We hope you will have a pleasant read and we deeply thank our friends in Dortmund for making this happen!

1st article

Dortmund´s DTG supports an interesting sports project that serves the purpose of bringing Israelis and Palestinians together

Three “Black Belts” from the sports club “Dortmunder Turngemeinde” have visited an aikido-based peace-project in the West Bank.

The wall between Israel and the Palestinian territories is long and covered with graffiti and slogans – signs of the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The three aikidokas from Dortmund have been on the road since morning with their host, Miles Kessler. Now they are crossing the border on foot through a checkpoint.

For some time now, the DTG’s aikido department has been supporting the peacemaking project Aikido without Borders (AWB) by collecting much-needed donations. Founded by the aikido teacher Miles Kessler (5^th Dan), who practiced aikido in Japan for eight years, the non-profit organization aims to bring Israelis and Palestinians together. AWB is founding aikido groups in the conflict-riven Middle East to give Israelis and Palestinians the opportunity to practice the peaceful art of aikido. The organization’s dojos primarily create a network for children and youth between Israel and the West Bank.

The German aikido department got to know Miles Kessler through his international aikido workshops. Now, the DTG’s three “Black Belts” have had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the work AWB is doing throughout the West Bank. Sabine Spatz, Dagmar Uttich and Susanne Richter initially traveled to Tel Aviv to stay in Miles Kessler’s dojo and undergo intensive aikido training as so called uchideshi. But the highlight of their stay was without a doubt their visit to the Palestinian AWB dojo in Bir Nabala, to which they had to travel by bus via Jerusalem. The atmosphere in Bir Nabala was filled with excitement, because a visit by the project’s founder, Miles Kessler, and a training session under his supervision is always a special occasion, especially for the two coaches Ghassan Eyalan and Sufian Mahmod. Many helping hands were required the afternoon of their visit, because a new group of children and youth were having their first aikido practice session. The three German aikidokas were invited to join the session and found themselves in the heart of AWB’s work in the West Bank.

The aikidokas from Dortmund hope for Ghassan Eyalan to succeed in his project of opening a new AWB dojo in his hometown Jib.

2nd article

Sport brings people together – even beyond social and political boundaries. Three female athletes from the DTG sports club recently had the opportunity to have some hands-on experience in the West Bank.

Sabine Spatz, Dagmar Uttich and Susanne Richter visited Miles Kessler, a master of aikido in Israel. Miles Kessler holds 5^th Dan, the highest degree of the German Aikido Federation (DAB). However, the purpose of their stay was more than just getting handy tips from an aikido teacher. The three women wanted to experience directly how it is possible to do sports together in a conflict-riven territory like the West Bank.

The three aikidokas set out for Israel, taking a plane to Tel Aviv to train for ten days in the dojo of Miles Kessler, a renowned aikido teacher. They had got to know Miles through his international aikido workshops. Those ten days involved a full schedule for the three women. “We had to get up at 5.30 in the morning for daily practice. Two sword training sessions and a meditation session were on the agenda each time,” tells Sabine Spatz, herself an aikido coach. “The day felt like it had thirty-six hours,” says Susanne Richter.

But it was about to get far more intense with a trip to the West Bank, amongst other things. After a bus trip of several hours, the bus stopped in front of an extraordinary sight: the checkpoint on the border between the Israeli and the Palestinian territories, a concrete wall twenty-six feet high and covered in graffiti and slogans. “Crossing that border was an easy task for us. But Israelis and Palestinians require special documents to pass,” Susanne Richter reports. The bus had to stop at the border, too, bringing back memories from Germany’s recent history for Dagmar Uttich: “This wall is even higher than the Berlin Wall and just as impressive and frightening.”

Having reached their final destination, Bir Nabala, the three women quickly got over this experience: “We were given a hearty welcome,” says Susanne Richter, and they instantly felt at home in the dojo – the gym of Miles Kessler – and during their joint aikido practice session. “Even in an entirely foreign country, everything is the same inside the gym and everybody knows what the other is doing,” emphasizes Susanne Richter. This is exactly the community spirit which shall be strengthened through the project “Aikido without Borders” (AWB).

Human level

The program encourages Israelis and Palestinians, who are enemies in the Middle East conflict, to find ways to organize themselves. It emphasizes practicing the sport together. Aikido is a martial art in which an attack is not blocked with opposite aggression, but rather neutralized. In such a conflict-divided area, this is unquestionably a peacemaking measure, and receives the support of the US Embassy as well as the DTG, which was represented in the West Bank by the three athletes, including coach Sabine Spatz.

“I was glad to see my sport being practiced in such a country,” Susanne Richter sums up. Dagmar Uttich was astonished by the way people were treating one another despite the social conflicts: “I had concerns at first. But it is totally different from what we know through the media. Everything was broken down into the human level.” The hearty hospitality is one reason for the three women to be already planning their next visit to the West Bank. It shall be off to Israel again next autumn. Sport just brings people together.

We believe that with your help, together we can bring a new Dojo to life.

Aikido Without Borders is seeking donations to help establish an Aikido children’s and youth club in the Palestinian West Bank village of Jib. The Jib group needs 100m2 of mats and Aikido uniforms for 15 children.
The total cost comes to 2,259€.

Donations for this project can be done via credit card , or bank transfer.

The village of Jib is an ancient farming community located near Ramallah in the West Bank. AWB instructor Mr. Ghassan Elayan, has lived in Jib his whole life and wants to bring aikido to the children and youth of the village. Mr. Elayan is ready to initiate the program but lacks the resources to do so. Your support will bring the art of Aikido closer to the children of Jib.

AWB believes that by bringing youth together to study aikido, learn to be leaders in their community, and spend time together as equals that we can achieve lasting change. AWB recruits teachers from Israel and Palestine and trains them to be teachers and youth leaders. Our unique curriculum emphasizes non-violent responses to conflict while training them in many areas of leadership.

Our conflict Resolution and Mediation program is focused on providing trainings throughout the year in the area of harmonious co-existence and conflict resolution. AWB holds regular conflict resolution and non-violent communication trainings for Israelis and Palestinians.