Aussies pedalling for peace
A SMALL Australian contingent will be among 175 keen cyclists pedalling around Israel for charity beginning next week.
The Arava Institute and Hazon Israel Ride, founded in 2002, takes place over five days and covers approximately 500 kilometres from Jerusalem to Eilat.
Team Australia comprises Sydney podiatrist Leonard Gentin, and Melbourne mother-daughter duo Edna and Orley Granot – the team having collectively raised more than $15,000 for the cause.
“I feel strongly about supporting Israel, because it’s our homeland … if there wasn’t an Israel, I think it would be quite tragic for the Jewish people,” Gentin told The AJN.
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) is the premier environmental studies and research program in the region.
Accredited through Ben-Gurion University and based at Kibbutz Ketura, the AIES houses academic programs, research centres, and international cooperation initiatives focusing on a range of environmental concerns and challenges.
Hazon is a United States-based organisation which supports the AIES, among other initiatives.
“What they do, they raise money for awareness of the agricultural facilities in Israel. And they also support underprivileged children who can’t afford education. Not only Israeli children; also Palestinian children,” Gentin said.
Having raised more than $4000 so far, most of this money will go towards scholarships for the AIES.
Edna and Orley, who currently lives in the US, have raised in excess of $10,000 for what they describe as “pedalling for peace.”
Edna has participated in the ride for the past seven years and is an ardent supporter of the cause. She said the AIES is a shining example that there can be peace in the region and has seen firsthand that their efforts are leading to “coexistence.”
“There is a future for peace and it is through working with the younger ones and seeing the Israelis and Arabs intermingle. You have to be part of it in order to believe it,” she said.
“I donated a kidney to my son seven years ago and thought to myself ‘If I survive and I feel as good as I felt before, I want to cycle elsewhere for a good cause’ … and the rest was history.”
To donate, go to www.jnf.org.au/Page/198/IsraelRide.cfm.
PHOEBE ROTH AND ZOE KRON
Edna (left) and Orley Granot taking part in a previous Israel ride.
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