Learning from the Past And Present for a Peaceful Future
NARRATIVES
At TPME, our work is centered around stories. We exist to elevate the stories, the experiences of children and teenagers that want to speak out. Every story matters, and the way to make the stories of teenagers in Israel and Palestine personable and impactful to the world is to focus on them one at a time. By individually exploring each interviewee's experience, we put the Teens in Teens for Peace. Below, explore some of our most impactful stories. Please note that these interviews pre-date 2023. Now, in 2024, TPME is working to actively engage with Israeli and Palestinian teens and document their experiences and thoughts as to how we move towards peace. Stay tuned as we work to accomplish this mission and add their stories to this page.
LIRAN
Israeli, 18
"We hear the siren starting, and then literally 5 seconds later, we just hear the loudest sounds of our lives. We hear the glass of the window shatter...we look outside and everything is just on fire. There’s a massive hole in the ground...everyone’s screaming and shouting. There’s a little metal ball, my mom still has it, from the rocket, that landed on her bed.”
SHRAGA
Israeli, 18
“My teacher was just walking around, and this teenager walked up to him at a falafel stand and asked some questions. He ran up behind him, and stabbed him, and my teacher neutralized the threat and then died from bleeding...it’s not really out of the ordinary. In my town, 3 years ago, 3 kids were kidnapped and killed.”
SERENA
Palestinian
“While we were praying, the soldiers came all around us...they started shooting rubber bullets and I remember my cousin got shot in her leg. We (Palestinians) were throwing rocks...I remember in that moment everyone was really scared, everyone was screaming. It was so overwhelming for kids, for everyone, but for kids.”
DONA
Palestinian, 16
“I’m thinking about what can I learn in the future, what place can I work, what’s my career going to be, and the direct answer I get is that I don’t think you will be able to work in this place because they only hire Jews...that’s the thing that frustrates me, because you can’t develop yourself. Money in this country supplies you with safety...if you don’t have money I do not think you are safe here.”
RONALD
Israeli, 13
“A huge part of these arguments is misunderstanding, because we have both Jewish people and Palestinian people arguing, and they don’t try to understand each other. Not the Jewish people, not the Palestinian people. Instead of trying to say ‘hey, maybe I will try to understand the mindset of the other person,’ they continue fighting, and if you’re fighting and you’re not able to convince the other person, you’re not going to be able to convince them even after a million years.”
ITAI
Israeli, 17
"There’s a general failure to acknowledge that the bad things that happen can be solved if people just talk it out...some politicians and some of the population refuses to sit down and discuss in a coherent manner...if you have two people that sit down to talk - these can be friends, strangers, any sort of relationship - there is a very high likelihood that it will devolve into insults, or yelling, or aggressiveness that shouldn’t exist."