UN General Assembly
2008

for the several days that they are in a distant country, travelling here and there across the beautiful, verdant land of Japan in pairs comprising Israelis and Palestinians, something changes inside them. Those young people come to understand that religion and ethnicity make no difference when it comes to the sorrow felt at losing a parent, and they often shed tears upon coming to that realization. Through those tears of understanding they will come to see ties between their futures. For comprehensive peace in the Middle East, what is necessary is the mental groundwork that will make such peace possible. By investing in the young minds of high-school students, Japanese civil society is working to foster that groundwork. As that example suggests, there is no doubt in my mind that there are certain types of diplomacy that Japan is uniquely able to undertake. If Israeli drip irrigation technology were to be introduced in the West Bank of the Jordan River, Palestinian youth would be able to devote themselves to the production of vegetables. However, the wall of distrust that separates