Dear Friends,
I am writing to you on my flight home from Israel and Palestine, thinking about my brief visit to the Gaza envelope this past week on the Parents Circle’s Narrative Study Tour.
On Monday, while the Trump administration opened the new embassy in Jerusalem and Naqba Day neared, our board members and supporters stood overlooking Gaza as a single plume of smoke rose and the sounds of bullets could be heard in the distance.
As the cloud thickened and the smell of tear gas wafted, the death toll climbed into the night nearing 60 more bereaved families. Sixty more families lost a father, son or brother. Sixty more families left in pain from the endless cycle of bloodshed.
Despite devastation and anger on both sides for the needless deaths, there is more work to be done. The next day, our members were at Dialogue Meetings in an Israeli school, Parents Circle sponsored protests and demonstrations in Tel Aviv and Bethlehem with one clear message: End the Violence.
This Friday, the Parents Circle is leading a protest in the Gaza envelope to demand a cessation of the violence in the Strip and to show solidarity with those living in the Gaza envelope.
Stand with us for respect for life on both sides of the fence. Help change minds one heart at a time.
Take care,
Shiri Ourian
Executive Director
American Friends of the Parents Circle
