Greetings



Please mark your calendar for our upcoming installment of Gathering Voices next Thursday, July 30 at 4 pm ET, featuring Nancy Mansour, Executive Director of Eyewitness Palestine, and Joe Groves, coordinator of FOR's Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) program from which Eyewitness Palestine evolved into its own independent organization. We will also be joined by Georgia 42nd District Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, who recently participated in an Eyewitness Palestine delegation and has been speaking out about what he witnessed.

Joe will first discuss the origins and evolution of FOR's IFPB program into Eyewitness Palestine, and how it was designed to send delegations to Israel/Palestine to bear witness, learn and promote nonviolent solutions, while focusing on educating U.S. citizens through on-the-ground experiences of Palestinian life under occupation and apartheid. Nancy, as the Executive Director of Eyewitness Palestine, will then discuss recent delegations to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, as well as powerful and impactful delegations planned for the future. The program will culminate with reflections by Rep. Sanchez on his experiences during a recent Eyewitness Palestine delegation and how that has impacted his policymaking in Georgia and beyond.

Please RSVP here to reserve your seat and join us live on Zoom for this engaging conversation next Thursday! 

Joe Groves has been active in Middle East peace issues for 60 years, including with FOR since 1990. In 2001, FOR hired him to lead its Interfaith Peace-Builders program. He directed IFPB until 2011, both as an FOR program and after it became an independent non-profit. He continued to work with IFPB and then Eyewitness Palestine as a delegation planner, Senior Adviser, and Board member until 2025.

He has also worked with the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Nonviolence International, the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Friends of the Tent of Nations, Voices for Justice in Palestine, and other organizations on the Middle East. Dr. Groves taught Peace and Conflict Studies and Religious Studies at Guilford College and International Peace and Conflict Studies at American University. He lived in Iraq from 1966-69, has traveled extensively in the Middle East, and has led several delegations to Palestine. He currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Born in the UK to Palestinian parents, Nancy Mansour was raised and educated in South London, where she studied Business, Finance, and Management.

After moving to New York in her early 20s, she pursued a career in entertainment as a radio and event host for over 13 years and managed various artists in the music industry. During this time, she worked in the Hospitality and Healthcare industries, most recently at the Center for Innovation in Mental Health at the School of Public Health at CUNY.

In 2009, Nancy co-founded Existence Is Resistance: a grassroots, not for profit, voluntary organization that took numerous delegations to Palestine/48 and Gaza, conducting workshops with children in refugee camps as well as organizing hundreds of events and conferences in the U.S. and Europe. She has worked with and built strong ties with various movements across the board and on the ground in Palestine. Nancy is Co-Executive on produced documentaries, including Hip Hop is Bigger than the Occupation and soon-to-be released Black in the Holy Land. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Eyewitness Palestine.

From Rep. Gabriel Sanchez's website: 

I’m Gabriel Sanchez, your Representative for [Georgia] House District 42. I represent Smyrna, Cumberland, and parts of South Marietta. I was born and raised in Cobb County to Colombian immigrants striving for a better future. I currently live in Smyrna with my partner Anna, our dog Winston, and our cat Kiki. 

I’m a long-time community organizer and advocate for working people, and I’m here to fight for you and your loved ones in the Georgia State House.


I was raised in Cobb County by an immigrant family who taught me to fight for myself and for my community. It’s our responsibility to look out for each other. I believe in what we can accomplish together, and I am honored to serve our community as your Representative in House District 42. As the first Democratic Socialist member elected to the Georgia General Assembly, I see it as an honor to take the fight for working families in my district to the state capitol every single day.