OneVoice Movement

OV Youth Leaders on Tulsa morning news

Dalia Labadi and Itamar Cohen, two OneVoice Youth Leaders from OneVoice Palestine and OneVoice Israel respectively, made an appearance this morning on the morning news in Tulsa, Oklahoma:

http://www.newson6.com/Global/category.asp?C=121535&clipId=3592260&topVideoCatNo=112047&autoStart=true

Dalia and Itamar are in the middle of an International Education Program tour to campuses and communities throughout the Midwest.

For more information about the tour, contact China Sajadian at china@onevoicemovement.org.

Thank you to Nisreen Shaheen!

Nisreen Shaheen, currently General Director of OneVoice Palestine, has chosen to transition into the private sector. As part of this process, together with Board and an international search committee, Nisreen will help us in the search for an Executive Director.

Nisreen has accepted to join the OneVoice Palestine Advisory Board and to serve in a coordinating role and as liaison between the Palestinian Board and the Executive Director. It is our intention that, depending on the incoming Executive Director’s seniority, Nisreen will serve as a peer or mentor there to and remain at the forefront of the Movement’s strategic direction.

Nisreen’s contributions to OneVoice cannot be overstated. She has done an extraordinary job and has displayed admirable resilience, creativity, and passion over five years. Her perseverance and vision are woven into the very fabric of this grassroots Movement. We are very grateful for all of her inspirational leadership.

Paul McCartney Joins OneVoice Board

PAUL MCCARTNEY PLEDGES SUPPORT TO ONEVOICE MOVEMENT

SIR PAUL JOINS HONORARY BOARD OF GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATION
WORKING TO END PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT

 

23 March, 2009 / New York, NY / The OneVoice Movement today announced that Sir Paul McCartney has officially joined its International Board of Advisors, which includes other celebrities such as Danny DeVito and Jason Alexander, as well as international dignitaries and political figures like Dennis Ross and Saeb Erekat.

During his visit to Israel and Palestine at the end of September 2008, McCartney first spoke with Israeli and Palestinian representatives of the group, which seeks to empower the moderate majorities of Israel, Palestine, and citizens internationally to work toward a two state solution bringing an end to the occupation, an indepdendent Palestinian state, and a secure Israeli state at peace with its neighbors. He met with OneVoice Israel Chairwoman, Irit Admoni Perlman, in addition to staff members and youth activists from the movement. At the meeting, he expressed his support for OneVoice’s activities on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Speaking to Nisreen Shahin, OneVoice Palestine’s Executive Director, Sir Paul reaffirmed his commitment to OneVoice’s moderate, grassroots approach to ending the conflict.

He also travelled to Palestine, to bring his message of peace to the West Bank as well. Later that evening at his concert at Tel Aviv’s Park HaYarkon, he and members of his band wore OneVoice pins in a show of support for the movement and the ideas it promotes.

Said McCartney, “Having met representatives of the association OneVoice, I was impressed, first of all, by the fact that half of the organization is Palestinian and half is Israeli.  Almost 650,000 people have signed on to their manifesto, supporting their steadfast work to bring about a negotiated solution, and peace in the region.” He went on to say of OneVoice: “They told me that the vast majority of people in both societies are moderates and simply want a better life for their families and themselves. This gave me great hope that, one day, people like them will help to bring about a peaceful resolution to the troubles in the area. I am, therefore, happy to lend my support in this way to the cause of peace.”

Over the past six years, OneVoice has built a “human infrastructure” of youth leaders and citizen activists working to mobilize their communities and push their elected representatives to achieve a two state agreement. The movement has trained over 2,000 youth leaders in Israel and Palestine, and counts on its board over 60 world leaders, dignitaries, celebrities, business people, and political figures.

About the OneVoice Movement:

The OneVoice Movement is an international mainstream grassroots movement with over 600,000 signatories in roughly equal numbers both in Israel and in Palestine, and 2,000 highly-trained youth leaders. It aims to amplify the voice of the overwhelming but heretofore silent majority of moderates who wish for peace and prosperity, empowering them to demand accountability from elected representatives and work toward a two-state solution guaranteeing an end to occupation and violence, establishing a viable, independent Palestinian state, and ensuring the security of an Israeli state at peace with all its neighbors. OneVoice counts on its Board over 60 foremost dignitaries and business leaders across a wide spectrum of politics and beliefs, joining as OneVoice for conflict resolution. www.OneVoiceMovement.org

 

© 2009 MPL Communications Ltd.
Photographer: Emanuelle Scorceletti

OneVoice in 2009: Saying what needs to be said.

2009 opened with a variety of new opportunities and unforeseen challenges which have dramatically altered the political landscape in the Middle East - elections and a war, new administrations and more violence. In some ways, the greatest challenge facing us this year is not what has changed, but what has stubbornly persisted: Palestinians still live under occupation, without freedom or independence; Israelis still live under threat from rocket attacks, without security or safety. The dream of two states for two peoples has not been realized.

The tragedy of the Gaza war widened the rift between Israelis and Palestinians - a schism that was acutely felt by OneVoice's Israeli and Palestinian teams on the ground, threatening the very fabric of the Movement. None were more affected than our Gaza staff, who had to be evacuated following the war, and who have been temporarily relocated to the West Bank. But across all staff and members, there was an enormous amount of trust lost, which needed to be rebuilt.

To confront the situation, over the past two months, OneVoice has been engaged in a deep process of introspection, self-evaluation, political assessment, and strategic consultation to address the current situation and devise a way forward - we came together as a team, Israelis, Palestinians, and internationals, and in so doing were able to reach some conclusions about how we can strengthen the Movement, address the changing realities on the ground, and effect real change this year. After conferring with the OVI and OVP Youth Councils, the International Steering Committee, the International and Regional Boards, and staff from across the offices, OneVoice's global leadership met together in Jerusalem in late February, and agreed on the following:

OneVoice can play a key role in the process - offering a concrete way forward to both peoples. We have built an unparalleled infrastructure and youth movement based on a unique premise: each side working in its own national self-interest to achieve freedom, independence, security, dignity, viability, and international recognition for both peoples.

But nothing will ever change if we don't have the courage to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. Beneath the surface of the phrase "two state solution" there is a great deal of consensus that is yet to be forged within and between both societies - a great deal of understanding that is still missing. Even with our signatories and team members, we have recognized that Palestinians and Israelis have yet to acknowledge the legitimate concerns and perspectives of the other side. OneVoice has a critical role to play in civic education: in tackling the reality of the historic compromise that will be required of both Israelis and Palestinians in order to end the occupation of Palestine, to guarantee the security of Israel, and to resolve the conflict once and for all based on a formula of mutual recognition between two independent and viable states: Israel and Palestine.

Our programs for 2009 will be focused exclusively on the need to take courageous steps and break taboos on each side in order to make progress. It will certainly not be easy - but we simply have no time to lose. The window for a two state solution is closing, and this must be the year we make the critical difference.

We look forward to updating you with more detail in the coming weeks.

Boston Globe: OneVoice movement pushes two-state solution for Mideast

By James F. Smith, Globe Staff  |  February 28, 2009

There could hardly be a less hopeful moment for peace between Israelis and Palestinians: Israeli forces invaded the Gaza Strip last month, and then Israeli voters marched firmly to the right in elections. Palestinians are more divided than ever, with the hard-line Hamas movement still firing rockets from Gaza at Israeli towns, while the moderate Fatah faction has been sidelined.

Yet Nisreen Abdallah, a Palestinian, joined Roi Assaf, an Israeli, in a conference room at the Harvard Divinity School this week to make the case that this is precisely the moment for compromises that will let Palestinians and Israelis live side by side in two secure states.

It was the first stop on a weeklong tour of a dozen schools and colleges in New England for leaders of OneVoice Israel and OneVoice Palestine, parallel organizations that are pushing for a two-state solution. Their goal: build a critical mass of moderates in each of their communities able to challenge the extremists and move toward peace.

Muslim and Jewish student organizations are cosponsoring the OneVoice meetings around Boston campuses - where Abdallah and Assaf offer firmly nationalistic arguments that reflect the strong emotions flowing from years of grievances and slights in both camps.

At Harvard, Abdallah told of the humiliation she has endured at Israeli checkpoints in the Palestinian West Bank, and her hatred of the Israeli soldiers who run them. Assaf told of serving as an Army sergeant in charge of one of those tense checkpoints, at a time of suicide bombings by Palestinians in Israel.

Nevertheless, Abdallah and Assaf both conclude that the only way to protect their own community's future well-being is to create a viable Palestinian state that recognizes a secure Israel. The OneVoice case is that this is not a naive dream but hardheaded self-interest; the alternative is more years of worsening bloodshed.

They both acknowledged the particularly pessimistic context for their work.

"The option is still there for a two-state solution, but on both sides the window is narrowing down," Assaf said. Moderates have been undermined by the Gaza fighting, he said, because the conflict "pushes people on both sides toward the extremes."

For her part, Abdallah said Palestinians in the West Bank watched with a mixture of anguish and anger as the Israelis have focused recently on Hamas and Gaza while all but ignoring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the moderate Fatah faction that controls the West Bank.

"The danger is that people start to think that violence can achieve something," she said. "We have a lot of people becoming pro-Hamas because they see that Hamas is getting more attention from the Israelis."

The OneVoice branches operate separately in Palestinian areas and Israel. Unlike some peace groups, the goal is not to get dialogue going with the other side, but rather to energize the moderate center within each community to make its voice heard in favor of a two-state deal.

OneVoice also is premised on moving beyond the vexing historical disputes that underlie issues such as the status of Jerusalem and the rights of Palestinian refugees, knowing that Palestinians and Israelis will never persuade each other to concede past wrongs.

"I am not here to discuss every argument," Assaf said. "If you go down the path of arguing each narrative, I will tell you that I am 100 percent right on these issues, and the other side will tell us they are 100 percent right. We are trying to build something to reach a future. If you don't see a future, you fail."

OneVoice was founded in 2002 by Daniel Lubetsky, a Mexican-born entrepreneur and social activist who lives in New York and Israel. The organization's Israeli and Palestinian branches boast of signing up nearly 650,000 people, roughly equally divided between the two communities, in favor of sustained negotiations for a two-state solution.

Assaf and Abdallah are the full-time coordinators for the 1,800 volunteer youth leaders in the two movements, who organize local projects in schools and neighborhoods. Their recent programs include the "Imagine 2018" project last year, in which Israeli and Palestinian students wrote essays on what their societies would look like in a decade if the conflict ended.

China Sajadian, the New York-based international program coordinator for OneVoice, said US campuses often are fiercely divided on the issues, pushing programs such as Israel-Apartheid Awareness Week or Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.

She said the OneVoice campus tours seek to engage moderates in the United States who will speak out for mutual engagement, rather than remain mired in the old divisions.