In the early Seventies, Hussar leased property from the Trappist monastery of Latrun and set up his oasis of peace. Here in Neve Shalom, 'New Peace' in Hebrew, Jewish and Arabic families have chosen to live together.

'It is not always easy,' admits 44-year-old British resident Howard Shippin. A Christian from Leeds, he migrated to America, married a Jew and moved to the village 15 years ago. He is one of 40 families, 20 Israeli and 20 Arabic, who live here in the hope that their children will make friends and build personal relationships, and that there will be a greater awareness about each other. But community members have watched in disbelief as violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have escalated.

'Witnessing these scenes, and knowing many of those involved or killed in the struggle, the tensions between Jews and Arabs here have been stirred,' Shippin admits. They have seen Israeli soldiers shoot at Palestinian children and they have watched, repeatedly, the television footage of a Palestinian mob beating two Israeli reserve soldiers to death in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Now suddenly, the coexistence of the village seems under threat. 'I have very mixed emotions right now,' says an Israeli Arab, Salim Layos, 45, standing in his garden, which has a breath taking view of the Latrun monastery and valley below. 'The basic trust between us has been shaken,' he says.

Layos watched the acts of violence on the television with his son. He admits that he had difficulty giving a balanced explanation of what was happening to the Palestinians. 'Because I am an Arab, I feel for the Palestinian people,' he says, 'but on the other hand I feel for the Jewish people because I have Jewish friends here too. It is hard to see a solution.'

Jewish and Arab relations within the confines of Neve Shalom usually develop with ease from birth, but the harsh reality outside has left the people under no illusions.

To encourage Arabs and Jews in the village to talk, inter-group discussions were set up in the school for adults and children alike. 'In school, one Arab girl told how she was very upset when she received a phone call from her Jewish friend. The friend who was travelling with her family in their car yelled down the phone: "The Arabs are throwing stones at our car",' recalls Shippin. 'The Arab girl felt frightened. She didn't know what to say.'

When children leave Neve Shalom to attend either all-Arab or all-Jewish secondary schools in the nearby towns, Jewish-Arab relations often become a thorny issue for discussion. 'At school my friends are asking ask me if I'm not afraid to live with Arabs,' says 14-year-old Naomi Mark, who was born in the village and whose best friend is a Christian Arab. 'I usually just laugh at them and tell that I was born among the Arabs, so why would I be afraid. But sometimes I just get fed up having to defend them all the time.' After the lynching of the two soldiers, Naomi's Jewish friends mocked her. 'You see,' they said to me, 'we told you the Arabs are bad!'

And yet Howard Shippin remains sure of one thing. 'Neve Shalom does not attempt to offer any solution to the Middle East peace process. We are simply living proof that it is possible for different groups to live together through very tough times, while maintaining our own separate identities.'