“What a model for the rest of us, for the rest of the planet, of how we can resolve conflicts.” –Richard Gere The 16th Annual Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony is tomorrow! Join us– register now to attend. Co-hosted by Combatants for Peace and Parents Circle – Families Forum, our online Ceremony brings Palestinians and … Continue reading Stand for peace tomorrow

Webinar Recording available Asking the Hard Questions Preparing for the Joint Memorial Day Ceremony https://youtu.be/p_xj25VTllo Get a behind the scenes look into the challenging questions and sensitivities that go into putting together the Joint Memorial Day Ceremony.  We’ll ask our Parents Circle members and Combatants for Peace activists the burning issues they face when organizing … Continue reading WEBINAR — Asking the Hard Questions: Preparing for the Joint Memorial Day Ceremony

https://youtu.be/r-ZMFR84Z04 “I choose to dedicate this flower to every bereaved mother that has lost her child.”–Muna Abu Sarah, bereaved Palestinian mother of Khaled To mark International Women’s Day, bereaved Israeli and Palestinian women created a book of pressed flowers of hope for U.S. VP Kamala Harris to commemorate the loss of their 24 children, sisters, … Continue reading Flowers of Hope on International Women’s Day

Meet Israeli, Itai Horowitz and Palestinian, Aisha Alfaris, the Parents Circle’s Board of Directors Chairperson and Vice Chair. “Tell us a little about yourselves.” Itai: My family and I live in Tel Aviv. My father, Shmuel, was killed in an attack on a bus traveling to Egypt in 1990. I became an active member of … Continue reading Meet Itai and Aisha

“When this tree grows up, I hope that the conflict will have ended and we will live in peace together.” –Ilham Bahar, bereaved Palestinian mother Today is Tu B’shvat, the Jewish holiday of ecological awareness. The bereaved Palestinian and Israeli members of the Parents Circle marked this day by planting 20 olive trees, both in … Continue reading 20 trees for 20 lives lost to the conflict

Changing Minds One Heart at a Time Shiri Ourian  Executive Director American Friends of the Parents Circle – Families Forum This article was published in the Winter 2020 edition of Perspectives: The Magazine of Promised Land Museum. Some have called it the saddest—and most optimistic—organization. Its own leadership says it’s the only organization that doesn’t … Continue reading Changing Minds, One Heart at a Time | Shiri Ourian

RECORDING AVAILABLE WEBINAR: The Values Behind Vaccines COVID-19 & Access to Vaccines in Israel & Palestine Monday, January 25th Hear from Israel’s leading human rights attorney, Michael Sfard; Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Ran Goldstein, and bereaved Israeli and Palestinian mothers and spokespersons, Robi Damelin and Layla Alsheikh, to get a better … Continue reading WEBINAR RECORDING: The Values Behind Vaccines

The Parents Circle has accomplished so much this year in the face of COVID-19, without permits and in the absence of political progress for peace.  Take a look back on 2020: On Tour with Award-Winning Apeirogon: In February, 2020, Colum McCann’s critically-acclaimed novel, Apeirogon was published and shortly thereafter, Stephen Spielberg purchased the film rights. The story is inspired by the real-life friendship … Continue reading What you helped us accomplish in 2020 for peace

by Robi Damelin  Bereaved Israeli mother  Parents Circle – Families Forum  The people of Israel were recently made aware of the fact that since April 2016, the country has been holding the remains of 68 Palestinians – a statistic provided by the B’Tselem human rights group. It seems that Israel’s government believes these remains could … Continue reading Ending the circle of grief | Robi Damelin

Five years ago I climbed a staircase in Beit Jala in the West Bank. I walked into a room where I met two men who, in the course of an hour, told a story which cleaved open my tired heart.   Rami, Colum, and Bassam Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan told me the story of the life … Continue reading Colum McCann: The ruin of the heart is when we do nothing. Do something today.