Refugee children and Project Peace On Earth captures the imagination of the world and UN

Oct. 1, 2012 - PRLog -- Contacts:  Steve Robertson, cell: 310-871-2965, Steve@Project-PeaceOnEarth.com
John Quigley, cell: 310-927-3013, jq@spectralq.com

On November 25th 2011, an aerial picture was taken of nearly 1000 Palestinian refuge children forming the image of the Picasso Peace Dove and spelling out the words “Love All” plus the word for “love’ in Arabic just at the base of the Mount of Temptation in Jericho. Steve Robertson, CEO of Project Peace on Earth (PPOE) and its team, lead by international aerial artist John Quigley, Fritz Froehlich of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Sami Khoury of ABS Marketing and Sami Abu Dayyeh of Netours/The Ambassador Hotel all joined to produce the inspirational event.  The Picasso Dove and Love All image was filmed and shot aerially to send out a message of love and hope to children and adults worldwide.  The event served as a part of a series of peace initiatives that included a medical mission and international concert.

The still images and videos can be seen at:
http://www.projectpeaceonearth.org/causes/children-stats/

Steve Robertson of PPOE explains the reason behind the focus on the Middle East “The Palestinian/Israeli conflict may well be the geopolitical/geo-spiritual linchpin for peace on our planet.  This region of the world represents the birthplace of the three major monotheistic religions.  It remains in turmoil and its people are suffering in the duality of “I have the right God and You Don’t”. We are quick to forget that all wars have been divisively fashioned around this intolerant ideology for Eons.  If we can help bring peace to this region of the world then peace can then be modeled anywhere. There is another way and only through love will we find it.”  John Quigley stated about the project “These young people are planting seeds of hope into the heart of the middle east conflict. They deserve the kind of positive future we wish for all children.”

The United Nations recently announced that the Project Peace on Earth photo from Jericho was one of only 49 images to represent “The United Nations: Seven Decades of Photography” at the world's largest photographic industry fair, Photokina, in September in Cologne, Germany. These photos were selected from the United Nations photo collection of 800,000 photographs dating back to the mid-1940s chronicling the history of the organization and its work. Secretary Gen. Ban Ki Moon said of the exhibit,

"Diverse scenes and pursuits are on display: from peacekeeping to disaster relief, from children’s health to the empowerment of women. But a thread is clearly visible: the mission of the United Nations to serve the world’s people. ...The images here capture moments of great power, beauty and urgency."

During the first Project Peace On Earth (PPOE) initiative in 2010, Robertson lead a “Visions of Peace” medical mission into the Palestinian region where esteemed eye surgeon Dr. Paul Dougherty provided forty free cataract surgeries, in only two days, to elderly patients in Hebron.  The team was accompanied by former HBO Executive, Michael Garcia, who directed a documentary on the surgery process and captured interviews with people around the area about their vision for peace in the region.  

Immediately following the November 2011 Jericho event, Robertson and the PPOE team focused their sights on producing a global peace concert of sacred and inspirational music from Bethlehem on Christmas Day, December 25th 2011.  The concert, some three years in planning, was sponsored by the Swiss and Palestinian Governments, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), The Bethlehem Convention Palace, Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), ABS Marketing and The Ambassador Hotel/Netours.  The concert featured Grammy Winners Joanne Shenandoah, Gary Nicholson, Fox Lima (the lead singer of the rock group Enigma’s Social MMX Song) and world famed Jordanian Oud player Hani Naser.  The event, a fundraiser for UNRWA, was held at the Bethlehem Convention Palace and was broadcast worldwide to some 80 million homes.

The efforts of the PPOE organization are part of larger Middle East and Worldwide five-step peace process initiative. Towards this end, the PPOE team organizes inspirational music concerts, medical missions, art, dance events, social media and engagement activities to: 1) Reduce social tensions and re-enforce the possibility of peaceful relations.  2) Increase listening skills towards the promotion of inner peace and perceptional changes.  3) Foster the process of forgiveness and humanize dialog towards compassion.  4) Inspire the recognition of shared interests and commonalities of goodness. 5)  Increase empathy and communication skills through “walk in the other person’s shoes” experiences that promote social, political, spiritual, peace breakthroughs and actions.

Find out how you can help support Project Peace on Earth and its five-step worldwide peace initiative program by going to:  www.ProjectPeaceOnEarth.org and to see more of John Quigley’s Aerial Art images go to:  www.SpectralQ.com