PeacePlayers International

Related to the previous post on the summer activities of NBA players, it is worth taking a closer look at an organization that works year-around to promote peace across the lines of some of the world's most intractable conflicts. The Washington, DC-based PeacePlayers International operates programs (in places such as Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and the Middle East) to break down the lines of conflict by using basketball as a medium for person-to-person contact and relationship building. Their program for Israelis and Palestinians was the subject of an excellent 2006 essay by Chad Ford, a international conflict resolution professor and ESPN writer, that is worth reading in full:

There are eight kids on the bus with me: four Palestinians — Khaled, Mohammed, Ahmed, Saleh; four Israelis — Pini, Atiel, Seamon, David. They are going to a professional basketball game together. Neither group really speaks the other's language, but Arabic and Hebrew are close enough, with some broken English mixed in, that they manage to communicate. Khaled and Pini pass the time e-mailing MP3s of 50 Cent and pictures of Shakira to each other on their cell phones. Khaled wraps an arm around Pini, holds out his camera and takes a picture. My phone goes off. The ringer is set to the Bouncing Souls' soccer anthem, "Ole!" By the third "ole," the kids, both Palestinian and Israeli, are singing along in unison. Sitting in the back are Tomer, an Israeli settler from just outside Jericho, and Basil, a Palestinian shopkeeper from Issawiya. They've volunteered to coach for a new organization in Israel — Playing for Peace — that has developed a creative approach to bridging differences through the game of basketball. The philosophy is simple, yet profound. Kids who play together learn how to live together. ...  The kids on the bus from Issawiya and Bet Shemesh are part of a pilot program that is the cornerstone of PFP. The program takes a youth basketball team from Palestine and one from Israel and mixes them together once a week. To the casual observer, a mix of a few Muslims and a dash of Jews is a volatile recipe. But for PFP, the idea is that meaningful bonds created from sport can break down walls and stereotypes and create friendships that can withstand the surging waves of conflict in the region. [Read the full article]

In 2007, Ford filed another dispatch on the program from Israel. For those interested in an even more in depth exploration of the subject, he is also the author of a law review article on the role of sports in ethnic conflict resolution.