The ANNOTICO Report

In the tiny medieval village of Rondine, in the rolling Tuscan hills some
155 miles north of Rome,  peace activist Franco Vaccari set up the Citadel
of Peace commune in 1997, in the aftermath of the first Chechen war.

Currently 20 students from the world's most war-torn regions -- from
Palestine to Chechnya to Sierra Leone -- live in the community dedicated to
peace.

"Our goal is to help them find ways to peace," "But there is also a
condition: the student should accept the logic of dialogue, the logic of
reconciliation. They must be willing to cooperate and ready to overcome
hatred."

The students come to study at the universities in the nearby Tuscan cities
of Arezzo, Florence and Siena for three to five years, but then, under the
terms of their agreement with the Citadel of Peace, they are expected to
return home to start projects for the benefit of their countries.

Thanks to Ita-Sicily-L@rootsweb.com, Alan Gerard Hartman, Editor

RONDINE, Italy  - When Loai Ibrahim's best friend was killed in a clash
with soldiers in the West Bank, he vowed he would never call an Israeli a
friend.

But far from the battle-scarred streets of Nablus, things are different for
Ibrahim. The 24-year-old Palestinian is now one of 20 students living in a
community deep in the idyllic Italian countryside that is dedicated to
peace.

"When there is a war going on, when people die every day, the meaning of
life is altered," said Ibrahim, a languages student who came to the tiny
medieval village of Rondine in 2003, invited by Italian peace activists.

"When I see an Israeli soldier, I think he may be coming to kill my friends
or relatives. How can I think he is a friend?"

Alongside Ibrahim, some 20 students from the world's most war-torn regions
-- from Palestine to Chechnya to Sierra Leone -- live in the Citadel of
Peace commune.

The community, in the rolling Tuscan hills some 155 miles north of Rome,
was set up in 1997 by peace activist Franco Vaccari in the aftermath of the
first Chechen war.

Shocked by the violence in Russia's breakaway republic, Vaccari decided to
bring together students from either side of the world's conflicts. A
network of partners in different countries helps him to select candidates
for the Citadel.

"Our goal is to help them find ways to peace," said the 52-year-old former
high school teacher in the crowded office where students come to share
their problems.

"But there is also a condition: the student should accept the logic of
dialogue, the logic of reconciliation. They must be willing to cooperate
and ready to overcome hatred."

The students, aged around 20 to 25, come from different cultural and
religious backgrounds. And they are the first to admit that there are
moments of tension in Rondine.

But tolerance and respect rule in the Citadel of Peace and any conflicts --
often, as in a family, over simple chores -- are resolved quickly.

"We have learned one very important thing: Religion has nothing to do with
our problems," said Ilez Parov, a 25-year-old Muslim student of history
from the province of Ingushetia in Russia's mountainous Caucasus region.

Violence from Chechnya frequently spills over into Ingushetia, where
growing numbers of the mainly Muslim population have joined the fight
against Russian rule which has devastated its neighboring region.

DREAMS ABOUT FUTURE

The students come to study at the universities in the nearby Tuscan cities
of Arezzo, Florence and Siena for three to five years, but then, under the
terms of their agreement with the Citadel of Peace, they are expected to
return home.

Only two students, a Russian and a Chechen, have graduated so far. Both
returned home and now help Vaccari to carry out two cherished projects.

The Citadel hopes to set up an orphanage in southern Russia for children
from the war-torn Caucasus and to bring to Italy children from the town of
Beslan, where more than 320 people, half of them children, were killed in a
school siege in September.

Among those who still study in Tuscany, few plan to return immediately to
their homelands ravaged by war.

"Going back home now would be like throwing away all the experience that
I've gained here, all the knowledge," said Iliyas Dokhtukaev, a 23-year-old
economy student from Chechnya's capital of Grozny, razed by two successive
wars.

But all of them -- Dokhtukaev, Ibrahim and others from Sierra Leone and
elsewhere -- say they will go home when conditions improve.

And they are full of ideas of how to use their experience for the benefit
of their countries. Some dream about setting up hospitals for children,
cultural centers, student programs.

Other say they will simply make friends with former enemies.

"I think music is the easiest way to communicate," said Ibrahim, who wants
to create a music and language center in his home town of Jenin, the site
of continuous and bloody clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian
fighters.

"Singing the same words in Arabic and Hebrew, we will be able to understand
each other better," he said.

http://www.boston.com/news/
education/k_12/articles/2005/02/07/children_of_wa
r_study_peace_in_italian_commune/