Make Jump Shots, Not War

ESPN has been thoroughly covering the efforts of Playing for Peace (PFP), a program that brings together children of warring nationalities and ethnicities and has them face off on the court. While PFP has been successful in Northern Ireland, South Africa, and elsewhere, much attention has been paid to what the program is doing in the Middle East. ESPN.com frames the story nicely:

You'd expect it to be like this:

Khaled, 14, [pictured on the left] is supposed to be kneeling in a mosque, praying to the East five times a day. He's from Issawiya, a gritty Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. At night, he sneaks out of the house and works by candlelight in a bombed-out factory, helping to build explosive devices for attacks on Israel or maybe the United States. His life is a palette of dust and dirt. . . .

You'd expect it to be like this:

Pini, 14, [pictured in the center] is supposed to be going to school, getting a good Hebrew education. He's from Bet Shemesh, an Israeli Jew from a poor suburb west of Jerusalem. He'll serve in the Israeli military for two years, then go on to college. He'll become a doctor, maybe a lawyer. . . .

You'd never expect it to be like this:

Pini dribbles the basketball through his legs in a dimly lit high school gym in Shemesh. His defender stumbles, literally faked out of his yarmulke. As Pini penetrates to the basket, the defense collapses. Pini spins and finds Khaled with a perfect pass on the baseline.

Amen.