Session One - 16 August 1999

16 August - Jerusalem ! And meeting with Nawaf Massalkha and Shimon Peres

Mr.Shimon Peres, Nobel Peace Prize winner, former Prime Minister, and currently Minister for regional development in the government of Mr.Barak, is also a member of the Honorary Committee of the Peace Cruise.In this latter capacity he had one hour meeting with the Peace Sailors and accepted to answer a series of questions from the participants. This gave Mr. Peres the opportunity to express is views on a peaceful and prosperous Middle-East with a level of social and economic justice for all.

Following an intervention from Ryad (Canaan Institute, Gaza), Mr. Peres regretted that the Black Knight had not been allowed to enter the harbour of Gaza, and reaffirmed his readiness to support any initiative that will contribute to make such a project come alive.

Richard Amalvy, Project Manager, introduced to Mr. Shimon Peres the objectives of the Peace Cruise.

"We can tell, our friends, that this was indeed one of our best days. We spent it in Holy Jerusalem; we went first to see the holy monuments of Al Aqsa Mosque, the western wall, the dome of the rock and the Holy Sepulchre. It was quite a great experience to witness the mixing and the intercultural of the different religions.

The city was really crowded but we made our way to meet the deputy minister of foreign affairs. At noon, we had a good meeting with Mr. Nawaf Massalkha, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs which helped us to understand more the political situation of the region.

Then the big moment came when we arrived at Tel Aviv and met the minister of regional development and Nobel prize winner Shimon Peres, a respectable man of peace. He welcomed us and answered our questions and we had the honour to wish him a hundred years of peace achievements since it was his birthday.

At the end we had a nice meal in Haifa and went to sleep directly after a really active day."

The tour of the Holy City of Jerusalem began with a visit to the Mosque El Aqsa.