"Breaking The Ice": Israelian-Palestinian Peace Mission

Peace Expedition to Antarctica - 2004

On January 1st, 2004, four Israelis and four Palestinians (two women and six men) will set off on a sea and land expedition to the distant reaches of Antarctica. Their goal is to summit and name a previously unclimbed mountain. Their expedition is called : 'Breaking the Ice'.
This journey combines the spirit of adventure with a quest for understanding. It will force people separated by deep political and religious differences to cooperate in pursuit of a shared goal.

In order to succeed - and survive - these erstwhile enemies will have to work together as a team, sharing hardships and challenges that none of them could surmount as individuals. As they head toward their destination, they will confront both physical and mental obstacles. In order to get over those obstacles they will have to find the way to work as a team.

The team will set sail from Patagonia in southern Chile, navigating through the Drake Passage, a thousand-kilometer stretch of sea considered among the most dangerous and unpredictable on earth. Their boat will carry all the gear and provisions required for a 35-day journey, along with satellite communication and video production equipment.

The 35-day expedition will be heavily publicized during the run-up to its departure and followed by people throughout the world via daily Internet and Videophone dispatches. The story of 'Breaking the Ice' will be brought to television in a feature-length documentary film for international distribution.

The expedition members will spend every moment of the ensuing days and nights together, sharing berths, tents and meals - and often roped together for safety. After a week at sea, the expedition will anchor off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, an area rich in wildlife (whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea elephants, penguins and other bird species), with thousands of magnificent mountains. Two days later, the team will begin a ten days trek toward one of Antarctica's unclimbed peaks, crossing difficult and sometimes dangerous terrain.

After reaching the summit of a previously unclimbed mountain they will hold a brief, symbolic naming ceremony that will reflect the significance of their physical and emotional journey: by working together as a team they have overcome the challenges placed before them; by cooperating and sharing they have reached their objective.

Expedition costs will be sponsored by foundations together with proceeds from press and TV coverage as well as by companies incorporating the expedition in their image/advertising platforms.

The expedition was officially announced and its team members introduced during a press conference at the German Reichstag in Berlin on July 7, 2003.

'Breaking the Ice' enjoys the political support and patronage of the Secretray-General of the United Nation, Mr. Kofi Annan, the President of the German Parliament Wolfgang Thierse, former Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, President of the Justice & Peace Council, Vatican - Archbishop Renato R. Martinothe, former President of the USSR, Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev and the Peres Center for Peace.