{"id":319,"date":"2024-06-26T20:41:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T20:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/?page_id=319"},"modified":"2024-07-19T11:24:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T11:24:24","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-514 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Picture10.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Picture10.png 1000w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Picture10-300x195.png 300w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Picture10-768x499.png 768w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Picture10-100x65.png 100w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Picture10-600x390.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Parents Circle &#8211; Families Forum<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theparentscircle.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parents Circle &#8211; Families Forum<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (PCFF) is a joint Israeli and Palestinian organization made up of more than 700 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families, all of whom have lost a loved one to the ongoing violence in the region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Motivated by the profound depth of their pain, the PCFF members have committed to do everything they can to work towards reconciliation and peace. They recognize that the grief they experience is shared across humanity.\u00a0 The willingness to transform feelings of anger, revenge, despair, and helplessness is expressed in the choice to act for hope and reconciliation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since its inception in 1995, the PCFF has been organizing <\/span><b>Personal Narrative Exchanges<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Israel, Palestine, and all over the world.\u00a0 During these sessions,\u00a0 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian PCFF members share their personal stories of loss and engage in an open and genuine discussion with participants, modeling dialogue and reconciliation. By standing and speaking together, the PCFF members, who have paid the highest price, demonstrate how it is possible to transform feelings of anger and revenge into dialogue, hope, and reconciliation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PCFF members engage in respectful and empathetic discussion about each other&#8217;s pain in order to contribute to the creation of a framework for reconciliation and dialogue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The PCFF does not belong to and does not represent any political body. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The PCFF is a non-political organization for peace and cautions against importing the conflict into the United states for several reasons.\u00a0 First, importing the conflict can exacerbate tensions between community groups in the U.S., leading to strained relations and deep polarization. Second, the complex history and nature of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be oversimplified or misrepresented in the U.S., leading to misinformed opinions. Third, the polarization around this issue can contribute to a rise in hate crimes and discrimination against certain communities, particularly Jewish and Muslim populations. Finally, the internal division can affect U.S. foreign policy, making it challenging to play a constructive role in international efforts for peace in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-515\" src=\"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stefan-Loeber-\u00a9-20140906-I-WB-Parents-Circle-Treffen-0476.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stefan-Loeber-\u00a9-20140906-I-WB-Parents-Circle-Treffen-0476.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stefan-Loeber-\u00a9-20140906-I-WB-Parents-Circle-Treffen-0476-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stefan-Loeber-\u00a9-20140906-I-WB-Parents-Circle-Treffen-0476-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stefan-Loeber-\u00a9-20140906-I-WB-Parents-Circle-Treffen-0476-100x67.jpg 100w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stefan-Loeber-\u00a9-20140906-I-WB-Parents-Circle-Treffen-0476-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stefan-Loeber-\u00a9-20140906-I-WB-Parents-Circle-Treffen-0476-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>American Friends of the Parents Circle &#8211; Families Forum<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parentscirclefriends.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Friends of the PCFF<\/a> shares the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the American public to foster peace and reconciliation. The Listening from the Heart Program, designed for contexts outside of Palestine and Israel, uses pre-recorded videos and activities. Originally used in Israeli and Palestinian schools and communities, this program allows facilitators to access materials online and lead sessions in person, online, or in a hybrid format. The program offers flexibility, allowing facilitators to choose between activities.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Listening from the Heart <\/em>Advisory Council<\/h2>\n<p>Jack DeGioia, <em>President, Georgetown University<\/em><br \/>\nMary Zients, <em>Board Chair, Urban Alliance<\/em><br \/>\nRandi Weingarten, <em>President, American Federation of Teachers<\/em><br \/>\nDavid Meyer, <em>Director, UCLA Initiative to Study Hate<\/em><br \/>\nRaja Khouri, <em>Curator, Khouri Communications<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Parents Circle &#8211; Families Forum The Parents Circle &#8211; Families Forum (PCFF) is a joint Israeli and Palestinian organization made up of more than 700 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families, all of whom have lost a loved one to the ongoing violence in the region.\u00a0 Motivated by the profound depth of their pain, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-319","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentscirclefriends.org\/listening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}