Byron: This is Israel.
It's a great park.
And this is Israel.
This is an incredible view.
This is a very, very holy place for three different religions.
This also... We have lift-off!
...is Israel.
So we try to have as many guests
as our table can have.
It's a pretty big table.
Byron: It's a region of great complexity and diversity,
and it's a place where people from all walks of life work
every day to live together.
I'm Kari Byron.
This stuff excites me.
I travel around the world seeking out stories
of inspiring people who are working on solutions
to some of the biggest questions of our time.
♪♪
Israel has always been at the heart of world history.
Located in the fertile Crescent,
where early civilization and agricultural communities
are believed to have begun.
A crossroads for ancient trade routes and emerging cultures.
Holy land to several major religions of the world.
♪♪
Israel is a complicated place.
People of diverse backgrounds, opinions, traditions,
and languages all live right next to each other.
While the region has struggled with peace,
Israel is, more importantly, a place that yearns for it.
With so many challenges to peace,
how do we live together peacefully?
It's a big question, and there are no easy answers.
There are many ways change can happen,
big and small, whether it's moments
that make the news or everyday acts that go unnoticed.
♪♪
Nice.
Noam Revkin-Fenton was just 15 when he had an idea
for bringing together young people
in one of the oldest cities in the world, Jerusalem.
Revkin-Fenton: Me and a couple of friends decided to start
a campaign to get the municipality
to build a skate park.
You had this built? You got this built?
Yeah. I am so impressed.
As a place for everyone to come and skate,
guys, girls, anyone from any religion.
That's what skateboarding is about.
Noam is a photojournalist.
[ Camera shutter clicking ]
The inspiration for the park came from growing up
taking pictures around Jerusalem's old city,
where earlier in the day, I joined Noam on assignment.
I think since the first moment I got a camera,
this was the first place I came.
It's just super interesting,
all kinds of different people.
And it's such an interesting place
because there's so many cultures converging on one spot.
You have everything here, and it's just crunched
in the middle of small alleys.
The old city of Jerusalem takes up less than a square mile.
38,000 people live within the centuries old walls.
This is an incredible view,
and you can actually see all of the holy sites.
This is a very, very holy place
for three different religions.
The western wall is all that remains
of the ancient Jewish temples of Jerusalem.
Many Jewish people believe that spot
is the holiest place on earth.
So they pray and leave written prayers in the wall.
I got some of these guys that are here.
Oh, that's so good.
And just praying on the wall.
Lean their heads right on the wall.
I would frame that.
The site is also holy to Muslims.
About a thousand feet from the western wall
sits the dome of the rock.
It's the oldest surviving Islamic monument,
built around 691.
Oh, see, this is a photographer's eye right there.
You've got the dome of the rock. You've got the man walking.
That's perfect.
Okay, I'm taking lessons.
[ Both laugh ]
A 10 minute walk from the dome of the rock...
Wow.
...is one of the most holy places for Christians,
the church of the holy sepulcher.
♪♪
So the Christians believe that Jesus
was crucified here and his body was washed here,
and he was actually buried here.
We got this amazing chance to go inside
and see Christ's tomb.
We can actually go inside?
Yeah, and that's where they say he came back to life.
♪♪
Wow.
♪♪
Many people only see the divisions in the old city,
and this is what's often shown in the news.
But through his camera lens,
Noam focuses our attention on something else entirely.
And I look for, like, interactions
of the different cultures that connect.
Jews, Muslims, Christians.
Orthodox Jewish men in tall black hats
crossing in front of the Islamic dome of the rock.
Christian priests in robes
for an Arab man and woman, heads covered,
sharing an alley with an orthodox Jewish man.
It's really interesting in that this conflict
to find those moments of coexistence,
and you see and meet people that are working
to create peace here.
One program designed to create peace is called kids for peace.
They're working to overcome one of the biggest
stumbling blocks to coexistence.
There's a huge language barrier between the Jewish kids
that often don't speak Arabic and the Palestinian kids
that often don't speak Hebrew.
And so there's often not many places for them
to meet each other.
Most people go to schools where there's only
one or the other religion.
So coming together at kids for peace on a weekly basis
where they can do things together is really important.
Byron: Creating a peaceful place for young people,
regardless of what language they speak,
was also essential to Noam.
Revkin-Fenton: This is my holy site.
I can't believe this is right in the middle of Jerusalem.
Yeah, less than a mile away from the old city.
It's a great park.
Revkin-Fenton: He'll speak to us in Arabic,
and I'll communicate in Hebrew with him,
and I'll translate it to you. Okay.
Interpreter: Who skates here? What's your community like?
They're friends from many religions...
Jews, Muslims, Christians.
Our brotherhood.
Brothers here.
Yeah. What about sisters?
And sisters. And sisters.
Young woman: You can see Latinos, Russians,
orthodox, Arabs, Muslims everywhere.
You don't even care anymore.
The only thing you care is more about how good a skate.
♪♪
And that's what I like.
Byron: What I like best about this skate park
is it is really the perfect example of community,
because at the gates, everybody leaves the politics,
the religion behind.
Here, anybody can show up.
Though I do see a little bit of praying on some of these jumps.
Revkin-Fenton: We need to show the world
that we're not just fighting with each other all day long
over who rules this land.
♪♪
Yeah, man.
Aah!
When people learn from their friends and not from adults,
this is the perfect solution for a project like this.
We have liftoff.
That is a successful quadcopter.
Byron: When people live in the same community
but speak different languages and follow different religions,
how do we create Harmony?
You have to learn exactly what the other wants.
What are the backgrounds and what they like,
what they don't like.
It's just paying attention
to the little details that change everything.
But sometimes we just ignore it
and we're just missing the whole point...
Living together in peace.
Byron: Learning from others with different backgrounds
is exactly what these young people are doing
in northern Israel.
Some are Jewish, some are Muslim, and some are Christian.
And there's one thing bringing them together... technology.
I'm in Majd al-Krum.
It's a predominantly Arab Muslim village.
Now, I'm here to visit Moona, a space for change.
And from everything I've heard about this place,
I'm super excited to see what they're up to.
♪♪
About 100 students come from different villages
to Moona's technology lab after school and on weekends.
Aah!
They learn about robotics...
Robot hug.
...computer programing,
engineering, science, and math.
Today we're going to be building quadcopters, okay?
We're going to build two quadcopters in two teams.
Byron: Students work together
to build quadcopters for a national competition.
We're going to build our quadcopters from cardboard,
from wood, and from paper.
Byron: Today, they have two hours to build quadcopters.
One team uses a kit,
the other builds with recycled materials.
There we go. Cups. Well, what are they for these?
Sabea: The legs.
- These wood parts are for? - For the body.
- These are for? Same thing? - The same thing, yeah.
I brought some decorations, if you want.
I made these hands. I got some creepy eyes for you.
Ali: Okay, nice. I like this.
Achmed is our handyman.
What's your background? Where do you come from?
Sabea: I'm from Majd al-Krum.
So you're from here.
So you come from a Muslim background.
Yeah.
And you come from a Jewish background?
Not Jewish. Jewish are these people.
So we have four different backgrounds.
Four different backgrounds here.
And you all... do you guys have much interaction
outside of this project?
Extremely.
Byron: Rema and Achmed are now mentors
for other students here.
When people learn from their friends and not from adults,
I believe this is the perfect solution
for a project like this.
So I think this is amazing for us
to meet more people, because in the real world,
after you stop being a child here and you grow up,
you're going to meet Jewish people,
you're going to meet Muslim,
all different kinds of backgrounds.
So it's a plus if you already know what that culture is about
and how to talk to different people,
you know, open your heart to the different backgrounds.
Byron: Working together can be tough
when there are three different languages involved...
Arabic...
...English...
Make sure it's symmetrical.
...and Hebrew.
I didn't speak Hebrew that well, but now I speak it much better.
You learned to practice Hebrew through this platform here?
Yes.
Ali: People from extremely different backgrounds
who've never met, they also have problems.
No matter.
Where, you know, each individual,
one having difficulties with the other.
But, you know, they come across these difficulties,
and then they learn how to solve them.
We've got 40 minutes, guys, okay?
♪♪
Sabea: We're finished.
Both quadcopters are finished,
but everyone's eager to see if the one made from
recycled materials can fly.
Oh, yeah.
We have liftoff.
That is a successful quadcopter.
♪♪
They're learning to fly together in more ways than one.
Grown-ups screwed up.
I think they did not do very well.
They left this community with a lot of flaws,
and it's our turn to fix it.
We apparently eat the same food and we live the same life
and we drive the same car.
There's nothing different about us,
just that huge stereotype of not coexisting peacefully
because we come from different backgrounds.
It's all a myth, apparently,
because we did very well connecting.
We'll do the change for sure.
Nice job, guys. Very good.
I don't want to get over cultural differences.
I want to embrace cultural differences.
And food is one way to do that.
Heaven.
♪♪
Byron: No matter what religion you are or what language you speak,
there's one thing in Israel that most everyone here
can agree on...
The joys of the mighty sesame seed.
Whoa. Yes, good. Yes, delicious.
♪♪
- Hello. - Oh, it smells amazing in here!
Byron: I'm meeting with Palestinian chef Kamel Hashlamon
at his shop just outside Jerusalem.
One could say he's a sesame seed expert.
Oh, this is the stone that I'm producing with it tahini.
I've never seen this made before.
♪♪
He uses this massive stone to crush sesame seeds
and turn them into a prized paste called tahini.
Tahini have a rich flavor of the sesame.
Mmm.
It's creamy. Yeah.
Peanut butter.
There's only sesame inside.
Tahini has a nutty flavor and a peanut butter-like texture.
It's used throughout Israel and surrounding countries
to make some of the tastiest dishes
of middle eastern cuisine.
Chefs of all faiths and backgrounds
covet Kamel's tahini.
♪♪
This is the machine
that we toast the sesame with it.
Here you can have some of it in your hands.
Ooh, it's warm.
I know that they are ready by that I hear them.
You see, you can feel the small crunch, hear it.
Tells you that they are ready
and that they are happy to be tahini.
Tahini time! [ Laughs ]
Tahini is versatile and can even be eaten as a confection.
Halva, it's made from the tahini.
The Arabic name of the halva, it means the sweet.
- Halva's the sweets. - Yes.
This is the Rose. [ Gasps ]
I will cut for you a little bit to taste it.
I love eating flowers. I don't know.
Maybe it's the girliness in me.
I love to eat flowers. Roses.
♪♪
Mm! It melts in your mouth.
That is so good.
I mean, it's amazing that that one tiny little seed
has so many different manifestations.
It has so many.
We'll take the tahini for us for the dinner.
Ready to go? Yeah. I'm ready.
♪♪
Byron: One of the best ways to bring people together is over food,
and Israel has one of the richest
and most incredible food scenes anywhere on earth.
I've been invited to a friend's farm
for a special dinner called shabbat.
Here's our dough.
Israeli chef Hedai Offaim
hosts shabbat every Friday night.
I do a very simple challah...
Just three pieces,
and we make bread.
Chef Hedai makes challah, a traditional Jewish bread
essential to every shabbat meal.
You going to do the next one? Yep.
Shabbat dinner is a 2,000-year-old Jewish tradition
that marks the beginning of the day of rest.
I think the best present
I got from the Jewish people is shabbat.
Byron: It begins at sunset on Friday
and ends at sunset on Saturday.
We try and bring to the table the best meal of the week,
because when you make something to your children
and to your family on a Friday night,
they know you made it for them.
So you connect through food. Definitely.
Well, I connect everything through food.
♪♪
We love to have guests from different backgrounds
that are not Jewish.
We love to share this experience
with our closest neighbors...
[ Chopping ] [ Laughing ]
...Palestinians.
Okay, we're going to half this,
scoop out the flesh,
and then he's going to add tahini.
Byron: Chef Kamel's tahini makes it into several of the dishes...
The baba ghanoush? Yes.
...including this roasted eggplant dish
called baba ghanoush.
Beautiful!
Oh!
[ Sniffs ]
Ah! [ Chuckling ]
I'm excited!
Hedai: So we try to have as many guests
as our table can have.
Byron: It's pretty big table.
[ Excited chatter ]
Photojournalist Noam joins Achmed and Rema from Moona.
[ Singing in Hebrew ]
Byron: A blessing is said over the bread.
[ Concludes in Hebrew ]
And then it's broken and passed around
so everyone can share in the blessing.
So it's a prayer and then...
Then eat. Okay. [ Laughs ]
[ Chatter ] I want to try it all.
You should try that. [ Laughs ]
It's got the fancy tahini in it.
So do you feel like breaking bread together
is a way to get past cultural differences, or...
Hedai: I don't want to get over cultural differences.
I want to embrace cultural differences.
And food is one way to do that because we can bring
all the cultural differences to the table.
Food taste better on shabbat.
Spending time together is more meaningful on shabbat.
We're supposed to speak in English now?
I speak English, yeah.
No? Only English? Just...
I know, right?
But I do speak food and this is delicious.
That's more important than the language.
Byron: I mean, I sat down with people
from so many different backgrounds and experiences...
Hey! [ Laughs ]
...and we were all laughing, smiling, and sharing a meal.
So it's very tasty. [ Chuckling ]
It's so good. It's delicious.
♪♪
Everyone needs to think about peace
and the different ways of getting there.
Surfing is a really nice way to get there.
♪♪
Peace, bro.
Byron: In Israel, building connections with people
who have different backgrounds...
♪♪
...can sometimes happen in unexpected places.
There's a famous saying, "only a surfer knows the feeling,"
and once you see a surfer, you identify that common passion
and you see it in his eyes.
There's a stronger bond between surfers.
I've traveled up the coast to a small
Arab fishing village called Jisr az-Zarqa.
♪♪
We started this with a few beat up boards, you know,
a few years ago and it turned into a thing of its own.
Israeli surfer Arthur Rashkovan
founded surfing for peace to bring Jewish,
Muslim, and Christian youth together.
[ Laughter and chatter ]
The mission is to share this common passion
and overcome those bigger political differences.
♪♪
This is the boss, Mohammad. Hello, boss.
- How are you? - Nice to meet you.
Byron: Mohammad is a mentor and teaches the next generation
with donated surfboards.
♪♪
You got quite a crew here. Yeah.
Translator: I get to teach children
who can't afford a board or surfing courses.
You only see trouble and chaos. This is the solution.
We shouldn't focus on our problems all the time.
We should feel we are together.
Everyone needs to think about it, like about peace
and about the different ways of getting there.
And surfing is like a really nice way to get there.
Byron: So you've made a lot of friends
that you maybe wouldn't have had access to.
Yeah, I never had access to.
Like, no way.
And surfing for peace connects them.
♪♪
The people I've met here have shown me
that this place has a complex history
with many contrasting threads of religion and culture.
For them, building Bridges
starts with simple everyday actions.
♪♪
What I like to tell people is once you walk through that gate,
it doesn't matter who you are or what you do.
As long as you have a skateboard, you're part of us.
You know, languages are hard sometimes.
To work together is also hard sometimes.
And imagine building together in different languages.
It was very hard for them at first,
but then now they create amazing projects together.
Hedai: Everybody and everyone is accepted.
Sitting around the table, as you know,
is the best way to resolve anything.
[ Indistinct conversation ]
Byron: Israel may be a complicated place,
but the people living, working, and playing here
might just be able to teach us
a little something about living together peacefully.
This is my home. Thank you letting me
share your home. You're welcome.
♪♪