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"We didn't choose nonviolent resistance out of submission or fear. Peaceful resistance requires more courage than violent resistance."
A leader of the nonviolent movement in Budrus, Ayed Morrar organized the first Popular Committee Against the Wall in the West Bank by uniting all local Palestinian political factions, including Hamas and Fatah, and encouraging hundreds of Israelis to cross into the Occupied Palestinian Territories and demonstrate in support of his village. When challenged by his teenage daughter, he welcomed the launch of a women’s contingent that quickly moved to the front lines.
"People want to live, even while they wait for the issue of Jerusalem to be resolved. Health and quality of life are linked with a solution."
Ismaeel Hamoud works with Bimkom, an organization which seeks to make community participation and human rights a central part of urban planning. Bimkom provides legal advocacy, planning consultancy and educational materials to communities and political leaders to promote planning rights. Ismaeel works primarily in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, where he is the liaison between the community and Bimkom.
Enough of the Jerusalem mantra, By Daniel Seidemann, Common Ground News Service, September 18, 2008.
Letting Israel Self-Destruct, By Daniel Seidemann, The Washington Post, August 26, 2004.
Corking the Volcano: Terror and Counter-terror in Jerusalem, By Daniel Seidemann, Opinio Juris, September 8, 2008.
Flirting with the apocalypse, By Daniel Seidemann and Lara Friedman, Ha'aretz.
"Things were not nearly as good as they appeared to be in the summer of 2000, but they're not nearly as bad as they appear to be today. There's a viable city here [in Jerusalem]. It's not a utopian city; it's politically achievable, but it's not going to happen tomorrow morning. We are years away from a genuine political process in Jerusalem I believe, but I also believe that we're not decades away."
In January 2010, Daniel Seidemann founded Terrestrial Jerusalem, an Israeli non-profit organization that works to identify and track developments in Jerusalem. Prior to founding Terrestrial Jerusalem, Daniel conducted legal work with Ir Amim, where he took on cases defending individuals, families and communities who were negatively impacted by the wall and the expansion of Jewish settlements in and around Jerusalem.
"It was important for me to know that there was a starting point for Israelis and Palestinians to talk to each other that was based on the possibility of mutual recognition, not one on the account of the other, and not one in the place of the other... I always believed that the basis for coexistence is existence, that you can't have coexistence if one side is wiped off the map."
Gershon Baskin moved to Israel from the United States in the late 1970s. He worked with Jews and Arabs within Israel until the first intifada, when he began promoting dialogue and opportunities for cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. He is the founder of IPCRI, a jointly-run Israeli and Palestinian think tank that works with hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians in government and the private sector. IPCRI was first based in Jerusalem, and in the late 1990s moved its offices to Bethlehem.
Havayati - a personal website
"I am responsible for creating change. Once I start working and stop sitting around complaining, that’s when significant change will occur."
Elad Vazana was born in the southern development town of Ofakim. Elad is an artist, an educator, an experienced mediator and facilitator; he develops curricula for facilitation, initiates and facilitates social change. He has been involved in dialogue for many years. His extensive experience facilitating Israeli-Palestinian dialogue meetings for youth led him to be one of the managers of the Sulha Peace Project, where Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians meet and build mutual trust.
"You have to have a shield of sorts. And if the shield is nonexistent or too thin, you are not going to make it, you are going to go to pieces. And if it is too thick you will lose your passion."
Rabbi Arik Ascherman is the Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights Israel. Rabbis for Human Rights advocates for human rights and social justice based on a humanistic interpretation of Judaism. The organization struggles against Israeli expropriation of Palestinian-owned lands, house demolitions, and settler takeovers of land, as well as advocates for social welfare rights for participants in Israel's Wisconsin Plan and others of its kind.
"Bereaved father transports ailing Palestinians to Israeli hospital" by Anne Usher, October 10 2010, ynetnews.com
"Governments sign treaties, people make peace [...] I deal with humanitarian issues, working in ways I think Israel should, and I think wants to manage its affairs."
Assisting Palestinians in need of healthcare in Israel and supporting their families, organizing soccer tournaments and day trips for Israeli and Palestinian children, helping Palestinian farmers harvest their olives, collecting food for the hungry in Israel – these a few examples of Buma Inbar’s work. Buma chooses to work independently, occasionally cooperating with other organizations in order to promote a civil agenda for peace, that will affect the lives of Israelis and Palestinians.
"Study Arabic. Meet and get interested in the local crops of this region. Meet with people, there are lots of groups. There's me and millions of people like me [...] that's where you really make peace."
Chaym Feldman practices and teaches "Bio-falha" - an intensive yet sustainable farming method that integrates local and traditional elements - at Hava & Adam near Modi'in. A teacher for Israeli children, Chaym leads workshops for Israelis and Palestinians, which include working with West Bank Palestinian farmers on their lands. Chaym views joint farming a way to demonstrate solidarity against the Separation Fence and establish positive relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as part of a global struggle for sustainable lifestyles.
“When there is real fighting, there is an increased need for us to model how opponents should engage in dialogue.”
Yossi Alpher is the co-editor and co-founder of Bitterlemons.org, an English Internet magazine that serves as a platform for discussions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The idea for the website was born out of Yossi’s extensive involvement with Track II negotiations, where he met his partner and the co-founder of Bitterlemons.org, Ghassan Khatib. With the power of the internet, which made multi-party spaces for dialogue worldwide a feasible reality, Bitterlemons.org was launched.
"Regarding those people who say this isn’t the time [for working with Palestinians in Gaza], there is no such thing. It’s never the right time, and yet it is always the right time."
Eric Yellin lives in Sderot. Together with other citizens of the Sderot area and the Gaza Strip, Eric helped found Other Voice, which promotes hope and nonviolence. Eric is also the Israeli coordinator of the Center for Emerging Futures, where Israelis and Palestinian create partnerships in various fields. Eric writes a blog with a Palestinian friend in Gaza, addressing and reflecting the conflict’s effects on the lives of civilians in Sderot and Gaza without the media’s intervention. In their joint blog, Eric is Hope Man.
