Mohammad Abo Noon from Ramallah, Palestine was a Tawasul participant in the environmentalists course as part of the “Creating Change Agents: Palestinian and Israeli Professionals in Dialogue and Action” program. His special talent is in animation and he wanted to utilize his talent to advance the message of peace and environmental justice. On June 14th 2012 the message “Death to the Arabs” and other hate slogans were painted on the walls of the Neve Shalom- Wahat Al Salam (NSWAS) bi-lingual bi-national School. Mohammad Abu Noon and his brother Ahmad Abu Noon initiated a solidarity act with the NSWAS community and its primary school. They initiated an art day with the school children and their parents to spread the message of peace and coexistence between Arabs and Jews. Where Jews at times show their solidarity with Palestinians who have been affected by the occupation, here Palestinians came from Ramallah in Palestine to initiate an activity to express their outrage to racism and transform it to a peace event to bring the message of support from Palestine. The event was called “Peace Brush” It included painting over the violent graffiti with carton and animation drawing and messages of peace and coexistence. One hundred twenty people participated: children, teachers, parents and residents of the village, guided by the Noon brothers, working together on this beautiful initiative of peace by our Palestinian, friends and participants of the Change Agent’s Courses. The event also included a musical event at the school and a soccer game with Arab and Jewish children from Jerusalem.

Creating Change Agents: Israelis and Palestinians Environmentalists in Dialogue and Action” was made possible with the generous support of USAID and the American People in cooperation with the School for Peace at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam and Tawasul.