The peace team is a JOINT project of Israel's Peres Centre and the Palestinian Al Quds Association - a fact which Ms Sabawi chooses to omit. If Palestinians on the ground in Palestine believe it's worth cooperating before the conflict is over and believe that joint projects for coexistence and peace are valuable, why aren't they good enough for Ms Sabawi? Armchair theorists like her have the luxury of deciding how and when peace should come to the Middle East - and because they have nothing to lose personally, are often more radical and hardline than those people they profess to be defending. Let Palestinians on the ground decide for themselves and don't punish them and their Israeli counterparts for seeking peace. Actions speak louder than words and surely the actions (and words)of the Palestinian members of the Peace Team - Palestinians for Palestine - are more credible than those of Ms Sabawi, a paid lobbyist for Australians for Palestine.

Instead of sitting back and complaining these young people are doing something positive. They now view each other as equals and will go out into the world together with a positive message. I think Samah is missing the whole point of the Peace Team. The Peace Team is not an end but a beginning. A beginning of moving forward for reconcilation, friendship and brotherhood.Good on you guys.

LBM commented....“Armchair theorists like her (Samah Sabawi) have the luxury of deciding how and when peace should come to the Middle East”. LBM is perhaps intentionally losing sight of the positive aspects of this visit.

Samah is stating clearly how it is over there, the circumstances that exist for Palestinians and, importantly, the fact they can produce anyone anxious and willing to share a playing field with the occupiers of their land. This is the point being made here, and well understood by anyone who has lived under occupation and hopefully, most of the readers today.

Without such writings in these columns, based on the fact that Israel has gained editorial control over so many newspapers, this story would never have been known to the world at large. Without such articles, how many people would be even aware of this Peace Team? Few, I would think.

This story has a positive element.
As has been shown in the world of music with the formation years ago of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, situated in Spain, for both Arab and Israeli musicians and conducted by Daniel Barenboim, the only Israeli to have Palestinian citizenship, who, together with the respected Palestinian Edward Said, made this ground-breaking event happen, to their great credit. The world respects them both.

A wonderful activity and is worth a story on the great success of this orchestra, Samah, with its humanitarian ideals of friendship.....and of course, music

They have performed in Gaza, (no bombs on that night). They have shown that at the level of real people, friendships are realised. They are the people who want the resolution, but sadly not the politicians with their own ‘Eretz Israel’ Zionist agenda, in 2011 fully understood by all the world’s peoples. If anything, such initiatives are probably a nuisance to the likes of Netanyahu, showing as it does that people want to enjoy friendship and peace, at least at that level, while countering the preaching of hatred.

It is a wonderful start after 60 years of murder, mayhem, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Can’t wait for the kick-off. Go, Peace Team.

Your comment about the credibility of the author, Samah Sabawi, does you no credir, LBM

With the army of Israeli propagandists that pepper these pages week after week, it is perhaps a little petty for to be cynical about someone with Palestinian associations to give us an honest story about people from Palestine. Who knows it better?
Everyone knows that we tolerate the distortions of the sayanims and many readers seem only to anle to counter their fictions.

However, it is a free world for most of us, sadly not the Palestinians at this date, but around the corner.

Actions like the Peace Team seem to me to be a positive thing for all the world to see and I agree with the previous comment in stating that after all this time we can name two developments worthy of emulation by people with decency in their thoughts and humanity in their actions, both sadly lacking from your state of Israel.

Samah speaks of "Israeli permits that restrict and confine Palestinians" clearly they were not confined yesterday when they murdered innocent Israelis near Eilat.

Rex calls the Peace Team "a wonderful start after 60 years of murder, mayhem, apartheid and ethnic cleansing" -if Israel truly were the apartheid state Rex claims it is, there would certainly be no mixed Peace Team, let alone Palestinian Arab members of Israel's parliament, diplomatic or journalistic corps. And Israel's made a pretty woeful attempt at ethnic cleansing if in 1948 there were approximately a million Palestinian Arabs and today there are some 3 million living in the Palestinian Territories and almost a million more living as citizens inside Israel! But let's not get specific or factual: slogans are so much more powerful.

Rhys declares that "decency in thoughts and humanity in actions [are] both sadly lacking from your state of Israel" and yet - and yet: who then are the decent and humane Israeli teamates of the Palestinian players? Again logic somewhat clouds the ugly rhetoric.

I spent last Sunday night talking with the father of one of the Jewish Israeli players. A doctor, he is one of the Israeli medical team who flew to Haiti last year and ran the Israeli field hospital there, saving lives - as he has done in many disaster zones around the world too many times in recent years.

All societies contain decent, humane people: Israel's does, Palestine's does and to claim that any one country does not is nothing short of racist evil. To use the Peace Team's visit to demonise Israel is equally cynical and only serves to undermine peace-making efforts.Don't take my word for it: ask Sulaiman Khatib, the Al Quds Association director accompanying the team who spent 10 years in an Israeli jail. That was his message when I heard him speak this Monday morning.

The Peace Team is one of countless peace and coexistence intitiatives between Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians that have been ongoing in the Middle East for many years and which must continue. Not least so that the shared humanity, hopes and dreams of both peoples can be recognised, encouraged and celebrated by the world.