SEEKONK

Martha Yager has returned from a two-week visit to the Middle East with the hope that Israelis and Palestinians can resolve their conflict.

"Resolving the conflict there is essential to assuring long-term stability in the region," Yager said.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are in the midst of preparations for a peace conference in Annapolis, Md., hosted by the Bush administration, and scheduled to begin this Sunday.

Yager believes a resolution to the conflict can be achieved, noting the Israelis and Palestinians are willing to work things out. "They're tired of the fighting," Yager said. "There are just people on both sides who want a safe place to live and raise their families."

Yager, a community organizer with the American Friends Service Committee in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, participated in a tour co-sponsored by Interfaith Peace-Builders and the American Friends Service Committee. Yager and 22 other members of the delegation entered Israel on Oct. 29 for the trip around the conflict zone.

The delegation focused on the Palestinian olive harvest which takes place each autumn. The group visited the Palestinian Fair Trade Association's Olive Harvest Festival and supported Palestinian farmers harvesting olives near the cities of Jenin and Bethlehem. "It is an amazing place," Yager said.

The delegation also toured the Israeli town of Sderot, which has been targeted by Palestinian militants from within the Gaza Strip, and visited Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum.

Delegates also met Israelis and Palestinians who once took up arms in the conflict and who now work with Combatants for Peace, an organization which has rejected violence and promotes reconciliation between the two peoples.