Jerusalem is a holy city for three religions. It is a site of universal spirituality that has attracted pilgrims and peace seekers. It also has been a center of controversy where lives have been lost and families divided while claims to political ownership and power over this immensely important city were being fought out with words and with weapons. In full awareness that 60 years after the UN votes on Israel's statehood, there are no easy fixes for the Jerusalem question, RYS sees the magnitude of the real divisions and sufferings of all people in Jerusalem as a problem that concerns us all. 

In this context we recognize that it is a great challenge for people from all areas of the city to engage in real interaction and meaningful joint action. In any ongoing conflict situation, it requires considerable effort to prepare the people from opposing viewpoints to be mixed, in order to undertake something together for common benefit and to be able to genuinely accept each other. 

This project will be a humble contribution to stimulate more interaction between the people of Jerusalem and, in particular, the young people from the city. It will encourage a small group of young future leaders to think on a larger scale through interacting with and serving the local community beyond their differences. It will illustrate an alternative form of action, namely, one free of any prejudices. Such a project can encourage genuinely inclusive thinking through mutual service.  

Participants will experience service to the larger community as meaningful in and of itself, as well as a method to encourage people to interact more. Through service the young people will focus, not on the issues that divide them, but on the common interests and the common good expressed in their common activity. 

The project will be hosted in Jerusalem. It will take place at the Morasha Community Center in West Jerusalem and the A-Tur Community Center in East Jerusalem. The workshops and educational programs will be conducted at both community centers, and the service elements, namely, the planting of the two gardens, will be done adjacent to the community centers.