THE NEW YORK TIMES: PALESTINIANS SERENADE HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS IN ISRAEL

Youths from the Jenin refugee camp came to Tel Aviv yesterday to play music for Holocaust survivors.  The Jenin refugee camp produces many suicide bombers and other terrorists, but yesterday the politics of the conflict were put aside. 

Any potential awkwardness may have been dulled by the language barrier — other than Ms. Younis, the Palestinians spoke only Arabic; the survivors only Hebrew and their native European tongues. Each also appeared to have only the sketchiest knowledge about the other side.

Question to the Blogosphere:  Do you think that exercises in building peace such as this concert can decrease tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians?  There were many risks for bringing these two groups together, how can we measure whether an effort to search for common ground is worth the risk?  Is there a tradeoff between risk and success?  Many of the children, ages 12-17, did not know much about the Holocaust, do you think it could help the peace process if Palestinians were made more aware of the history of their neighbors?  Is language necessary to build common ground, or can music transcend language barriers?

UPDATE:  The New York Times presented on March 30th an article about this event, which was recently condemned by Palestinians in West Bank.  The director of the music program, an Israeli Arab, is not being allowed back to her apartment in Jenin.

UPDATE II:  The orchestra from Jenin has been disbanded by the Palestinian Authority for their performance in Israel!