The Peres Center for Peace

The Peres Center for Peace is a non-partisan organisation founded  in 1996, by Nobel Peace Laureate Shimon Peres. It aims to build an infrastructure of peace and reconciliation by and for the people of the Middle East that promotes socio-economic development, cooperation and understanding.

The Sport Department: From values of teamwork and common goals to shared struggles and victories, sport has the power to unite youth from different cultures and backgrounds. Through a language understood by all players, Palestinian and Israeli, Jewish and Arab children unite under the common banner of sport, cheering each other on, helping each other win and building lasting friendships.   These extra-curricular programs provide youth from disadvantaged communities with stimulation of the mind, body, and spirit. In addition to the positive impact on the thousands of annual participants, the benefits of these programs are felt by the youth’s peers, coaches and families, spreading the powerful message of coexistence, dialogue and cooperation and inspiring entire communities.  

The Peres Center’s "Twinned Peace Football Schools" initiative encourages reconciliation between Palestinian and Israeli children from disadvantaged communities through a programme of sport training, peace education instruction, educational support and joint sporting and social activities. This afterschool programme imparts the values of peace and understanding, encourages acceptance of cultural differences, and breaks down stereotypes.

The children meet with their "twinned" school for monthly joint activities and other special events, playing in mixed teams, rather than against each other. The program is implemented from September to June (parallel to the school year) and new entrants are encouraged to continue participating in the program for a number of years in order to successfully foster a profound appreciation of peace and achieve other aims related to fitness improvement and self-development.

Here you can see our current programs: http://www.peres-center.org/sport_current