Meet Rami and Yaniv

      The IEP tour to Washington D.C. and North Carolina last week was an unprecedented experience on a number of levels. On an organizational level, this tour stands out because very few IEP tours have included such a diversity of speaking opportunities and audiences, which presented a unique chance for our speakers to learn about the inner workings of American grassroots and public policymaking. On a personal level, this was an unprecedented opportunity for me (a recent addition to the OneVoice team) to spend a week with two young activists who harbor radically divergent opinions about history and even facts on the ground, and yet share an overarching sense of purpose and mutual respect.

      Yaniv Sasson, 29, emphasized that he joined OneVoice not because he loves peace, but because he loves Israel. Born and raised in Yahud, Israel, Yaniv Sasson is the head of the OneVoice chapter at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzeliya. He is currently completing a B.A. in Government with a concentration in Middle Eastern Studies and Conflict Management. Yaniv also volunteers with the police patrol units in Tel Aviv and the Juvenile Diabetic Research Foundation as a supervising instructor of the youth activities.

       As a juvenile diabetic, Yaniv was not required to join the IDF. However, he insisted on joining, viewing military service as a crucial defining component of Israeli identity. After completing voluntary army service as a recruitment officer, he spent seven months traveling in South and Central America, which was a very enlightening and unforgettable experience for him. Through his interactions with young people outside of Israel, Yaniv began to reevaluate many aspects of his life that he had once considered ‘normal’. His exposure to other perspectives helped him realize that the sense of fear that governs Israeli daily life – the security checks at every entrance, the fear of public transportation, and the thrust of the Israeli military – is not really ‘normal’ at all. He considers these conditions and fears to be symptoms of the enduring conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, a conflict that has lasted for so long that many Israelis have given up on trying to improve their situation. As a Zionist, Yaniv wishes to reinvigorate Israeli consciousness by showing his peers that they can improve the status, safety, security, and legitimacy of their nation by ending, rather than sustaining the Israeli military presence in the West Bank.

      After returning from South America, Yaniv received an email from OneVoice asking him "What are YOU willing to do to end the conflict?" and he realized that he had an active role to play. Since receiving that email two years ago, Yaniv has been an active member of the One Voice Movement, both as a member and leader of the Herzeliya chapter.

      Rami Rabayah, 30, is from a rural family long‐established in Jenin. He was born in Beirut mere months before Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. He made a point of acknowledging this peace agreement as a significant milestone in his family’s life, after which his father – a former Palestinian fedayeen resistance militant – committed himself henceforth to the peace movement.

      Rami and his family were able to return to Palestine after the 1993 Oslo Agreement was signed. Upon finally seeing his family’s historic land, he became deeply attached to Palestine, and decided to continue his grandfather’s mission as a farmer. Rami studied rural development and engineering at Birzeit University, and has devoted himself to helping marginalized and poor communities since graduating in 2002. In his work, he focuses on rural communities and on improving private sector performances in Palestinian agriculture. As a farmer, he takes care of his family’s property producing extra virgin olive oil. He also works as a senior project manager of the Horizon for Sustainable Development, a private company in Ramallah. Moreover, he created the first sheep selection and multiplication unit in the West Bank.

      Rami’s commitment to achieve peace and eradicate violence is an important component of his life, though it has never been easy. Particularly after the collapse of the Camp David II accords and the rise of the second Intifada, Rami began to lose many friends to the thrust of violent resistance. When Rami embarked on his professional life, he realized even more fully the barriers posed by living under occupation. Unable to export his olive oil or drive more than 15 kilometers without being stopped, Rami’s commitment to ending the conflict was only further deepened. He joined OneVoice because he wishes to empower his people to reach a solution, rather than submit to the despair which fuels violence. Out of his belief in the national will of the Palestinian people to live in freedom and justice, Rami has volunteered with OneVoice Palestine, and encourages both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to achieve peace through a two‐state solution, believing that “this is the most realistic and comprehensive possible outcome for the Israeli‐Palestinian struggle.”

Comments

[Air Jordan]

Thank you for sharing this excellent article. So cool. It bring me a sense of comfortable. We shoule smile to the society and work more harder to creating a better tomorrow.

[jordan retro 1]

Growth and change are the law of all life. Yesterday's answers are inadequate for today's problems--just as the solutions of today will not fill the needs of tomorrow. Do you understand? Do you understand?