 in Vienna.
Eyal Bloch said he comes from Jerusalem, the place of endless conflicts! However, where there is conflict, there are also opportunities. How to make news out of good deeds? Conflicts are news, but if we build something together, that is not a news item. There are numerous instances of media creating conflicts between Israelis and Arabs.
It is important to have realistic expectations as to what is achievable. Creating new alternative forms of interaction is a long process. Conflicts are short; the peace building process is very long.
In Israel peace activists follow the army. They teach soldiers to love peace. We have to enter the formal system in order to have impact and make it sustainable. The biggest distance on earth is the 30 cm between the head and the heart.
For the past 20 years Eyal Bloch has been involved in peace education mainly in primary education. He is the Co-Founder of the Institute of Education for Sustainable Development. In 2004 'All In Peace', a Olympic peace festival for 5th grade students from conflict areas, which he founded, was chosen on September 21st to be one of the best peace education programmes in sport.
In the past three years Eyal has been working in Kenya to introduce Education for Sustainable Development to primary schools on national scale. He and his team have done intensive training in Israel from the Deputy Minister of Education, CEO, to the Headmaster. This has brought great success in several schools where they were able to transform the school: academically, socially and environmentally. These are following principals of education for sustainability that were developed in their institute. Two years ago on International Peace day they presented a peace proposal developed by youth from Israel and Palestine based on children rights.