OneVoice Movement

Swings, Roundabouts, and the Occupation: OVP protests land confiscations in Jericho

Zubaydat's citizens joined OVP to peacefully protest land confiscation near their village.

The children of Zubaydat want a playground. A slide, a pair of swings, maybe a climbing frame; not a big ask for 500 children, perhaps. But while they just want to play, the kids of this West Bank village also find themselves living under military occupation. 

Zubaydat is at the nexus of a territorial conflict that – quite literally – insists on coming between the kids and their playground. Now, OneVoice Palestine (OVP), a movement of Palestinian youth, have decided that it’s time to play their role in ending the occupation and giving the village’s children their freedom to play, literally.

“The kids used to play in a small area just west of the village,” said Wasim Masri, communications officer at OVP. “But the Israeli authorities declared the area a closed military zone and told the villagers to keep their kids away from the playground.” 

In 2009, the villagers requested permission from the Israeli authorities to build a new playground, but this request was denied, according to Masri.

The occupation is about more than just playgrounds and it impacts more people than children alone. The Oslo Accords classified 99 percent of the village as area C, Masri explained.

The ‘C’ classification grants Israel full civil and security control over the area which, for residents of Zubaydat, means frequent raids by soldiers, repressive building restrictions, as well as constant water shortages, because the occupation prevents villagers renovating or digging new wells. Furthermore, the demands of Israeli settlers – keen to expand their territory – lead to continued confiscations of Palestinian land, including Zubaydat’s old playground.

As part of a program of activism to prevent further confiscations and save the viability of a Palestinian state, OVP activists in Jericho marched to Zubaydat to protest settlement expansion. Land around the village continues to be seized for the nearby Israeli settlement of Argaman.

The activists, joined by locals, civil society organizations, community leaders, and Jericho’s governorate office, marched to the separation wall south of Jericho, carrying trees and Palestinian flags to plant in an area threatened by confiscation.

Townspeople and youth leaders from different cities in the West Bank set the village of Zubaydat, north of Jericho, as a the starting point for the activity. According to OVP youth leaders, their initiative comes in response to the Israeli policies, which prevent farmers from reaching their lands in areas where agriculture is the main source of income, such as Zubaydat.

OVP Executive Director Samer Makhlouf expressed the need for these types of actions.

“Palestinians will continue carrying out non-violent resistance against the occupation and settlement expansion in the West Bank in order to deliver a message to the world that we are the owners of this land,” said Makhlouf. “Settlements are the biggest obstacle facing the two-state solution and the peace process.”

The youth leaders and townspeople, cheering and showing support for one another, proceeded to plant many trees near the separation wall.

“Our goal is to support the citizens of Zubaydat,” said OVP’s youth leader and the village’s own Hamza Zubaydat.

Indeed, the OVP youth leaders have promised their campaign won’t stop until a viable and independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital is created. Only when the occupation is ended will the villagers of Zubaydat gain the freedom to farm on all their land, dig the wells they need for water, and rebuild their children’s playground.

OVP’s activists and townspeople of Zubaydat marching to the land south of the separation wall in Jericho.

Zubaydat's location in Area C.

OneVoice Palestine’s “Women of Influence” project to nurture new leaders

Malaka Samara, center, meets with Sahar Qawasmeh, head of the Adwar Organization for Development, and senior OneVoice activist Ibrahim Mubarak to discuss her “Women of Influence” project.

On International Women’s Day – a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness and commemorate the advances women made in their societies – a new initiative takes hold in Palestinian communities looking to do the same.

Led by OneVoice Palestine’s Malaka Samara, the new Women of Influence (WOI) project aims to emphasize the importance of Palestinian women and their essential social, economic, and political role in community-building to end occupation and the conflict.

Clearly, one cannot build peace by leaving half of a society out, and women have been sidelined in peace building for too long. Only 2.5% of signatories to peace agreements since 1992 have been women. Since 2000, 16 peace processes had minimal involvement of women, and in five cases, no women were involved at all.

The WOI project seeks to train, empower, inspire, and energize Palestinian women to be active, to contribute to the improvement of their communities, and to ensure that women are involved in Palestinian state building, and the peace process, at all levels.

The UN has acknowledged the vital importance of women’s involvement. Women’s participation in conflict resolution and building peace is called for in Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008), but its real impact is yet to be felt by women in conflict zones such as Palestine.  

“We are living under occupation, having daily challenges in our life at all levels,” said Malaka. “Women are mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, so it is very important that they raise their voices and be part of the development of their communities and help end the occupation by delivering their messages to national and international decision makers.”

The WOI is the brainchild of Malaka’s prolonged efforts and interest in Palestinian women’s issues and her time spent volunteering with OneVoice Palestine as a youth leader. The project has several phases, the first of which concluded last month. Six introductory meetings in Bethlehem, Jenin, Qalqilya, Hebron, and Jericho – the WOI target cities – occurred with women leaders and heads of local organizations. These meetings sought to introduce the project and establish a network of partners for future women’s initiatives through the WOI project.

Upcoming phases, spread out over the year, include introducing the project to small groups and discussing the challenges of Palestinian women in positions of influence, with emphasis on women in political life. Women from each target city will receive six months of training before implementing the project. Prominent and influential female leaders from across Palestinian society will serve as guest speakers in public meetings, sharing their personal stories and advice on topics such as family, community, traditions, religion, and politics.

Malaka envisions that each candidate will have the desire to make a change in life, believing that women have a vital role in changing their communities, and can be critically important actors in ending occupation and building a Palestinian state that values the role of women.

Malaka also hopes to be able to channel the young leaders in the program toward opportunities in partner organizations and in the private sector.

“Ultimately, we want these women’s experiences to be transferable – from theoretical to practical,” Malaka explained. “This way, they can be part of the change in themselves and their communities.”

OneVoice Palestine launches youth leadership training program for 2013

Long-time OneVoice Palestine youth leader and current staff member, Mohammed Asideh, during an introductory training session in Nablus in January. 

OneVoice Palestine launched the 2013 Youth Leadership Program with an ambitious plan in mind: to reach 1,000 youth leaders by the end of this year.

Designed by OVP's youth leadership department, the program plans to engage new participants from 11 different cities in the West Bank through three newly created regional offices in Nablus, Jenin, and Bethlehem.

The program is designed to determine the readiness and willingness of the participants to move up in the program. Of the projected 1,000 new youth leaders, 500 will advance to receive basic leadership training, 100 will receive the advanced leadership training, and 40 will train as senior advanced leaders – the highest volunteer position – throughout 2013.

The program will provide basic leadership training through the first six months of 2013, focusing on topics such as communication skills, leadership skills, working within a team, and campaigning. There will also be an introductory session on the history of the conflict and the work of OneVoice since the Movement's inception. The youth leaders will benefit from these workshops, building their leadership skills and shaping their personalities to become active leading members in their own communities.

In January, OVP reached 191 new youth leaders – a one-month recruiting record. Citizens from all participating cities in the West Bank joined the introductory sessions and learned about OneVoice's message and the two-state solution. The sessions, conducted by OVP's senior youth leaders, also aimed to engage new recruits and create opportunities for OVP senior volunteers to lead introductory sessions.

"We are seeking to mobilize leading Palestinian youth through our progressive program," said Abdallah Hamarsheh, OVP's youth leadership program director. "The aim is to establish a nonviolent resistance base against the occupation and the Israeli settlement policies."

During the second half of 2013, OVP will move into advanced training with 100 volunteers from the basic training phase, tackling one topic each month until the end of the year. Topics will include public speaking, media, negotiation skills, and the conflict as seen through the Palestinian narrative.

January already proved to be a fantastic start to what appears to be a successful year for the youth leadership department in OVP. The team is very excited to move forward with the program and promote nonviolent activism among the Palestinian youth in the West Bank and Gaza. 

  

Portraits of Palestine: Connecting ordinary citizens with decision makers in Jenin

OneVoice Palestine held a public meeting in Jenin to discuss the U.N. bid’s and Israeli election’s impact on Palestinian society.

Over 100 volunteers, citizens, and representatives from the Palestinian security forces packed Jenin’s City Call on January 23 for a OneVoice Palestine public meeting entitled, “The U.N. Bid: Reality and Challenges.” 

Jenin’s governor, Major General Talal Dweikat, sponsored the meeting, and OVP’s Jenin chapter organized the discussion. This event is part of OVP’s public meetings program, which seeks to link Palestinian leadership with the masses in order to promote confidence between them in cities in the West Bank and Gaza.

“The public meeting program provides a fantastic opportunity for the people to connect with the decision makers in a transparent and direct way,” said Abdallah Hamarsheh, OVP's youth leadership program director.

Notable speakers included Dr. Mohammed Almasri, director of the Palestinian Center for Research and Strategic Studies, who stressed the importance of the peaceful popular actions to end the Israeli occupation and build the independent Palestinian state. Othman Abu Gharbieh, Fatah movement’s Central Committee member, served as the event’s keynote speaker, and spoke to the Palestinian leadership’s take on citizen safety and security, the upcoming Palestinian elections, and the popular non-violent resistance against the occupation adopted by the leadership in light of political changes.

The focus, however, was how the U.N. bid and current Israeli policies create a challenging environment for Palestinian political aspirations.

Abu Gharbieh demonstrated how the Palestinian leadership capitalized on the support of the international community while at the U.N. and how the worldwide support provided an opportunity for the Palestinians and opened new horizons “we didn’t expect.”

But Gharbieh also stressed the importance to continue the non-violent popular resistance, but not at the expense of international support.

The reality and the future of the illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank were also on the agenda. Gharbieh stressed the importance of the Palestinian struggle under the political changes in the region and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state where sovereignty, dignity, and full independence are national demands in the face of the continued occupation. He used the recent Israeli elections as a frame.

"The numbers in the Israeli elections show a clear confusion, as it represents the political, social, and economic reality in Israel," said Gharbieh. "The State of Israel lives in isolation from the international community caused mainly by the arrogance of the Israeli leadership and their settlement policies."

Abu Gharbieh also took time to talk about the Palestinian reconciliation and the need to recover the “people’s spirit,” as he described it, through national Palestinian elections in Gaza and the West Bank. Abu Gharbieh also pointed that a Palestinian reconciliation must not be built on political quotas and should represent a clear image of a Palestinian international political agenda, avoiding the Palestinians an economic crisis.

When asked if the meeting was a success, Mohammed Asideh, OVP's field coordinator and senior youth leader, said he was pleasantly surprised at the meeting’s level of attendance.

"I didn't expect many to attend, but given the nature of these meetings and the subject at hand, I think the people of Jenin are clearly interested in investing their time to know more about the future of the Palestinian independent state and ending the occupation," Mohammad explained. 

Palestinian security forces were among those present for the meeting.

2012: The Challenges, the Mission, the State

By Wasim al-Masri

If I was asked to recall one memorable moment from 2012, the first thing that would come to mind is Palestine's United Nations bid and the series of events that led to the historic vote in November.

Every event, workshop, initiative, and campaign my colleagues and I at OneVoice Palestine (OVP) launched in 2012 – 35 workshops, 9 youth-led initiatives, 12 town hall meetings, and two major campaigns – was building to the day of the vote.

I was watching the vote in my living room with my family. And although the early polls showed a majority in favor of a Non-member Observer State of the U.N., like most Palestinians rallying in the streets of Ramallah and watching the vote on the big screens that night, I was anticipating the moment a Palestinian state was officially acknowledged by the international community and the rest of the world, bringing the state of inequality to an end.

That night, I had to go down memory lane and revisit some of the key moments in OVP's campaign to support Palestine's U.N. bid. We launched the campaign in early 2012 with little support and expectations from the local community.

We had a plan: to mobilize the people and advocate the importance of the U.N. bid for building the independent Palestinian state and achieving peace in the region. First, we launched a series of workshops to explain the U.N. bid, and then we organized town hall meetings to connect the people with the politicians. Finally, we mobilized the youth leaders on the ground nearing the date of the vote. Our plans seemed fairly easy from the drawing board. But they weren't.

Our first campaign in 2012, although praised locally by Palestinian officials, was sadly overlooked by the Israelis and the international community. We needed to convey a message to the Israeli government to cease settlement expansion in the West Bank and return to negotiations. "The land is ours, leave us be" was a bold statement in the face of, what we believe is, the greatest threat to the two-state solution and the peace process: settlements.

Over the course of three months, we planted trees threatened by confiscation in Area C (east of Bethlehem, south of Hebron, and west of Jenin). We also rallied hundreds of youth leaders and activists to support the Arab Peace Initiative and send messages to the Israeli public inviting them to adopt the initiative and revive the peace talks. Above: Over 300 activists gathered near Jenin in April, flying balloons containing copies of the Arab Peace Initiative -- translated into Hebrew -- over the Wall and into Israel. Below: OVP's activists rallying with the people of Bethlehem to plant trees in an event we named, "The Future Garden of Peace."

Back in my living room, President Abbas was wrapping up his speech in the General Assembly. "The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine," said Abbas. "This is why we are specifically here today."

By the end of June, the image was clear. We've established a solid base in advocating the importance of the U.N. bid. People started to ask questions and we provided answers through our town hall meeting program, focusing entirely on the topic of the U.N. bid and the options of the Palestinian Authority (PA) after the vote, connecting ordinary citizens to the Palestinian leadership. The first town hall meeting organized by OVP's youth leaders in Hebron attracted over 300 participants, with decision makers responding to the public's questions and concerns.

Through our community events, whether we were hosting or co-sponsoring, we made sure that the message of the U.N. bid and the two-state solution was conveyed. We wanted the public to be aware of this rare opportunity to end the conflict once and for all. The message was present through each and every event we organized. A good example would be the day we celebrated the International Day of Peace. The youth leaders called all nations to support the Palestinian leadership at the U.N. and help bring justice by ending the occupation to build the independent Palestinian state.

We were counting the hours to the day of the vote, promoting peaceful mobilization and inspiring people to take actions along the way. Hundreds of new recruits were joining the Movement through our introductory workshops, community events, and public campaigns. And on November 18, hundreds joined us to plant the foundation stone for the future garden of peace.

Activists, community leaders, and the citizens of Bethlehem joined hands to paint an image of effective public engagement by creating positive facts on the ground. We couldn't be happier.

A week prior to the vote, we launched the final stage of the campaign: a U.N. bid website. Our youth leaders and staff members were on the streets of every major city in the West Bank handing out fliers and posters; interviews occurred, and our office in Ramallah was a circus. We were hyper from coffee and pure excitement!

One particular Tuesday comes to mind. As I was driving to the office, I was thinking that I had obviously spent too many hours staring at our campaign's blue logo, because I was seeing blue everywhere. Once I arrived to the office, I was greeted with the image of our logo featured on the front page of a hugely successful local newspaper.

The logo we used to promote the campaign was a hit! “Palestine at the United Nations” logo was a huge success among news agencies and local media outlets, and on that particular Tuesday, it was everywhere, and represented the peak of our campaign.

"Of the 193 member states of the United Nations, 131 (67.9%) have recognized the State of Palestine as of November 2012. Their total population is over 5.5 billion people, equaling 80 percent of the world's population."

The day after the vote there was much work to be done. The team was exhausted. We were having coffee and discussing the crazy rollercoaster we've been on for the past 12 months. The question on everyone's mind was the obvious: what comes next? For OVP's team, it was clear that walking down the path of the two-state solution and promoting the Arab Peace Initiative through peaceful mobilization would continue. The path of ending the occupation and building the state has just begun. We have ambitious ideas for 2013, but that's another story to be told.

Portraits of Palestine: OneVoice youth leader finds inspiration in Leadership Development Program

Above: Alaa Salous, upper right, with the students of Rosary Sisters School in Nablus. Below: Alaa in an advanced training workshop in Ramallah.

It was graduation time for the first and only Student's Council in Palestine. Proud parents beamed at their children. OneVoice Palestine Executive Director Samer Makhlouf handed out certificates to the new graduates while extending his congratulations to OVP's ever-growing Youth Leadership Program membership.

And surrounded by the 16 graduates from the Rosary Sisters School in Nablus, Alaa Salous, a OneVoice Palestine trainer, recalls his very own first basic training session.

"I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect," said Alaa, 23. "Having my friends around did help."

Alaa was among the first OneVoice Palestine activists to participate in a basic training session in Nablus. He has come a long way since then.

OVP launched the Youth Leader Training Program in 2008. Hundreds of young people in the West Bank and Gaza join the program every year, taking advantage of OVP's character building advanced courses and meeting new people who share the same interest in ending the conflict and building the independent Palestinian state.

"We have launched the program with the intention of making a difference," said Abdallah Hamarsheh, OVP's Youth Leadership Program director. "Along the way we've made modifications to the program, based on what we are looking to achieve and the feedback we've received from our youth leaders."

OVP's training program starts with introductory sessions for all new recruits, explaining OneVoice's message and goals for ending the conflict and achieving a sustainable peace agreement based on the two-state solution and the 1967 borders.

The introductory sessions are followed by basic training workshops. The youth leaders can vote for the subject of training based on what interests them on their personal and professional levels. Basic training courses can vary from teambuilding activities to communication and leadership skills.

Once OVP's youth leaders start to develop a sense of commitment to the program, they are introduced to some of the advanced workshops. Subjects in these workshops are usually more focused and oriented in terms of skill development and self-awareness, and include public speaking, media, and negotiation skills training. Highly trained professionals with immense experience in their respective fields develop the workshops.

Alaa was among the select few senior youth leaders in the West Bank to participate in OVP's recent project with Generations For Peace (GFP). This "training the trainers" program builds a small team of highly trained youth leaders capable of providing a successful training experience.

"OneVoice and GFP provided me with the tools to build a basic training project," said Alaa. "I have been working closely with members from my community in Nablus to implement some of the ideas I've learned and deliver a better understanding of the conflict and the two-state solution."

Alaa and fellow youth leader Rameh Mesmar worked on a series of basic training workshops for the students of Rosary Sisters School in Nablus. According to Alaa, they were developing "an original training experience involving the students in the conflict in a positive way."

This training consisted of character-building exercises based on his training with GFP. The students were also responsible for organizing the entire graduation ceremony, sending out invites, setting up the hall, and more. This was their "final test."

Alaa is currently working with OVP's chapter in Nablus, delivering OneVoice's message and goals within Alnajjah University's campus and providing new recruits with basic training based on OVP's youth leadership and development training program.

Portraits of Palestine: OVP Promotes Peaceful Mobilization in Bethlehem

“Believe you can  and you're halfway there.”

We are believers. We believe that ending the occupation will only come through collective effort and unity. We believe that an independent Palestinian state can only materialize through a comprehensive peace agreement with the two-state solution as its basis. We believe that to inspire the people we must lead. And we most definitely believe in nonviolence.  Peaceful mobilization and selfless acts of courage are the keys to ending the conflict once and for all.

This is why we were inspired to lead and rally hundreds of people through deserted lands east of Bethlehem to plant the foundation stone for the future Peace Park on November 13. It’s a message, as we see it, for the state of Israel to abide by the 1967 borders and for the international community to support the Palestinian bid for non-member status at the United Nations this month.

We were not alone. The people of the rural area of Bethlehem and some Palestinian community leaders insisted on participating in the event, and called it “a beacon of hope for many” and a “positive fact that needs to be strengthened with popular work on the ground."

Dar Salah city hall was the initial  rallying point for OneVoice Palestine activists, community leaders, citizens of the small village, and many news reporters who came to cover the event - and in some cases, participate as inspired Palestinian citizens.

Hundreds walked the rocky path through the small hills. Greeted with the view of numerous caves scattered around us, the excitement began to build. Some were singing, others taking photos - the rally was a fascinating experience for all involved.

Upon arrival, the massive crowd gathered around a small monument on top of the chosen  location. The monument reads: “The Peace Park, the State 194,” referring to Palestine becoming  the 194^th state in the UN. The people of the area decided that the garden will be a beacon of hope for the future state and a symbol of peace for all.

“We are proud of this accomplishment,” said Dr. Mahmoud Labadi, spokesman of the International Relations Council of Fatah and OneVoice Palestine Advisory Board member. “The [Peace Park] is a symbol of courage. It represents the Palestinian dream of  the future state and peace with all its neighbors.”

Samer Makhlouf, OVP’s executive director, expressed his gratitude to the generous people of Dar Salah and the surrounding villages. Makhlouf pointed out the individual responsibility of each citizen toward ending the occupation, achieving peace, and the role of effective public engagement in creating positive facts-on-the-ground.

The people started planting the trees after. It was a pleasant sight by many standards. The youth leaders and the villagers were working together with one vision, a state for Palestinians and a prosperous future for generations to come.

The once deserted land is no longer forgotten. The trees rise from the ashes of despair and give hope to all. People from all different backgrounds were once more reminded of their national identities and why we are supporting Palestine’s UN statehood bid, reasons why we were there that day. Our work in Dar Salah was finished for the day, but we still have a long road ahead of us.

As I walked back to our rallying point, I looked in the eyes of the people around me; they all sparked with hope and excitement. We were talking about visiting the Park in the future, only this time it will be an entire forest, with tourists from all nationalities visiting the State of Palestine. I told them I would hold on to this thought. I know the challenges ahead are great. I also know that keeping those sparks of hope will be the biggest challenge we will ever encounter, but that this is what ti will take to deliver statehood and peace.

-Wasim Masri

Watch a news segment from the Palestine News Network's (PNN) coverage of the event:

   

In Gaza, putting Palestine back on the map

OVP/Gaza's first volunteer group after completing a seminar on establishing and working within a team.

New York, October 24, 2012—Roughly two dozen twentysomethings, split evenly between men and women, gathered earlier this month at the Adam Center for Dialogue of Civilizations in Gaza City's Al-Rimal neighborhood for OneVoice Palestine's leadership development pilot program in Gaza.

The nondescript conference room in Al-Johara Tower was buzzing with chatter. The participants, handpicked by OneVoice's Gaza Director Ezzeldin Masri, differed in background, education, and politics, but shared a belief in the two-state solution. In coordination with the Adam Center, and other local civil society organizations such as Save Youth Future, OneVoice Palestine planned an intensive 36-hour training program in leadership skills and teamwork.

"Over the next couple of weeks, we're hoping to solidify these participants into the first OneVoice volunteer group in Gaza," said Masri enthusiastically. "Then, we'll support them in designing and implementing initiatives across Gaza." Their focus will be on ending the internal division in order to present a united front in negotiations with Israel.

"We cannot have 20 factions each trying to impose their vision on the people," explained Masri. "We need national consensus on how to end the occupation and the conflict, and the only pragmatic solution is the two-state solution. We must come to terms with Israel to put Palestine back on the map."

Imad al-Falouji, head of the Adam Center, joined Masri for the introductory session to the trainings, spoke about pursuing a non-violent political course to achieve an independent Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and answered questions about the Fatah-Hamas split and the power of the grassroots to effect positive change. The participants, many of them university graduates without job prospects in Gaza's crippled economy, agreed to start the program on October 11, eager to make an impact in their communities. 

Since reopening the Gaza office in late 2011, Masri led 15 informal sessions about OneVoice's mission and work, reaching a total of 350 young people. "My goal throughout," he said, "was to train young Palestinians to become moderate political leaders supportive of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a negotiated two-state solution."

While the challenges of operating under a government opposed to the two-state solution remained, successfully recruiting a core group of participants meant Masri had overcome a major hurdle. It left him confident that there was indeed space for OneVoice Palestine to operate in Gaza and as he stated, "move forward."

Mohammad Asideh wins the Generations For Peace Samsung Award for Impact

Mohammad Asideh (right) receives his award from HRH Prince Feisal Al-Hussein, Founder and Chairman of GFP.

New York, October 18, 2012 – OneVoice is proud to congratulate Mohammad Asideh, senior Youth Leader and staff member at OneVoice Palestine (OVP), for receiving the Generations For Peace Samsung Award for Impact. HRH Prince Feisal Al-Hussein of Jordan, Founder and Chairman of GFP, was on hand to personally honor Mohammad for his dedication and hard work at the October 13th gala. 

Mohammad was singled out for “his own personal journey of change with Generations For Peace [and his] extraordinary impact, training 300 leaders of youth and involving more than 3,500 children in five cities in the West Bank,” according to GFP.

Arabic-language news site alwatanvoice.com notes Mohammad “honored the efforts of the Palestinian youth for standing against the occupation while building their independent state at peace with its neighbors, regardless of the political, economic, and social challenges.” 

Mohammad’s commitment to youth mobilization and outreach in the West Bank as an OVP leader and a GFP volunteer is a testament to his strong, nationalistic commitment and drive to better his community and build a brighter future for the people of Palestine. Mohammad’s devotion is as an example for all of us and a reminder of what true leadership is all about.

Hear what Mohammad had to say. Video by Generations For Peace.

To read more about Mohammad and his work with OVP and GFP, take a look at the links below:

Mohammad Asideh Gets Practical to Build for the Future

OneVoice trainees of Generations For Peace spark community action

Sport: The Missing Link to Conflict Resolution

IEP Spotlight: Mohammad Asideh devotes civic service to Palestine's future generations

 

IEP’s New England tour kicks-off U.S. election-themed semester, Part 1

Adva Vilchinski (far right) of OneVoice Israel explains to Middlebury College students her role in ending the conflict.

New York, September 25, 2012 – Professor Tamar Mayer believes that the world lives in the “seventh day” of the 1967 or Six-Day War, and will continue to unless something is done to change the dynamic.

“The majority of the population on each side [of the conflict] has been born into this unacceptable status quo,” said Mayer, director of the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs at Middlebury College. “And it is wholly appropriate that those who were born during the “seventh day” of the 1967 War lead [the change]. Our guests today fit this bill.”

Middlebury was just one of the many stops in the first tour of the International Engagement Program’s(IEP) fall semester. Staff members Adva Vilchinski of OneVoice Israel (OVI) and Ahmad Omeir of OneVoice Palestine (OVP) told over 800 New England participants – from schools to community members – that Americans can support their efforts on the ground while helping impact American foreign policy and help achieve Middle East peace.

From Sept. 10-13, Adva and Ahmad explained that Americans can play an important role in solving this conflict by participating in IEP’s “call to action,” which pressures the presidential candidates to put the conflict high on the agenda when one of them is elected.

The tour started with a visit to Middlebury and then Dartmouth College on the first day, followed by a Middle East Politics class at UMass-Lowell and a J Street event at Eitz Chayim Synagogue on day two.

“We believe at OneVoice Israel that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not something which belongs to the left or right,” Adva said when asked about partisanship during the Dartmouth event. “It's something for all the people because ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is good for all Israelis no matter how you vote.”

Ahmad told audience members that the US has a continued role to play in reviving the two-state solution.

“When you try to work with change, and try to bring change into [Palestinian] society, it’s a long and difficult process,” said Ahmad. “You need to mobilize people. You’re shocking people out of their apathy, out of their despair and skepticism…by trying to show them that by creating positive facts, by getting them invested personally, that there is chance to actually achieve that solution. [And] what we need from the moderator [the US] is to be honest and neutral and help us have the right environment to move forward with the negotiations in a limited timeframe.”

Throughout the events, Adva offered her experiences in activist mobilization, outreach, and countering the pro-settlement expansion agenda, while Ahmad spoke about what a successful two-state solution needs: an end to the occupation and of all final status issues based on international resolutions, along with the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Adva and Ahmad’s message was not lost on the days’ participants, but rather echoed and enhanced early and often.

Professor Mayer told the Middlebury audience that Adva, Ahmad, and their OneVoice peers “are engaged in peace and consensus-building efforts, working within their national communities to end the conflict.”

“They are committed to a two-state solution based on the June 4th, 1967 lines that will guarantee an end to the occupation,” she said. “They are Israeli and Palestinian activists who have dedicated themselves to working towards change and a better future for their societies.”