OneVoice Movement

OneVoice makes inroads for growth in Europe

High school students at Theresien-Gymnasium in Ansbach, Germany, connect with OneVoice Palestine's Wasim al-Masri in Ramallah using Skype video conferencing.

New York, August 16, 2012—With big ambitions for growth in Europe, OneVoice capitalized on positive word of mouth surrounding its Outreach and Education Program and made inroads this July in Germany toward possibly opening a branch.

For some time, Outreach and Education Director Sharon Alsoodani has led a video conferencing series, connecting UK communities vested in the Middle East conflict with OneVoice’s Israeli and Palestinian activists working to build peace. Over 38 sessions, reaching more than 900 individuals, have allowed this often highly volatile topic to be addressed in an intimate and safe environment. This led English teacher Elisabeth Deisenhofer at Theresien-Gymnasium, a high school in Ansbach, to reach out and request OneVoice hold such sessions with her students.

“These were some of the most successful school sessions we’ve done as part of the Outreach and Education Program,” said Alsoodani. “The students showed a high level of engagement and interest, having studied the subject recently as part of their school curriculum, and asked questions ranging from life in Palestine and Israel to more political ones on settlements and a bi-national state.”

OneVoice Palestine’s Wasim al-Masri in Ramallah and OneVoice Israel’s Gabi Avner in Tel Aviv engaged a total of 80 students over the course of two sessions, offering their firsthand experiences and insights in a manner that allowed their audience to easily relate. The powerful and immediate impact of the session was evident when many of the students grabbed flyers advertising the program’s Facebook forum, and later that day, began to actively participate in the conversation. The school expressed interest in holding more sessions with OneVoice.

Alsoodani took full advantage of her time in Germany by travelling to Munich for meetings with several local and national Israel-Palestine dialogue groups. All of them expressed support for the two-state solution, although skepticism was rife.

Salam-Shalom, a local Munich group with Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian members, felt that negotiations had run their course and sought more aggressive action to achieve a just and permanent peace agreement. On the other hand, Beth Shalom, a liberal Jewish community with branches across Germany, strongly believed achieving the two-state solution was not only possible, but imperative. Despite the groups running the gamut, they all welcomed the opportunity to help OneVoice with outreach efforts.

In related news, a group of German students on a trip to the Middle East paid OneVoice's office a visit last week, where they spoke with staff and youth leaders. The students seemed energized and eager to take action to help achieve the two-state solution. Their enthusiasm served as further encouragement for OneVoice to explore fundraising opportunities in Germany, with the help of locally-based volunteers, that would enable the movement to open an office there.

If you know of any potential outreach or fundraising opportunities that could facilitate OneVoice’s further growth in Germany, please contact europe@onevoicemovement.org.uk.

Outreach and Education Program links Palestinian and UK women’s groups

New York, July 30, 2012—Recognizing women’s role in peacemaking, the Outreach and Education Program, led by OneVoice Europe’s Sharon Alsoodani, plans to connect UK women's empowerment groups with women in remote Palestinian community.

Since visiting the Women’s Association of Qalqilya early this summer, where several of OneVoice’s top women youth activists volunteer, Alsoodani has been exploring establishing a relationship for them with Lotus Life, a London-based young women’s empowerment group, to share with each other their efforts and experiences.

“Witnessing the desire among the women of Qalqilya in shaping their community and political landscape, I’ve returned to London with renewed motivation to amplify their work,” said Alsoodani. “I’ll be facilitating cross-border and cross-cultural communication that will make the global impact of our voices stronger.”

The Women’s Association of Qalqilya, founded in 2010 and now 55 members-strong, empowers women of all ages in the city to assume a greater role in civil and political life. They’ve been focusing on creative means of combating the dramatic effects of Israel’s controversial separation barrier, which almost completely encircles the city and results in political disenfranchisement as well as severe poverty.

“Our connections with the outside world have not been good in Qalqilya,” one middle-aged woman told Alsoodani during her visit. “But we are starting to build relationships, which will enhance the progress and development of our town.”

At a town hall meeting that OneVoice held late last year in Qalqilya’s city hall, over 100 participants discussed the best way to invigorate the city’s stalled economy. Meanwhile, at their latest meeting, Women’s Association members and OV youth activists raised the issue of municipal politics and how to best use the upcoming elections to advance social causes.

“We have to stop looking always toward the past,” said Azil Nazzal, a top OneVoice Palestine youth activists and Women's Association volunteer, during her presentation at the meeting. “We have to start planning what we want for the future and make it happen.”

And it is in that message — recognizing the pain of the past while refusing to let it dictate the future — that OneVoice Palestine and the Women’s Association of Qalqilya have become natural allies in the effort to mobilize Palestinians across the West Bank.

Meanwhile, back in London, members of Lotus Life are receptive to learning firsthand from them about the actions they're taking on the ground to end the occupation and improve the quality of life for Palestinians.

For starters, Alsoodani plans to run a Skype session, connecting the two groups and giving the Women's Association of Qalqilya their sought after link to the outside world. Whatever the forum it takes — whether  concerned with political, social or economic issues — the end result of such initiatives is greater ownership for the embattled residents of Qalqilya over their futures.

UK Muslim-Jewish Group connects over Skype with Israeli and Palestinian activists

Two dozen members of the Nottingham Muslim-Jewish Dialogue Group connect over Skype with an Israeli youth leader in Tel Aviv and a Palestinian youth leader in Ramallah at an event organized by OneVoice Europe's Outreach and Education Program.

London, May 29, 2012—Members of the Nottingham Muslim-Jewish Dialogue Group assembled at a local synagogue earlier this month to connect over Skype with an Israeli youth leader in Tel Aviv and a Palestinian youth leader in Ramallah. The session allowed them to learn firsthand about parallel grassroots efforts to achieve the two-state solution.

Two dozen members listened intently to a brief presentation by OneVoice Europe’s Outreach and Education Program Director Sharon al-Soodani, and then opened the floor for a question and answer session with Ben Ofer and Abeer al-Natsheh through video conferencing. Part of an ongoing series – the program has held 38 sessions so far and reached more than 900 individuals – the events allow UK communities vested in the Middle East conflict to address this often highly volatile topic in an intimate and safe environment, using a constructive approach.

“It was an excellent meeting,” said Jeff Cohen, co-chair of the dialogue group, after the session. “We not only gained an insight into what it is like for people living in Israel and Palestine, but it also helped to cement relationships in our group as well.”

Abeer, a 28-year-old Jerusalem resident who holds a bachelor’s in computer science, answered several questions about living conditions in the West Bank and freedom of movement between Jerusalem and other major Palestinian cities. Ben, a 24-year-old law student, spoke about the first-ever Two-State Solution Caucus in the Knesset, which OneVoice Israel co-conceived, and the recent successes of using social media to impact Israeli society.

“The Nottingham Muslim-Jewish Dialogue Group sets an example of how interfaith groups can explore both the comfortable and uncomfortable aspects of dialogue,” said Sharon. “By participating in a Q&A with two of our activists from Israel-Palestine, they have engaged together in a pragmatic approach that challenges the status quo and demands justice and peace for all those affected.”

Sharon explained to the group that her program focuses on forward-thinking and solutions to the conflict. The approach has allowed the program to successfully improve relations between Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities and promote a win-win scenario to conflict resolution in Israel-Palestine and in British communities, schools and campuses. OneVoice advocates for the two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders, and resolving all final status issues according to international law and resolutions.

School students, university students and members of communities who are most affected by the Middle East conflict are finding a space, through the Outreach and Education Program, where they can be heard and understood. The program enables them to channel their energy and passion to be active toward ending the occupation and finding a just solution to the conflict.

“Grassroots understanding here in the UK of the needs of both sides in the process and how their experiences have shaped their positions is what will eventually lead them to take a realistic and pragmatic attitude toward resolving conflict and divisions both in their own societies and back in the Middle East,” Sharon explained.

Interfaith groups have been particularly keen to invite Sharon to work with their participants on this issue, where they are failing to deal with it effectively. A connection with five synagogues, three mosques and nine churches has been established. A network of nine Muslim organizations, two Christian organizations and six Jewish organizations has been built, and extended into 22 other organizations, including interfaith, community development and local councils.

Ben Ofer spoke to members of the Nottingham Muslim-Jewish Dialogue Group about the first-ever Two-State Solution Caucus in the Knesset as well as successes in social media activism to impact Israeli society.

Abeer al-Natsheh spoke to members of the Nottingham Muslim-Jewish Dialogue Group about living conditions in the West Bank and freedom of movement between Jerusalem and other major Palestinian cities.

WATCH: David Miliband talks OneVoice at London gala

New York, March 21, 2012—The Rt. Hon. David Miliband spoke at a OneVoice gala in London, joined by Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and applauded the efforts of OneVoice activists in Israel and Palestine while reiterating the urgency of their efforts to implement the two-state solution and end the conflict.

OneVoice Europe hosts gala dinner with David Miliband

The Rt. Hon. David Miliband (center) with OneVoice Europe Executive Director John Lyndon (left) and OneVoice Palestine youth activist Rami Rabayah (right) at a pre-dinner reception with OneVoice Europe supporters.

London, March 21, 2012—Former UK Foreign Secretary, the Rt. Hon. David Miliband, told OneVoice supporters at a gala dinner in London that failing to establish an independent Palestinian state next to a secure state of Israel is the greatest diplomatic failure in 40 years.

“It’s the greatest diplomatic failure because actually it is one of those international problems to which there is a viable solution,” said Miliband.

Miliband delivered the keynote speech during OneVoice Europe’s event at St. Ermin’s Hotel in London before a captivated audience. On hand were two of the movement’s senior Israeli and Palestinian youth activists, Smadar Cohen and Rami Rabayah. Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who has championed OneVoice Europe since it was established in 2006, was also in attendance to show his support for the movement.

Miliband spoke about the importance of OneVoice’s work, including reopening the movement’s Gaza branch, blocking the recent Outpost Bill, which proposed to transform outposts that have existed for over four years into permanent settlements, and outreach efforts in the United States and Britain among vested communities and interfaith groups.

“If OneVoice is about anything, it is actually about action first with hope as its product rather than a vain call to hope that one day might produce action,” said Miliband. “Action leads to hope because it achieves successes, however small, that inspire confidence in greater successes.”

Such action, Miliband said, was particularly important given that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the two-state solution have taken a backseat to Middle East revolutions and tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. He added that it was essential to widen any resolution to Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbors.

“We have to regionalize the political solution,” he said. “That was, after all, the vision of the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002. The 10th anniversary next month is a very significant moment of reflection.”

Addressing Rami and Smadar, along with the 4,500 youth leaders they represent, Miliband applauded their efforts to mobilize their communities behind the two-state solution and harness people power to end the conflict. He said they “defied conventional opinion” at a time when the “inevitability about a two-state solution had disappeared” and “it was no longer fashionable to be talking about a two-state solution in the Middle East.”

OneVoice Europe Executive Director John Lyndon thanked Miliband for his support, and in particular, his recognition of the situation's urgency.

“David recognizes the truth that we, at OneVoice, are working to convey in the region and internationally every day: the status quo is unsustainable," said Lyndon. "We can overturn the grim fatalism many seem to have adopted, build an independent, viable Palestine next to a secure State of Israel, and form the bedrock of a transformed Middle East.”

The event grabbed headlines in London media. Read the Jewish Chronicle's coverage here.

FULL TRANSCRIPT: David Miliband's speech at OneVoice Europe gala dinner

The Rt. Hon. David Miliband delivering the keynote speech at OneVoice Europe's gala dinner.

Text of speech by former UK Foreign Secretary, the Rt. Hon. David Miliband, delivered on Monday, March 19, at OneVoice Europe's gala dinner in London.

After welcoming everyone to the event, David Miliband had special words of thanks for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who attended the event and has supported OneVoice Europe since it was established in 2006.

The Archbishop [of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams] has not feared to tread into the Middle East, but equally he has not trod without great care; building bridges across religious divides. And, although, it is not our topic tonight, the terrible shootings in Toulouse remind us that building bridges and respect is one of the duties of public leadership, and I think Rowan Williams has discharged those duties with enormous compassion and commitment. And I feel it is important to say that.

You, the supporters of OneVoice, make something that is necessary, that is unique and that is right, possible. You make the dialogue and discussion of Israelis and Palestinians, especially young Israelis and Palestinians, possible. And just because something is necessary and right and unique doesn’t mean it would happen. So it is important to recognize that some of the things that you will hear about tonight in the film and the speeches wouldn’t happen without your commitment.

I first met the young OneVoice leaders with David Levin in 2008 and I immediately saw from that meeting that they were both ordinary, and extraordinary. You have got two remarkable young leaders here tonight and they are going to speak to you from Israel and Palestine. They were ordinary young people because they were idealistic, brave, raw in the way that they expressed themselves, insightful. And I think those are qualities that if you take the time to talk to young people around the world, you actually find in great abundance. But they were also extraordinary, because they were defying conventional opinion in their own communities. By 2008, any notion that there was an inevitability about a two-state solution had disappeared, but more than that, it was no longer fashionable to be talking about a two-state solution in the Middle East. And so these young people were, I think, extraordinary in the way they defied conventional opinion.

What I most liked about them was that they were trying to mobilize something that money can’t buy. That is people-power! They were trying to mobilize opinion and action for a great and vital cause for both of their communities. In that sense they were trying to live out that hackneyed phrase of ‘be the change that is within you.’ They were actually doing it themselves and I have to say they taught me something very, very important. I spent 20 years trying to help the Labour Party become a good government for the people, but what OneVoice amongst others taught me was that you can’t have a good government for the people unless you have a commitment to the government by the people. The emphasis in OneVoice of government by the people and mobilization of the people has a very wide resonance. The achievements are not to be sniffed at, at all. Merely the plan itself sends a tremendous message, I think, to communities right around the world. The individual actions, whether it be reopening the Gaza office, mobilizing to block the recent illegal outposts bill, reaching out to the United States and to universities, doing some tremendous work in Britain, actually, in universities where both Palestinians and Jewish communities have felt under some kind of siege. OneVoice has been able to show in Britain that actually dialogue is the answer to an end of that siege.

So I want to say to you tonight that we are supporting an organization that is doing some important good. And if I only said that, I think you would go away dissatisfied because that is not the whole truth. I think in 2012, it is important to recognize that’s not the whole truth because the wider truth is that OneVoice is doing some good in circumstances that are basically very bad. In fact, the circumstances in many ways have rarely been worse in the last 30 or 40 years. I think it would be dishonest, and I have otherwise said publicly, that the failure to establish a Palestinian state next to Israel is the greatest diplomatic failure in 40 years. It’s the greatest diplomatic failure because, actually, it is one of those international problems to which there is actually a viable solution. There is a young man here from the University of Manchester, he was at the event I did in Manchester last week, where I was asked about Somalia, and the truth is I really don’t know what the answer is in Somalia. But in respect to that small piece of land at the heart of the Middle East, I do think my opinion and that of the majority of Israelis and Palestinians, which is that you need two states able to live side by side with each other, is the right answer. It is the greatest failure of diplomacy because diplomacy has failed to bring it about, and there is suffering and injustice and insecurity on both sides as a result. Great suffering, great injustice and great insecurity.

This is a very challenging period because in blunt terms, to speak in basic politics to you, the Israel-Palestine question is probably now fourth or fifth on the Middle East political agenda, nevermind on the global political agenda. I say that to you not to depress you, but to tell you both the truth and also to say to you that the fundraising that is going to be done later tonight is even more important because of that political context. If in fact this was a fashionable cause that was the inevitable product of history, then OneVoice would be worthwhile, but much less necessary. It is because there is a real question about whether the two-state solution will ever be achieved that it is even more necessary than ever. The truth is that the agenda in Israel, in the United States, and I have to say in the large part in the Gulf is not about Israel and Palestine, it is about Iran. The truth is that the Arab Spring has turned regional attention away from the Israel-Palestine question. The Israel Spring, the Tel Aviv Spring that took place last March, was notable for many things, one of which was that the word ‘Palestine’ was not mentioned at all in the demonstrations that took place in the heart of Tel Aviv. The Palestinian Spring has not yet sprung and it’s for those reasons this cause, this cause that I think is vital to the state of Israel and vital to the people of Palestine, has fallen to being fourth or fifth on the regional agenda.

The danger is that the leaders are not leading in the search for the answer, and it is that danger that makes the work of OneVoice especially important. I am saying so for a very particular reason, which is at the heart of something that is very important to me in politics. Some people will tell you that hope leads to action. And I am afraid to tell you that is profoundly wrong. Action leads to hope, and that’s what makes OneVoice important. Action leads to hope because it achieves successes, however small, that inspire confidence in greater successes. Action leads to hope because it requires the building of coalitions that can make change. Action leads to hope because it requires you to persuade people who are not immediately of your frame of mind. Action leads to hope because it allows you to say here are tangible gains as a result of what has been done. And if OneVoice is about anything, it is actually about action first and hope as its product rather than a vain call to hope that one day might produce action. The world frankly is full of people who can make speeches about why things should be better and it is not full enough of people who are making it better. That is essentially what I take the message of OneVoice to be.

My own view about the ultimate negotiations that need to take place, the substantive negotiations, is very much in line with the OneVoice vision in terms of the substance of the settlement, but I would also add, just as an international relations gloss, that my own instinct is that this Israel-Palestine question will only ever be settled in the context of a wider Arab settlement with Israel. In other words, we have to regionalize the political solution. That was, after all, the vision of the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002 -- the 10th anniversary next month is a very significant moment of reflection. It was the time when every Arab state of the Arab League said it would recognize Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state. So we need to regionalize the solution. In my view, we also need internationalize the diplomatic effort. If we rely only on the United States as the motor of progress in the region, then I am afraid we are going to be waiting a very long time. The United States is a very important actor in promoting international diplomacy to resolve this question, but it can’t be the only actor. It needs to be part of a wider coalition.

This is all not the main point of tonight. The main point of tonight is to say that the flame of hope for a two-state solution is only kept alive by action, and that is what I think OneVoice can do. If you think about it, there is a double meaning in the title of OneVoice. Because on its own, what is just one voice?  Nothing. It’s lost into the air. But the double meaning of the organization of OneVoice is of many people speaking with one voice. And when many people speak with one voice, they are not isolated, dissipated, diluted and lost into the atmosphere. They are, rather, magnified into a call that is heard far and wide. I think what the young people have done in joining voices is to reject the pessimism that says ‘my voice is meaningless, I am alone, I can’t do anything.’ There are plenty of people propagating this view about politics, whether in Israel or in Palestine, but instead these youth are recognizing that as part of a bigger coalition, one voice can mean that louder, stronger, and more forceful sense that you are part of something bigger than yourself.

Let me just finish on the following note. I think that it is true, and some of you will know this better than I, that in many people’s hearts and heads, in Israel and in Palestine, the talk of a “peace process” rings hollow. Calls for a new, renewed, integrated “peace process” rings hollow. What isn’t hollow is the notion that human beings need to find a better way of living together than one that is separated by distrust. What OneVoice tries to do is in a way the most difficult thing, but also the most noble thing in politics, which is get people who think they have divergent interests to recognize that they actually have convergent interests. It’s my profound passion that the whole world is more unjust and less safe as a result of our failure in the Middle East, but it is also my conviction that the peoples of the Middle East have some remarkable strengths, and if only the strengths that we know exist amongst both Israelis and Palestinians could be mobilized in common cause, then the future of the Middle East will not be the bloodletting mistrust that has typified so much of the past.

So, if that is the spirit you have come here with tonight, the commitment you want to make, certainly my commitment, then I really hope you will be able to not just raise a glass but get out your checkbook to support an organization in a part of the world that has too few organizations that are flames of hope and really continue to make a difference. Thank you very much.

OneVoice Europe's Outreach and Education Program top highlights of 2011

London, December 21, 2011—OneVoice Europe’s Outreach and Education Program is a new, and rapidly expanding, project aimed at engaging and influencing thousands across the United Kingdom.

Since May, OneVoice has brought four Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders to 15 schools and 14 diverse communities to share their stories with over 1,200 British students and community members. Additionally, OneVoice has set up video conferences to connect youth leaders in Israel and Palestine with over 200 people around the country. What follows are highlights from the 2011 tours:

1. Running two events with women’s communities during our November tour focusing on the essential role women need to play in conflict resolution and the positive response youth leaders Shir Lachish and Thuraya Aghbar generated.
2. Bringing an Israeli narrative of pragmatism and peace to 25 Muslim girls at the Islamia Girls Secondary School, many of whom had never been exposed to an Israeli moderate’s perspective or to a joint Israeli-Palestinian proposal for a two-state solution.
3. Eating baklava and other Arabic sweets on Edgeware road with Shir and Thuraya to celebrate Eid.
4. Seeing the level of interest and knowledge St. Paul’s student exhibited during the school session with Thuraya and Shir, and the prospect of running a joint school tour in Israel and the West Bank with students from St. Paul’s and OneVoice activists.
5. The obvious impact Uri Fishelson and Antwan Saca made on the girls at Handsworth Wood Girls School, Birmingham, and witnessing how the two youth leaders encouraged the students to open up the discussion to more diverse viewpoints.
6. Seeing OneVoice youth leaders Shir Lachish and Ahmad Omeir use a live video conference to help build bridges between faith communities at an event with Makki Masjid and St. Agnes’ Longsight Parish Church.
7. Taking Thuraya to eat her first dish of noodles on Carnaby Street in London and teaching her to eat with chopsticks.
8. Watching Thuraya and Shir tell their personal stories in conjunction with Robi Damelin and Seham Abu Awwad from the Bereaved Families Forum. It was an emotional moment seeing the two generations of women come together for the same cause.
9. Seeing the connections made between youth leaders Uri and Antwan and the sixth formers they spoke with during the May tour, who will in turn take OneVoice’s message to polarized university campuses.
10. Hearing Foreign Affairs Shadow Minister Stephen Twigg mirror OneVoice’s Tal Harris and Rami Rabayah in his calls for increased pressure from civil society and increased grassroots mobilization in pushing for a two-state solution.

Manchester interfaith community supports Israeli and Palestinian youth activists

OneVoice Europe's Sharon Alsoodani connects members of St. Agnes’ Church and Makki Masjid with OneVoice Palestine's Ahmad Omeir using Skype video conferencing.

Manchester, December 16, 2011—For the three major monotheistic religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – Israel and Palestine form the Holy Land. Many faith groups as a result have a vested interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More often, the response from different faith communities has deepened divisions. But in Manchester, interfaith cooperation between St. Agnes’ Longsight Parish Church and the nearby Makki Masjid (or mosque) has defused tensions and allowed constructive actions that support grassroots peace efforts.

Recently, OneVoice Europe connected members of the church and mosque congregations with its Israeli and Palestinian youth activists, allowing them to hear firsthand about OneVoice’s parallel work to achieve the two-state solution. Shir Lachish, in Tel Aviv, and Ahmad Omeir, in Ramallah, joined the group using Skype video conferencing, offering a glimpse into the everyday lives of Israelis and Palestinians and asking the interfaith audience to continue their unified work in support of a peaceful and just resolution to the conflict.

“[The Israeli-Palestinian conflict] is one of the most complex questions in the modern world, and yet in a very simple conversation with two people online, we were able to see the human side of it,” said Rev. Stephen Edwards of St. Agnes’ Church. “We were able to connect with real people, with real lives and real emotion.”

The audience felt Ahmad’s urgency to solve the conflict as he recounted losing three close friends to the violence. “I am a person who comes from a religious background, I’ve been traumatized by the occupation, and yet I am willing to work and advocate for the two-state solution,” he told the 30 people watching him live on a screen.

“The world shrunk for a moment,” said Edwards, “we were part of their concern and part of their world.”

St. Agnes' Church has chosen OneVoice as one of three organizations they will support financially in 2011 through their annual Mission giving. They also have stated their interest to further their involvement with the movement in the coming year.

Such efforts are part of the church community's overall mission to foster peace and justice and build interfaith partnerships, particularly with the Muslim community that accounts for an estimated 60 percent of the residents in the area covered by the parish of St Agnes' Longsight.

"The Longsight faith communities are an inspiration and example to other interfaith initiatives on Israel-Palestine," said Sharon Alsoodani, OneVoice Europe's director of the outreach and education. "They united out of a common concern to change the situation and focused their discussion on ways in which they could back a win-win solution for all those now living in the Holy Land.”

OneVoice Europe's Outreach and Education Program connects members of St. Agnes’ Church and the Makki Masjid with OneVoice's Israeli and Palestinian youth activists using Skype.

London students connect with Israeli and Palestinian grassroots

OneVoice Israel's Shir Lachish discusses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with students from Queens Park Community School in London.

London, December 16, 2011—OneVoice Europe organized several events throughout November in London that connected Israeli and Palestinian youth activists with British students and faith groups, giving them the chance to hear firsthand about OneVoice’s parallel work to achieve the two-state solution.

Thuraya Aghbar, a 21-year-old electrical engineering student, and Shir Lachish, a 25-year-old law student, spoke at 14 events and reached more than 400 people during their weeklong visit. At each event, they started by sharing their personal stories of growing up in Israel and Palestine, set against the backdrop of the conflict. The motivation behind their activism, they revealed to the audience, lay in the tension between moving beyond and being propelled by their hardships.

“The message of ending the occupation and living in freedom has been the highest dream of all Palestinians,” said Thuraya during an event held at the Islamia Girls Secondary School. “OneVoice Palestine and OneVoice Israel are working in parallel to achieve the two-state solution so we can reduce pain happening in our part of the world.”

The 25 young Muslim girls, most of whom had never heard the Israeli narrative, said they’d grown up believing there was no possible solution. Listening to both Thuraya and Shir, they came away with the realization that resolving the conflict requires cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians and lots of painful compromises for both sides.

Thuraya and Shir visited several other schools, including Copthall Girls School, Chigwell, William Morris Sixth Form, Queens Park Community School, and Winchmore, where positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have grown increasingly divisive. No topic was out of bounds, from Israel’s settlement policy to the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation and the Palestinian’s UN bid for statehood. The students relished the rare opportunity to hear the voices of the Israeli and Palestinian grassroots instead of a lecture from politicians or experts, and left the sessions with a sense that they, as young individuals, can come together to support people their age in Israel and Palestine who are working to change the status quo.

“As a teacher, I wasn’t looking forward to covering this subject, as it’s really tricky to deal with,” said Nathan Godleman, the humanities teacher at Queens Park Community School. “But since [OneVoice’s] last visit, it has really relieved some of the tension around the issue.”

OneVoice Europe’s Outreach and Education Program also targeted faith groups, such as the West London Synagogue, the Kingston Jewish community, and Palmers Green Mosque, all of which have a vested interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Outreach and Education Program will capitalize on the relationships it built throughout 2011 to run more conflict resolution workshops in schools and communities, and expand its coalition of supporters for the two-state solution.

OneVoice Palestine's Thuraya Aghbar helps students at Copthall Girls School in London consider the possible solutions to the conflict.

OneVoice Europe joins the Big Give Christmas Challenge

Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP (left) with OneVoice Europe Executive Director John Lyndon and OneVoice activist Anthony Silkoff at Chatham House, October 2011.

London, November 22, 2011—OneVoice Europe has expanded its coalition of supporters for the two-state solution this year with a mixture of high profile and community events in London. Buoyed by its success, the movement plans to grow its network beyond England into other European markets next year.

With a focus on raising the necessary funds to implement ambitious growth plans, OneVoice Europe will participate in the Big Give Christmas Challenge, an annual matched funding event. For one week only, from December 5-9, online donations to OneVoice Europe will be matched by a combination of pledges from the movement’s major donors and the Big Give’s Philanthropist Fund.

“Supporting the work of our Israeli and Palestinian branches is all about coalition building,” said John Lyndon, executive director of OneVoice Europe. “This year, we’ve made great strides in that area, engaging many people from political and religious leaders to community members and high school students.”

In October, former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband MP joined former US Senator George Mitchell at a OneVoice event to discuss the prospects for a two-state solution in the aftermath of the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid for statehood. Both acknowledged the power of the grassroots to effect real change. “Diplomats and statesmen and elected officials or appointed officials can make peace,” said Mitchell, “but it takes hold only in the hearts and minds of the people.”

Earlier this year, Foreign Affairs Shadow Minister Stephen Twigg joined OneVoice for an event at the House of Commons to explore whether people power has been the missing element in delivering a two-state solution. Parliamentarians and concerned citizens alike packed the Wilson Room, at Portcullis House, to listen to OneVoice youth activists talk about building a movement for peace from the ground up.

“The Middle East has taught us that we ignore the wishes of the people at our peril,” said Twigg. “The people of the region, alongside the rest of the world, are fed up with this conflict, and I am proud to stand with OneVoice in highlighting the voices of the silent majority, who demand their leaders represent them by ending the conflict.”

2011 also saw the launch of a new Outreach and Education Program, with specially designed conflict resolution training for students and community members. OneVoice Europe brought several of the movement’s Israeli and Palestinian youth activists, as well as the regional executive directors, Samer Makhlouf and Tal Harris, to lead speaking tours across England.

From the Royal Society of the Arts to Lambeth Palace and the Council for Christians and Jews to Palmers Green Mosque, OneVoice Europe reached hundreds of people with a vested interest in ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The movement also used technology such as Skype video conferencing to connect British students in highly polarized communities with its Israeli and Palestinian youth activists, allowing the students to hear firsthand about OneVoice’s parallel work to achieve the two-state solution.

“None of this would be possible without the support of our donors and partners,” said Lyndon. “The Big Give provides an opportunity for that support to have an even greater impact – twice as much in fact – allowing us to recruit and train more youth activists and increase our activities and events both in Israel and Palestine and here in the UK.”

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