US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel last week, almost at the same time as the sad news arrived from South Africa of Nelson Mandela’s death. “That example of Nelson Mandela is an example that we all need to take to heart as we face the challenge of trying to reach a two-state solution,” Kerry remarked. “The naysayers are wrong to call peace in this region an impossible goal,” he added, quoting Mandela as saying: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
The African leader, who served 27 years in the apartheid regime’s prisons, became in his lifetime a shining example and symbol for those seeking freedom, equality and reconciliation around the world. The young leadership of YaLa, the movement which opens its doors to young men and women from the Middle East and North Africa, is seeking to enlist this vision of Mandela to prove that Kerry isn’t wrong. A new online project, the Arab-Israeli Peace Academy, which the organization has been developing for the past few months, will be devoted to Mandela’s memory.