Peace, Love, and Hummus in Barcelona by Rahma Sghaier, Tunisia

November 2012, I went to Barcelona on a peace delegation with Yala Young Leaders. I was with 4 young people: one Sudanese, one Israeli and two Palestinians. FCB invited us to spend a week together in this beautiful and warm city. I was 19 years old and it was one of the most marking human experiences in my life. It all seemed heavenly; we shared great moments all together discovering museums, nature, good food, warm people, historical monuments etc. We had the chance to know each other without prejudices and without intermediaries. We interacted with each other as human beings, regardless of our nationalities. There was no animosity, no tension, and no judging. Everything we did in Barcelona far from the war zone allowed us to sense our similarities and be near each other dropping all biases and stigmas injected by media and indoctrination in our countries. It was beautiful to watch how the Israelis and the Palestinians got along with each other very well and how much love they shared for hummus! For me that journey was an answer. Yes, peace is possible. The new generation wants and can do it. We should just transform our war zone countries to peace factories.