Dear TalkMatters Supporters,
Four years on and we are ready to expand. Can you help to find the right people to take us forwards?
TalkMatters is now four years old and we are ready to expand. We have proved we can do it and know our work is important and that the task is clear. In Israel-Palestine our goal is to enable more and more Arabs and Jews to talk to each other. The initiatives that TalkMatters supports are essential if there is to be an eventual resolution to the on-going divide between the two Peoples. Today’s update on the overnight grenade attack on the Abraham Initiatives’ office in Israel sadly highlights this divide.
In the UK our goal is less horrific but more complicated. Sadly since October 7th, we have imported the tragic consequences taking place in Israel and Gaza onto our streets here. People siding with one side of the conflict stressing their rights and their needs without listening to the other. Tribalism at work. And yes, of course it’s ok to belong to a tribe, to have a strong identity but let’s hear the moderate voices too. The one that does not ‘cancel’ the other’s narrative, the one that knows that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter, the one that can hold up their hands and say ‘I understand that the situation is complicated, I am beginning to understand your suffering, will you try to understand mine?’.
Again, the task is clear. We believe the best way forward is for more of the UK public to meet Palestinians and Israelis, to learn about their everyday lives and concerns and to support the initiatives that bring them together. To do this we need people with the appropriate professional skills to be involved. To find them we need financial support. Can you please think of anyone you know who may be interested in such an investment? Or of someone who might introduce us to interested individuals or trusts?
Latest News
This weekend we are joining our old friends Rav Hanan and Noor Awad from Roots. TalkMatters and the Muswell Hill Synagogue in London hosted Roots a while back. Here’s another chance to catch up with the latest thinking of a Palestinian and an Israeli both living in the West Bank. Details below.
We have updates on the Hand in Hand Schools and the Abraham Initiatives
And finally a real sign of the times. It is with deep regret that we are cancelling our October Interfaith Trip to Neve Shalom~Wahat al Salam. The Foreign Office have confirmed that the ongoing war allows for essential travel only. Thank you to everyone who wanted to come – the list was longer than ever – and we hope to be in touch again when the time is right.
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Join us for an interactive webinar this Sunday
This summer the Israeli Palestinian Confederation (IPC) has a series of webinars in the form of simulations of their confederation concept, with open discussions on major issues.
The series starts on Sunday 21 July with a discussion on whether Antizionism equals Antisemitism – and the free registration is now open. If you’d like to join us on Zoom (17:00 UK time, 19:00 Jerusalem time), please register now: you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Roots, a longstanding TalkMatters-supported organisation, has been invited by IPC to take part in the discussions on Sunday. You may remember both Rav Hanan and Noor Awad from one of our own webinars with Roots. Both Hanan and Noor will be speaking on Sunday – we’re expecting an interesting and robust discussion. Please join us!
Speakers:
Hanan Schlesinger is an orthodox Zionist Rabbi who resides in Alon Shvut, located in area C of the West Bank. He moved to Israel from N.Y when he was 20 years old and served in the IDF. He believes that both Palestinians and Israelis have an equal connection to the land and should coexist as equals.
Noor Awad is a Palestinian activist who organizes joint Palestinian-Israeli activities and speaks to visiting groups about his personal experiences and the collective tragedies resulting from the conflict. Noor believes that peace is achievable by recognizing the shared humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians while fully acknowledging each side’s identity.
About Roots
Roots is a particularly interesting initiative because it demonstrates co-operation between Israeli settlers and Palestinians. Based in the Gush Etzion-Bethlehem-Hebron area, Roots works to advance the two peoples towards a new social and political reality founded upon dignity, trust, and mutual recognition and respect for both peoples’ particular historic belonging to the entire land.
Registration
Please register via Zoom here
Date and time
Sunday 21 July 2024
17:00 UK time
19:00 Jerusalem time
Roots is in our directory have their own website and joined TalkMatters for a webinar in March 2021. Details of how you can donate to help support their work on this page on their website.
Hand in Hand Schools
Update from Hand in Hand Schools
We continue to count the weeks of war for a simple reason: keeping our institutions knit together this year has been a profoundly complex endeavor and every week is a success that we don’t take for granted. While so much hurt and irreconcilable perspectives flooded through society, our Hand in Hand kids and adults still found a way to show up each morning ready to create an alternative reality.
The truth is that we also faced incredibly difficult moments along the way. But there were so many more moments driven by greater values and a shared vision of safety, respect, equality, and hope. It’s a future that we all deserve and a path we know is possible because we walk it every day—even through months of war. Thank you for joining us on this journey.
In our last email we congratulated Hand in Hand’s newest 12th grade graduates, and now we wish mazal tov-mabrook to 181 new elementary school graduates from across our network. Congratulations to all the students, staff, and families! They stayed steadfast through an impossibly tough year, and we are inspired by them all.
Thank you for being a part of the extended Hand in Hand family! We are so grateful for all the support we receive from friends around the world. Please click here to make a donation today or any time. Thank you!
Our social media accounts remain dedicated to amplifying messages of friendship and hope during these hard times. Follow (and share) for some inspiration too!
Hand in Hand’s Facebook account can be found here.
Hand in Hand’s Instagram account can be found here.
Some recent highlights:
Mulberry picking on the HIH Galilee campus, because life is sweeter together.
But we aren’t being trite—friendships that cross the divide are hard-earned and sweeter for it. Especially when the divides are this deep, we have to build even stronger bridges. Last month, rockets came way too close to our precious HIH Galilee school, and students and teachers had to run into shelters.
No one is safe until we’re all safe, and children everywhere deserve better.
Let’s meet soon under the mulberry tree 💛
HIH Jerusalem’s choir and band went on tour, and the tickets were pretty exclusive – you actually had to be at another Hand in Hand school to see the show. But lucky for the rest of us, we’ve got a highlight reel of this two-day tour. Enjoy!
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!
We’ll see these precious clowns again in September, and hope they have an amazing vacation. While we’re at it, we wish all kids a great summer! And moments of hope and joy to the ones who needs it most.
The Hand in Hand Schools are in our directory They have their own website and there are details of how you can donate to help support their work on this page of their website.
The Abraham Initiatives
News from Abraham Initiatives
Last month we published an update on the Abraham Initiatives that focussed on four areas of their work including Strengthening Civil Society in Ramla, and Countering Racism and Extremism in Schools. Sadly just as you received this update, their office in Israel was damaged by an overnight grenade attack. Here is Director of International Development, Jimmy Taber’s response to the many messages of support received from friends all over the world.
Although we still do not know whether The Abraham Initiatives or a neighboring business was the target, it seems increasingly likely the perpetrators are connected to organized crime. The city of Lod, where our office is located, has experienced an uptick in such activity in recent years. The police have not adequately protected the population, and we fear little progress will be made in this investigation.
The Abraham Initiatives has years of experience working with community leaders, municipalities, and the national government to combat the malign influence of organized crime plaguing Arab communities. We have known too many victims and their families, and our staff members in the field have faced threats in the past. The status quo of impunity for these criminal groups is intolerable.
We are not strangers to this sort of violence, but the communities worst affected endure such horrors almost every day. Youths are coerced into joining crime groups, business owners are threatened into paying protection payments, and parents worry about their children getting caught in the crossfire. Last year was the deadliest year on record in Arab communities in Israel, and this year is on track to be worse.
It is clear that this Israeli government, and especially National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has no interest in doing what it takes to protect Palestinian citizens of Israel. But we can’t wait for a new government, as urgently as it may be needed, to address this emergency.
We are ramping up our efforts to support Arab communities in combating crime and violence, and we need your help.
Due to the government’s neglect, we must act now—and we are:
- We are evaluating the government’s activities, including working with our partners in the Knesset and the State Comptroller’s Office. Israel’s previous coalition government committed billions of shekels to fighting violent crime in cooperation with Arab communities. These commitments are still binding, and our staff—in collaboration with the Citizen Empowerment Center in Israel—have monitored implementation of these commitments, following up where we have noticed deficiencies;
- In the absence of cooperation from the national government, we are working assiduously on the local level to provide support, resources, and guidance to mayors, municipalities, and local activists who are filling the void and protecting their communities;
- We are raising awareness of the issue, ensuring the crisis of violence in Arab communities is not normalized. We also launched a public advertising campaigns in Arab communities urging youths and others to resolve differences peacefully and avoid the involvement of gangs and organized crime groups;
- We continue to operate Personal Security Courses, which connect residents to life-saving public services. Since October 7th, this has included an extensive partnership with IDF Home Front Command to assist residents in planning for rocket attacks and similar dangers resulting from the war in Gaza. Outreach volunteers include youths previously ensnared in organized crime and the criminal justice system.
The current coalition has done much to sow distrust between Arab citizens and the government. The Abraham Initiatives cannot change the government, but we can serve as a crucial bridge between public servants interested in helping all citizens and the communities themselves, with whom we have worked for decades. At the same time, we continue to call out and publicize the national government’s shameful neglect of Arab communities, which was bad before October 7th and has gotten worse since.
The damage done to our office will be fixed in due course, but it is a reminder of what is at stake in building a shared society in Israel. It is not only about imagining a better future but saving lives today. We hope you will join us.
The Abraham Initiatives are in our directory have their own website and joined TalkMatters at a live event last year . There are details of how you can donate to help support their work on this page of their website.
Please pass on this information
Please pass on this information to your friends and colleagues. Please talk about the human stories that we share with you. In the horrendous circumstances we all find ourselves, TalkMatters continues to introduce the UK public to the people who refuse to see one another as enemies. We believe in supporting the grass-roots work in Israel and Palestine and we know that it is only by working together with you – our UK supporters – and with our Israeli-Palestinian Associates that we can ever walk another path. A path that leads to a future of peace, justice and equality for everyone.
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Thank you for your support.
Jenny and the TalkMatters Team.