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After month of preparation and hours of negotiations between the Israeli, the Palestinian, and the German delegation, the breaking moment arrived on April 9th, 1996 in Ramallah: The Jusos (German Young Socialists), the youth organization of the Israeli Labor party (Mishmeret Tse’irah), and the Palestinian Fateh Youth (Shabibet Fateh) signed in Ramallah the article of agreement on the foundation of the Willy-Brandt-Center (WBC) .
Andrea Nahles, chair of the German Young Socialist (Jusos), is signing first.
First, the three chairmen – Andrea Nahles, Ofer Dekel and Sabri Tomezi – signed the contract. Following, the further members of the delegation signed. Among them Kerstin Griese (SPD-party executive), members of the "project group Middle East" of the Jusos, Harald Schrapers, Nahed Samour, Rainer Zimmer-Winkel, and Petra Berndorf (Juso-University groups).
Purpose of the contract was the creation of a center for encounter and communication on the border between East and West Jerusalem. To run an own center was at this stage still utopia, and everybody was well aware that the realization of this idea was still a future dream.
Ofer Dekel signs for the israeli Mischmeret Tse’irah.
In that moment the Oslo Peace Process already suffered from severe set backs: Jitzhak Rabin was murdered. Three suicide attacks in Jerusalem, Ashkelon, and Tel Aviv brought the war into the middle of the Israeli society and threatened indistinctive civilians and children. At the same time Palestinian villages in the West Bank became sealed off from each other – a separation that brought Palestinian public life to an end.
In 1996, the German Young Socialist (Jusos) considered as their share to act occasionally as moderator in the talks between their Israeli and Palestinian partner organizations. The hope for a decreasing role of the Jusos regarding importance and responsibility in this constellation has not become true until now. The increasing intensification of the political situation, especially from the start of the second Intifada on, means the need for continuous efforts in order to avoid a mutual "voicelessness" of both partners.
The signature of Sabri Tomezi for Shabibet Fateh.
In 2000, the WBC was able to open the first small office in Jerusalem. The WBC supporting association that was founded in Berlin had become member of the Forum World Peace Services. By doing so, it was possible to get financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development for this project.
Matthias Ries was sent by the Jusos as professional peace keeper to Jerusalem. He managed the office of the WBC and pushed the expansion of activities. Particularly, the project "Decision for History (2002-2004) was very successful.
Under the circumstances during the second Intifada, a real trilateral
cooperation was no longer possible. Hence, the project "Decision for
History" was initiated as a German-Israeli, respectively
German-Palestinian project. Main purpose was the formulation of the
different recalling and perception of the history of the conflict by
Palestinian and Israeli youth groups – and the following presentation in
the Internet. In this way, the web is becoming a platform for communication
that allows the different groups to get insight views on the perception of
the conflict of the respectively other side without meeting them
personally. Additionally, integral part of this separated workshop was the
training in nonviolent communication. A total of 16 youth groups of
distinctive political backgrounds took part in the project "Decision
for History", among them two groups of the German Young
Socialists.
www.willybrandtcenter.org/en/aboutus/history/ramallah
07.01.2009, 09:01