Orlando Sentinel
Guest Editorial

Last year, the Sentinel published two commentaries that we -- an American Jewish woman and a Palestinian-American -- wrote separately. At that time, we saw differing approaches to building hope and trust between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Now here we are, more than a year later, and what has changed?

Israelis and Palestinians are still destroying one another's hopes of peace. Efforts at a "road map" and other peace initiatives have seemed futile. Suicide bombers prompt military retribution, and the vicious cycle goes on and on. Arguments continue about the right to settlements and the right of return. Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong. And we, trying to remain fair-minded and faithful, watch from this distance in pain and disbelief as stories of terror, violence and death unfold.

Those of us in Orlando want to help. We want to be agents of reconciliation, to help bring about change. We support efforts to engage in dialogue rather than in vengeance. We encourage new ways to communicate, to listen generously to understand the pain and frustration of the "other." What has discouraged us from the start is the feeling of helplessness. After all, what can we do, so far away, so far removed from the place, the people, and the crises?

The olive branch and olive trees have been symbols of peace since the story emerged of the dove that carried a small olive branch to Noah. It is a tree that is revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is a tree that has prospered in the Holy Land since the dawn of history. It is a tree that lives for hundreds of years.

We have acted. We have launched our own peace effort from Orlando and formed a nonprofit corporation, Olive Trees Foundation for Peace Inc. It will work in partnership with peace-building organizations, Israelis and Palestinians, here and abroad, to plant olive trees in Israel and Palestine. Planted in significant numbers, the trees will make a difference to this generation and many to come, improving the spiritual environment as well as the physical and economic environment.

We are planting more than seedlings. We are planting hope and reconciliation. We are raising money for saplings, but we are actually raising money for new industry, economic growth and environmental health. We are going in friendship to plant trees, but also to let the people know we care, we have not forgotten them. We want to build bridges that bring new life and possibility to people exhausted and beleaguered by conflict.

By rebuilding ground once so sacred, now so scarred, the Olive Tree Project can transform this land to productive and verdant fields. What we do today will not change the past, but it will change the future. Will you join us?

Khaled M. Diab and Louise F. Sheehy