Arabs, Jews continue to connect, change

in South America, Jerusalem, U.S.

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

THIS PUBLIC PEACE PROCESS

     In Summer, 1991, the "public peace process" was formally named.
SEE 1991 TV news of the historic signing of the FRAMEWORK FOR A PUBLIC PEACE PROCESS streaming at:
http://easylink.playstream.com/ltraubman/bwnews.wmv
     It defined the fundamental purpose of citizens outside government to come together in Sustained Dialogue to design and enact steps to change the fundamental relationship between communities.
This citizen-driven process of face-to-face relationship building stands apart from formal mediation and negotiation of governments.
     Yet, it is required to complement, support, energize, and work in parallel with the official peace process.
"The longer-term goal is to immunize the society against the recurrence of violence," clarified Dr. Harold Saunders in his classic 1999 book, PUBLIC PEACE PROCESS: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflicts."
Modern living examples abound and increase, yet under-reported.

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South America

    The Intercultural Dialogue between Arab and Jewish Youth (DIJO) - http://dialogochile.cl - meets in Chile, South America.
Jewish and Arab youth in Santiago have been gathering and communicating for two years.
     They are shepherded by Arab sociologist, Lorenzo Agar ( LAgar@abello.dic.uchile.cl ) and Jewish educator, Abraham Magendzo ( AbrahamMagendzo@gmail.com ).
     They also identify with Fundacion IDEAS - http://ideas.cl/ - a Chilean think-tank for civil society.
     One of DIJO's supporters and admirers in Santiago is historian and journalist, Monica Vicuna ( Monica.Vicuna@gmail.com ) .
See PHOTOS at http://dialogochile.cl/noticias.php .


Jerusalem

     In March, The Jerusalem Peacemakers and TRUST-Emun persisted with outreached hands to add to the ever-growing public peace process.
     In spite of - for some, because of - recent Spring, 2008 violence, 50 Palestinian and Israeli women and men sat down to eat, speak and listen face to face in the Holy Land.
     Refusing to remain enemies and apart, they traveled from East and West Jerusalem, and from Ramallah, Hebron, and Bethlehem
READ their inspired stories, and SEE them redefine the Power of Trust - http://trust-emun.org/gpage1.html .


     The 45 Arab and Jewish CHEFS FOR PEACE also stayed firmly together.

Published by BBC News - 25 February 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7262779.stm

COOKING FOR PEACE

Jerusalem Diary: Monday 25 February 

     CHEFS FOR PEACE sprang out of a visit, 12 years ago, by four chefs - two Jewish Israeli, one Christian Arab Israeli and one Muslim Palestinian - to a slow food festival in Italy.
Nabil Aho, the Head Chef Instructor at the Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem, was one of the four.
     To him the progression was obvious: "We use the same ingredients. If you can't work together in the kitchen, then where can you?"
     Moshe Basson agrees.
     When it comes to cooking, he says, "Palestinian, Jewish, Greek, Turkish - we all take from each other".
     Moshe is happy to add: "My best teachers are Palestinian mothers."
     "In the kitchen, we use the most dangerous utensil, the knife," adds Armenian chef Kevork Alemian, the Maitre d'Hotel at the American Colony in East Jerusalem.
     "But here all of us - Muslim, Christian, Jew - we use it to make beautiful food."


Washington, DC

SUMMIT 2008: Imagining A More Civil Society - http://hillel.org/summit/ - brought together during March 24-26, 2008 in Washington, DC, visionaries and innovators from academia, philanthropy, journalism, even the U.S. Department of State.
     700 women and men - 300 were expected - old and young arrived from over 120 universities and colleges.
     Participants included campus students, presidents, administrators and faculty.
     Among several hundred community volunteers and professionals were those from the sponsoring Hillel, whose traditional focus on Jewish campus life continues expanding toward inclusiveness.
DEMYSTIFYING DIALOGUE was a popular, standing-room-only, participatory workshop that included Palestinian and Jewish exemplars with past Dialogue experience.
     Later, CAMPUS SHOWCASE invited Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue representatives to engage Summit attendees and exhibit displays and free how-to printings and videos.
See PHOTOS of the workshop and exhibit at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbtmbJq0aMm-M


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These are beginnings of cures - beyond bandages for wounds and symptoms of the disease.
Human connections.
Heart  contact.
Acts of sustained engagement and kindness that transform people, relationships, and decisions.
The end of ignorance and beginning of familiarity.
The end of fear and beginning of trust and creativity.
Applying the medicine.
     The preventive and cure.
Excellent relationships.
Because "the longer-term goal is to immunize the society against the recurrence of violence."
     Together, we can, and we're living this new life together - the predictable antidote.

                        -L&L