A new educational program promotes empathy through stories of shared humanity

At the beginning of the month, an internal Education Ministry committee convened to consider whether to restore the Parents Circle – Families Forum, an Israeli-Palestinian group of bereaved parents, to the ministry’s database of approved outside providers to schools.

Israel’s Education Ministry has once again barred the Parents Circle – Families Forum, a joint Israeli-Palestinian group of bereaved parents, from inclusion in its database of organizations authorized to provide outside programming for schools.

The organizers of a recent six-day peace march from Shfaram to the Gaza border, that drew much smaller crowds than the previous peace event by the It’s Time movement, refuse to despair.

Georgetown has partnered with an organization of bereaved Israelis and Palestinian families to produce a program that fosters meaningful dialogue about the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Amid conflict, regardless of the root of that conflict, respect and dialogue are fundamental steps toward a peaceful future.

Layla Alsheikh is a Writer and Activist, and member of The PCFF. Robi Damelin is the Spokesperson & International Relations Manager of The PCFF.

We, who all lost loved ones in Hamas’ vicious assault, know the feelings of anger and pain that could push individuals towards acts of revenge.

The Heat: Middle East Conflict CGTN Layla Alsheikh is a Writer and Activist, and member of The PCFF. Robi Damelin is the Spokesperson & International Relations Manager of The PCFF.

Meet two peacemakers who will not let their voices be drowned out by the Oct.7 massacre or the death and destruction of the Israel-Gaza War.

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.

It would be a good idea to award the prize to an organization or person who, despite current developments, is working towards understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.

Amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Parent Circle NGO unites bereaved families from both sides, fostering reconciliation through shared grief.

Magen Inon’s world turned upside down when both his parents were killed by Hamas in the horrific October 7 attack. Now, he’s focused on changing reality and calling for an imminent ceasefire.

I’ve found a political reawakening, and learned that the only way this will end is if we turn our enemies into our partners

As conflict escalates across the Middle East, I met two Londoners – one Israeli and one Palestinian – who shared with me their grief and trauma and thoughts for the future, one year on.

“Palestinians and Jews who want peace, security, freedom, justice, and self-determination, who are fighting for a better life and for peace. We need to listen to their voices. These are our allies. They have shown us a path forward.”

Yonatan Zeigen has taken up his mother’s cause of ending conflict between Israelis and Palestinians

author Colum McCann speaks to friends from two sides of the bitter Israeli-Palestinian divide

Two of his close friends, one Israeli, one Palestinian, both lost daughters to violence years ago and have bonded together in their shared pain and desire to help create positive change.

Magen Inon lost both his parents Bilha and Yakov in the Oct 7th massacre, and was given a standing ovation after speaking at the conference in Brighton

‘It’s really difficult to talk to your occupier, or your enemy, or your jailer’, says a Palestinian member of the Parents Circle-Families Forum; ‘I am here to learn,’ says an Israeli teen

Join us to hear from a group of individuals profoundly affected by the conflict as they share their stories of loss and their unwavering belief in our shared humanity.

The photos of Abir and Smadar are projected on the stage at the Rimini Meeting. These two young girls resemble each other in the freshness of their youth, both with tied back hair and deep gazes.

In defiance of a Jerusalem District Court order, Israel’s Education Ministry has frozen a ‘Dialogue Encounters’ program run by an organization that brings together bereaved Palestinian and Israeli families

Two daughters die in the Middle East conflict. Their fathers Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan are examples of how to find a future perspective. They speak with Udy Levy at the Goetheanum about conflict, grief, solidarity and peace.

As the Rimini Meeting draws to a close, Rami Elhanan, an Israeli, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, share their stories of losing their daughters in the decades-long conflict in the Holy Land, calling for reconciliation to transcend the war between Israel and Hamas.

The Irish author Colum McCann participated in the meeting together with the protagonists of his book “Apeirogon”

Yasmeen Eshtaya is a Palestinian teacher whose life has been deeply affected by the brutal violence of the Israeli state. But she is committed to reconciliation and forming bonds through teaching Arabic

Despite opposition, a group of Palestinian and Israeli teens have recently come together in Cyprus on a mission for peace and reconciliation.

The AFT has partnered with Parents Circle to launch the program, which will be available for free to all public school educators.

It is not naive to know that the only route to justice and equality is peace.

Eetta Prince-Gibson explores how Combatants for Peace and the Parents’ Circle are mourning for Israelis and Palestinians amid the war.

More than 4,000 young people and families have joined the March for Peace, 1,500 people participated in the three-day event, 400 attended panels and workshops, and 200 children took part in the Peace Citadel.

Sunday May 12 from Jerusalem a sliver of hope streamed through the world from the U.S.to Australia even Afghanistan–who knew there were Jews there?

As the conflict in Gaza continues, reconciliation may seem a distant dream, but on both sides there are those working for peace

The common stage for the re-telling of their stories is the 19th annual joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony. The ceremony consists of story-telling and singing in Hebrew and Arabic.

The 19th annual joint Memorial Day ceremony, presented Sunday at the start of Israel’s national day of honoring fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of attacks, offered an alternative commemoration of both Israeli and Palestinian victims.

Last month, the Jerusalem District Court ordered the Israeli government to allow the ‘Parents Circle – Families Forum’ to continue holding meetings between students and Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families, but the Education Ministry refrained from doing so until now

Bereaved Israelis and Palestinians have come together to hold a joint Memorial Day ceremony and call for a “different future” for those in the region.

A memorial event that was a narrow glimpse through a window that needs to be opened, to a different reality for the people of both Israel and Palestine

In a day of great pain, and for many more than ever before, of personal grief, hundreds of Israelis, Jews and Palestinians, and others touched by the conflict across the world, attended a joint ceremony from Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle — Families Forum.

Amid war and lack of entry permits for Palestinians, controversial annual event is pre-recorded and livestreamed; Gazan who lost 60 relatives says all wanted to ‘live in freedom’