King's Academy, February 2, 2010—Over the weekend, King's celebrated its second annual Peace Day, in honor of the birthday of His Majesty King Abdullah II.

Keynote speakers at the event were Chairman of the Iraqi Society for Sustainable Development Dhia Al Azawi and Deputy Director of the Jordan office for Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) Abdel Rahman Sultan.

Also attending Peace Day were students from the Salt Secondary School for Boys, the Madaba Latin School, the Amman Baccalaureate School, the Sheikh Hussein region and the King Abdullah II Center for Excellence.

Al Azawi spoke about the United States occupation in Iraq and the conflicts caused by the current situation in that country. He gave his audience historical background on Iraq--from the Ottoman Empire to the present day.

The second speaker, Abdel Rahman Sultan, is no stranger to King's Academy. He is the driving force in a project that King's students have been participating in for several months with FoEME.

Sultan spoke about the project which bring youth from Jordan, Palestine and Israel together to engage in solution-building activities to the water crisis affecting all three nations. He also touched on the work his organization has done in the Jordan River Valley to not only conserve water and allow nature to flourish, but also to resolve the natural resource conflict across the Palestinian borders.

"He presented new ideas and gave more ways for a teenager like me to contribute" said Saad Abu Mohareb '11 after listening to Sultan speak.

Following the speeches, students and guests were divided into "Barazza"--a Round Square term for equality-discussion groups, in which participants debated the American occupation in Iraq and the ongoing conflict in Palestine while brainstorming a variety of possible solutions.

"The Barazza groups were fun and productive," said Nadia Akkawi '11. "We argued a lot but got to hear other people's opinions,"

After discussion groups and lunch, King's Academy Headmaster Dr. Eric Widmer joined in for a ceremonial planting of "peace trees." Four olive trees were planted in an area across from the school's Academy Building which has now been deemed the "Peace Garden."

The day continued with faculty-led workshops--both in Arabic and English--on various conflict and resolution topics throughout history ranging from the African-American civil rights movement to the Australian government's apology to the Aboriginals to the history and culture of Syria and the country's role in the Middle East peace process.  

"I thought that it went very well," said Faculty Member Dr. Yasser Tabbaa about his workshop. "I thought the students were very receptive; I enjoyed it and thought they did too."

Interactive cultural awareness activities concluded Peace Day, with theme-appropriate games such as "privilege line" and "culture toss" leading to inward reflection by participants.