Many of the world's most precious sites are in imminent danger of destruction. War, ethnic strife and environmental desecration have already damaged and defaced many places on the planet. For example, witness:

• the demolition in 2001 of Buddhist cultural treasures throughout Afghanistan including Bamiyan;
• the destruction in 2000 of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, Israel;
• the desecration of Montreal's Mary Queen of the World Cathedral in Canada in 2000;
• repeated acts of violence against the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem through the 1980's and 1990's.

• parks, monuments and special buildings
• libraries and museums
• places of worship
• holy cities
• ancestral lands and burial grounds
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites

These places could belong to your own family heritage or that of your own community. Imagine the human spirit thriving without such priceless repositories of wisdom and beauty!

However, even sites that are safe today can become the targets of tomorrow. They might be places of world renown or local importance. Could you stand by and watch this happen? Could you stand the loss to your children and to future generations?

The Zones of Peace International Foundation (ZOPIF) arose in direct response to this crisis. Our mission is to foster the establishment of sites such as these as Zones of Peace.

(This passage is an excerpt from the ZOPIF brochure.)