Robi Damelin and Layla Alsheikh, who each lost a son in the decades’ long conflict, are involved with Parents Circle, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization made up of more than 700 bereaved families.

It is natural during war for opposing forces to hate each other whether they are combatants or not. But there are always exceptions – people who realize that war and its accompanying traumas seldom offer positive solutions

In the face of deep-seated conflict, particularly one as longstanding and bitter as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many would assume that reconciliation is a distant hope, if not entirely impossible. But there exists a beacon of hope in the form of the Parents Circle.

It’s one thing for Jews and Palestinians who have lost loved ones at each other’s hands to come together and seek a path to peace when things are relatively quiet, but it’s a much more difficult exercise during wartime.

“When you lose a child, at the same time, you also lose your fear. You no longer fear anything.”

The man has the right to defend himself, not to occupy, says Palestinian Basam Aramin, a Muslim and a Peace activist in the Peace Fighters Movement , the main character in two documentaries and a novel.

This week, we hear from our dear friend Robi Damelin, who is a peacemaker, internationally renowned speaker, and mother.