Yoel Marshek. 'We want them to know country's borders'
Photo: Ido Erez
Kibbutz youth leave on 'Journey of Peace'
For four days, 800 12th graders to ride their bikes along Israel-Egypt border, attempt to shake hands of Egyptian soldiers across border 'to open borders and reach out for peace'
More than 800 12th graders from kibbutzim will take off Monday morning on a 'Journey of Peace' along the Israel-Egypt
border.
The journey will last for four days, when the youngsters will cover about 100 kilometers (62 miles) on their bicycle and will be spending the nights in sleeping bags in the cold desert.
The youths will ride along the border between Mount Harif and Kerem Shalom, a path that is prohibited for civil vehicles without clearance.
The journey will be guarded by the Israel Defense Forces and the Border Police. The participants will try, among other things, to shake hands with Egyptian soldiers across the border.
Yoal Marshek, the Kibbutz Movement's task force coordinator, said that "this is a journey for peace, a journey for opening borders, of citizens who are willing to reach out for peace."
Photo: Muli Ekstein
The journey will also include acquaintance with IDF, a touch on the subject of volunteering for the society, and acquaintance with splits and distress in the Israeli society.
"These are the components of love for the motherland," said Marshek. "We want our children to know the country's borders, to give a year's service and stand in officer course's graduation roll call. It is known that kibbutz children are at the lead in the Israeli society in volunteering and serving in combat units, and that the greater the challenge, the more the people rise to face it."
Shiri Blanc, of Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha, explained why she decided to join this journey: "There should be recruiting for the sake of fixing the Israeli society."
"In the situation of the Israeli society, we need to recruit as many citizens and youths as possible because our society is characterized today by gaps between the rich and poor, violence, indifference, and alienation. All these things compel amending," she continued.
During the journey they youths will meet with cadets and officers in military training camp 1. They will also meet with Bedouin residents and Gush Katif evacuees.
