Muslim
Iltezam: Tradition Meets Innovation
By Vanessa Ortiz
"I believe in nonviolence and peaceful resistance even more because it helped us achieve something… Large amounts of land were supposed to be confiscated from the people of Budrus but because of these demonstrations they were only able to take a small portion of the lands that they planned to take, and they moved the Wall to the Green Line… Any theory needs to be tested and if it succeeds that means it is effective."
At the age of 15, Iltezam launched a women's contingent part of the unarmed movement in Budrus. She was the first villager to succeed in getting past the Israeli border police and stopping a bulldozer. Her fearlessness galvanized the entire village and affirms the importance of women in the movement. The demonstrations in Budrus marked the first time that Iltezam, like most of the village’s youth, met Israelis who were not soldiers or settlers. Watch interviews of Iltezam in Just Vision's film, Budrus.
"I have an honorable record within Palestinian society, which largely respects those who have fought and sacrificed for the national cause. This gave me the confidence to talk to people straight. I have greater influence in my community than someone with no history of resistance."
When he was in high school, Raed Hadar's close friend was killed by the Israeli army as they stood together during a demonstration in the first intifada. Raed later spent three years in an Israeli prison for his participation in attempting to build a bomb.
"I totally reject normalization, and am not prepared to sit down with an Israeli just to make him look good in front of the world. I am prepared to meet with Israelis who sympathize with me and believe in ending the Occupation... We should first end the Occupation and then look at living and working together."
Nur El Deen Shehada was brought up in the Tulkarm Refugee Camp and was imprisoned for his participation in the first intifada. Shehada became disillusioned with the violent nature of the second Iintifada and began searching for alternate ways to resist the Occupation. He joined Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy, and later Combatants for Peace, which both advocate nonviolent protest of the Occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
"If you are looking for reasons to wage war, you won't find them on my program, nor will you find ideas for short-term strategies. From my show, you will acquire ideas that change you into a responsible person, into a leader."
Nasser Laham was born and raised in Deheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem and is the Chief Editor at Ma'an News Agency in Bethlehem. He anchors a daily TV news program which translates the Hebrew evening news into Arabic for Palestinian audiences. Nasser promotes responsible media coverage of the conflict through humanizing the subjects of the news and reporting on both sides' reactions to events. Nasser served multiple prison sentences in Israeli jails during the first intifada before becoming a journalist.
No More Taking Sides, Audio interview with Ali Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin, on PRI's Speaking of Faith. February 14, 2008
She's Israeli, he's an Arab. War has made them like mother and son, by Sarfraz Manzoor, The Guardian, May 10, 2009
Ali Abu Awwad, Palestine, Creating social change through non-violent practice, Synergos
Ali Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin Speak at Pangea Day, August 15, 2008
Video of Ali Abu Awwad Preparing for the Sulha, Peace TV1
A War with No Weapons (Translated from the Hebrew), Nahum Barnea, Yediot Aharonot
"I didn't know what to do with the pain and there wasn't an outlet for the grief. The Forum is a means of helping yourself in addition to being a means of resistance. It is a different kind of revolution for my people. This is how I view it. You are eventually drawn into this and begin to believe in the principles of what you do. I now feel that I have the capacity to face anybody in any discussion, regardless of his rhetorical abilities. I now believe this is the way to establish our rights."
Ali Abu Awwad grew up in a politically active family and was active in resisting the Israeli occupation during the first intifada. He was arrested for his resistance activities, which included throwing stones, participating in demonstrations and being a member of a political party, Fatah. He was sentenced to ten years in Israeli prison, however he was released after four years after the signing of the Oslo accords. During the second intifada, Ali was shot in the leg by an Israeli settler and went to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.
Palestinian activist: From angry young man to a proponent of peace, By Philip Eil, The Jewish Voice and Herald. July 24, 2009
Cracking the Walls of Hate and Fear, Joy Pople, UPF International. April 18, 2007
"I believe that if you're not doing something, then you accept reality, and if you accept reality, then you agree with the fact that the only solution is for us to keep killing each other. It's hard for me to understand how you can accept something like that. One should do whatever he or she can to change the situation. Even if there is a tiny bit of hope, I think it is better to try to do something than sit there and do nothing."
Aziz Abu Sarah joined Fatah's Youth movement after losing his brother, who died shortly after his release from Israeli prision. Aziz published many angry and vengeful articles in the organization's magazine. Years later, Aziz and his family agreed to attend a meeting of the Bereaved Families Forum. Aziz is now a member of the Forum and co-hosts a show on All For Peace Radio; he also runs an organization aimed at empowering Palestinian youth.
"The origin of all success is the freedom of human beings. If any person can feel freedom from occupation, from fear, that is the most important success. Therefore, collective freedom starts with individual freedom."
Dr. Khuloud Dajani is a professor and one of the founders of Al-Quds University. She is active in the fields of public diplomacy, social work and peace activism. Since the beginning of the current intifada, Khuloud has been working with the Palestinian based People's Campaign for Peace and Democracy, which works along side the Israeli based Hamifkad Haleumi. Both are grassroots initiatives gathering signatures of Palestinians and Israelis in support of a set of principles to advance peace. Since the beginning of her career, Dr.
"If we can integrate the abilities of these two peoples it will be a wonderful integration. I have not doubt this is the solution and it cannot be otherwise. I do not see a black future. I do not see that these peoples will destroy each other, rather that within twenty years they will build an economy that will be glorious, not just glorious—it will also contribute to all of humanity."
Helmi Kittani is an economist who worked for over 20 years in a senior position in one of Israel's largest banks. In 1992 he became the Executive Director of the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, where he works to strengthen the economy in the Arab sector in Israel, and to build business partnerships between Jews and Palestinians both within Israel and across the Green Line.
"We summarize our work here in three words: peace, freedom, education. Our aim is to create a generation here who lives entirely in democratic freedom with our neighbors. And this is what we want, to be free like all the other people in the world, to participate in creating this generation."
In 2001, Ibrahim Issa returned from living in the Netherlands to become Acting Director of the Hope Flowers School after his father, the school's founder, passed away. Hope Flowers School in El Khader near Bethlehem, teaches democracy, peace and coexistence. It was the first school in the West Bank to teach Hebrew. Prior to the second intifada, Hope Flowers participated in many exchanges with Israeli students and teachers, but these have been put on hold due to travel restrictions.
"First it was curiosity. Curiosity to know the other. I have to know him. Who's that? Who are they? So this was the first thing— it wasn't about peace. Although I came to Ramallah with Oslo in 1994, I suffered a lot at the hands of the Israelis, especially in Lebanon. We were in Beirut when Sharon invaded and I was alone with my daughter. My husband spent his life fighting the Israelis, and he died for it. It's not so easy to make a 360-degree change. It has to be process, that's what I believe."
Ihsan Turkiyyeh is an actress and comedian with Palestinian Television. She has participated in numerous joint projects with Israelis and Palestinians, and currently works with the Arab-Hebrew Theatre in Jaffa. Along with a group of Israeli and Palestinian actors, Ihsan performs Viewpoints, a series of vignettes about the conflict, in schools throughout Israel and East Jerusalem. The daughter of Palestinian refugees, Ihsan grew up in Lebanon before moving to Ramallah.
