OneVoice Blog, Empowering Israeli and Palestinian Citizens toward a Two State Solution

Palestinian and Israeli Youth Leaders negotiate common message

In the first joint meeting of Israeli and Palestinian Youth Leaders, three OneVoice members from Israel and Palestine came together in late June to commit to a common framework for their respective movements for the rest of 2009.

With the current focus of OneVoice on helping each side to break their own taboos and acknowledge the unspoken realities facing them, these Youth Leaders sat down to refine and recommit to a "common message" for both OneVoice Palestine and OneVoice Israel.While the work is ongoing, in just a few hours the teams were able to come to consensus on language supporting OneVoice's guiding principles:

• Non-partisan
• A grassroots movement led by the people and for the people
• A global partnership and coalition
• Working for conflict resolution, not conflict-management
• Forward-looking
• Focused on personal responsibility and civic activism
• Consensus-driven: we highlight existing areas of consensus where broad agreement exists amongst both sides, while acknowledging the areas where agreement is most difficult and working to address them
• A broad spectrum: we embrace people across political, ethnic, religious and national backgrounds.
• We believe in the principles of justice, freedom, sovereignty, security, self-determination, human dignity, and in the right of all peoples to exercise them.

OVI Town Hall Meeting in Beer Sheva tackles tough issues

Earlier this summer, OneVoice Israel ran a Town Hall Meeting in Beer Sheva designed to introduce participants to our recent poll and help them begin to think about taboo major issues. Initially, the participants had many questions about the poll itself -- how it was handled, who took part, how do we know it really represents the public, were all groups in Israeli and Palestinian societies represented, and so forth. They found it difficult, at first, to accept that this poll really says something about either community, and they kept on trying to check the accuracy of the presented data. As the meeting went on, their interest shifted to the issues themselves.

We then gave out sample questionnaires and asked the participants to fill them in, they could share the experience that the the survey participants went through. This was also meant as a "warm-up" exercise so that they would start thinking about the issues before the discussion began. They seemed to really get into it and wanted more time to fill out the questionnaires properly. Next, we went one by one through the major issues: final status, refugees, settlements, Jerusalem, borders, security, and then also through the issues of process -- the "blame game", trust-building measures, etc.

Participants were really interested to know the percentages on issues that were not mentioned in our initial presentation (for instance: how many Israelis and Palestinians support remaining in status-quo). We learned from this that each moderator should be accompanied by at least one other Youth Leader who can follow the presentation with the poll in his hands and be ready to assist the moderator and answering such questions.

--Kelly Breakstone, OneVoice Israel

OneVoice Palestine brings Town Hall Meetings to Jenin and Bethlehem

In the last month, Youth Leaders from OneVoice Palestine organized two Town Hall Meetings in Jenin and Bethlehem, working with new partners and bringing the movement to many new faces.

Maher Samodi, an active and dedicated Youth Leader, coordinated the Jenin meeting, partnering with the city's Student Service Center to set up logistics and invite participants and other attendees. He also presented the OVP presentation with amazing charisma, before the meeting began to discuss settlements with an expert.

Our Bethlehem meeting was a success as well; Youth Leader Ibrahim Mubarak brought together 27 new participants to learn together about the issues surrounding water and natural resources -- and the OneVoice movement as well. After a two hour presentation and a lot of questions and skepticism, the energy in the room changed and everyone felt the importance of the experience. Lots of the participants were interested not just in attending more town hall meetings, but in joining OneVoice as full members.

Next month, we'll continue with more Town Hall Meetings, as we focus this entire year on breaking the taboos, and saying what needs to be said.

Saying what needs to be said: OneVoice boards meet with Youth Leaders

In the last month, the OneVoice International, OneVoice Israel and OneVoice Palestine advisory boards have met close to home, bringing their own expertise to the movement's focus for the year: saying what needs to be said.

With June meetings in California and New York, July meetings in Israel, and ongoing meetings in Palestine, the boards came together in regional meetings, where we presented personal updates on our programs and goals for 2009, and got input and feedback on the issues and programs they care most about.

Israeli board members were particularly impressed with the increased role of the Youth Leaders, who have been taking on larger leadership roles in their organizations over the past 18 months. Through the formation of Youth Councils, OVI and OVP Youth Leaders have planned and executed their own local programming with the help of local staff, and become trained facilitators for Town Hall Meetings.

Moving forward, OneVoice will be working to strengthen this sort of integration between the boards and their regional branches, connecting our advisors and supporters with Youth Leaders and building local networks that can bring about real change.

Seats still available for tomorrow's briefing! -- RSVP today

There is still room for a few more attendees at tomorrow's intern & young professional briefing in Washington DC. RSVP by the end of today to secure your spot!

OV exclusive briefing for interns & young professionals in DC

The OneVoice Movement, the RAND Palestine Initiative, and Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) are holding an exclusive briefing in DC next week for interns, students, and young professionals.

The event will take place on Tuesday, 14 July at 10.30am. More information on how to attend here.