What’s New

We won’t be pawns in Kushner’s plan

We are livid! In case you missed it, the Trump administration’s economic plan for peace uses photos of our bereaved members in its online publication. Those photos were part of our project in partnership with USAID for 10 years. The project promoted dialogue and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Then USAID funds were cut. The program could no longer … Continue reading We won’t be pawns in Kushner’s plan

We Bereaved Israeli and Palestinian Parents Will Not Be Pawns in Kushner’s Peace Plan

The White House cut our funding — but now they use our photos to promote their ‘Economy First’ plan for Mideast peace by Robi Damelin Bereaved mother and Israeli spokesperson, the Parents Circle Families Forum Published on Haaretz.com June 23, 2019 7:39 PM A Palestinian woman holding a sign reading “Down with the Bahrain conference” … Continue reading We Bereaved Israeli and Palestinian Parents Will Not Be Pawns in Kushner’s Peace Plan

This Bill will give you hope

American Friends of the Parents Circle is pleased to endorse the bipartisan introduction of The Partnership Fund for Peace Act of 2019.  If enacted, it will improve economic cooperation with Palestinians and people-to-people dialogue. It will help build reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Parents Circle members Robi Damelin (left; bereaved Israeli mother) and Mazen Faraj (right; bereaved Palestinian son) speaking before US Congress earlier this year The Bill … Continue reading This Bill will give you hope

A visit to the unrecognized villages in the Negev

By Yuval, a graduate of the Narrative Group for Medical ProfessionalsIn April, a group of Israelis and Palestinians, members of the Parents Circle – Families Forum and graduates of the Narrative Project, toured three unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev. The tour was led by Yaela Raanan, a member of the Council of Unrecognized Villages, who … Continue reading A visit to the unrecognized villages in the Negev

Sharing Memories

Bereaved Israeli and Palestinian members of the Parents Circle – Families Forum share memories of the loved ones they’ve lost. Join them and Combatants for Peace on May 7th for the 2019 Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony in Tel Aviv. The ceremony will be broadcast live online, and events are happening across the US to watch … Continue reading Sharing Memories

Finally, good news from Israel and Palestine

Today the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled to allow 100 Palestinians to attend tomorrow’s Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony in Tel Aviv, overturning the government’s decision last week to block entry permits. “There are 99 ways to commemorate the dead,” the court wrote in its ruling, “Ninety-nine ways to express grief.” The High Court’s ruling is a decisive victory for … Continue reading Finally, good news from Israel and Palestine

Yesterday’s attack on the peace movement and Israel’s democracy

Yesterday, the Israeli government blocked the entry permits for the 181 Palestinians invited to attend the 2019 Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony on May 7th. This rash decision is a clear attack on the peace movement, and seeks only to deepen the divides that separate Israeli and Palestinian society– but we will not give up. Last year, Combatants for … Continue reading Yesterday’s attack on the peace movement and Israel’s democracy

“Let us work together to end the cycle of bereavement.”

Last Friday, on International Women’s Day, bereaved Israeli and Palestinian women from the Parents Circle marched together in silence in Tel Aviv. They handed out flowers to women along the march, with notes reading, “It is better to give flowers to living people than putting them on their graves.” We march together today, on International Women’s Day, … Continue reading “Let us work together to end the cycle of bereavement.”