader of Hamas, there was a more heartwarming story on the Middle East.
A few Israelis and Palestinians were honored this month by Search for Common Ground, a nonprofit organ-ization dedicated to conflict resolution, for diplomacy through sport.
Their sport was an extreme one: On New Year's Day, the group embarked on a 35-day expedition to Antarctica that culminated in the scaling and naming of an unexplored mountain.
To launch the project, Heskel Nathaniel teamed up with an Israeli climber friend, Doron Erel, and found four Israelis and four Palestinians willing to sail from the southern tip of Chile through the ominous Drake Passage to Antarctica.
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 commando unit in the Israeli army.
The expedition had plenty of rough spots.
There were political battles - like when Nasser Quass, the Palestinian who had been in an Israeli jail, said Jews have no claim to the Temple Mount.
"We were completely insult-ed," Nathaniel said.
Another incident was nam-ing the mountain, which they ultimately called the "Moun-tain of Israeli-Palestinian Friendship."
The team banded together - sometimes literally, with ropes - to complete the mission.
Erel remarked on the bizarre nature of climbing a mountain at "the end of the world," tied to a Palestinian whose brother was killed in Lebanon and another who was jailed in Israel.
But Erel had faith in his partners.
"I didn't think for one moment they were going to cut the rope," he said.
For more information about the program and to read a diary of the trip, visit www.breaking-the-ice.de.
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