Photos and information found on this page appear courtesy of the Peace Fleece Farm website:   www.peacefleece.com

In 1991, in reponse to the first Gulf War, Peter traveled to the Middle East to find Arab and Israeli shepherds who would be willing to blend their wool together for Peace Fleece.  He discovered Neve Shalom/Wahat at Salaam which was a community of Palestinians and Jews who were living together.  He was befriended by Abu Abed who invited him for lunch in his Bedouin tent.  Abu had a large flock of Avassi sheep.

Peter and his family and a group of spinners and weavers traveled to Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam in 1993 to oversee the Peace Fleece Sheep and Wool Festival.  The wool from Abu Abed’s sheep was sheared and washed and flown back home where it was blended with the fleece of Maine island wool.  This was the first rug yarn that Peace Fleece had spun.

The last Sheep and Goat Roundtable was held in Ramallah, West Bank and Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam and Kibbutz Naushon, Israel on July 14-16, 1998. Sheep and goat people from Israel, West Bank, Jordan, France, New Zealand and Argentina discussed problems of disease, food, water and grazing land which the Mid-East region faces.

Dr. Etan Rapaport of the Israeli Minsitry of Agriculture and Dr. Nassar al Dein al Hawanidih of the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture led the discussion on cross-border disease control and cooperation and set the tone for the event. The Roundtable was hosted by the Mid-East Sheep and Goat Project of which Peace Fleece and Land O'Lakes are partners. Sadly, the violence in the Occupied Territories during the following months and years forced this unique educational opportunity to end.

Dr. Arafat from Jericho vaccinating sheep and

goats for Peace Fleece at the village of Beit Sira,

West Bank.

Marty spinning wool of Beit Sira Village, in

the West Bank home of Zacharia Zumbaty

Zacharia Zumbaty