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Save the Date
for the Chicago Annual Gala
Sunday,
May 6, 2018
at the Chicago Botanic Gardens
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Important Dates to Remember:
2018 Summer Program Dates are
July 11, 2018 - July 30, 2018
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Executive Director Update
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A moment of "thanks"
As the calendar races toward the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, I want to thank you for the positive impact you are having on young people, on your communities, and on the possibilities for peace. Everyday our wonderful volunteer communities in San Diego, Chicago -- alumni, host families, event committee members, Leadership Councils and Board members -- are working together to provide young leaders with the opportunity to better understand themselves, their peers and the narratives that bind them.
We recognize that expanded programs in the Middle East are absolutely necessary to help "Hands" hold onto what they learned about themselves and others in the Summer Program. Our alumni are taking the lead by digging deeper into dialogue and broadening out into community action (see report below on the October Middle East Seminar that you made possible).
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Hands of Peace News and Updates
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Double the Good on #Giving Tuesday
This time of year, as we become inundated with ads about shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday (Nov. 28) lets you give back to your community and causes. Through social media, Hands of Peace will make it easy for you to encourage your friends to make a gift that can qualify us for matching funds from the Gates Foundation! Keep an eye out for a separate email that will explain how you can double the good on #GivingTuesday.
#GivingTuesday will kick off our year-end campaign, which will arrive in your mailbox soon. Your generous gift will bring together Palestinian, Israeli and American teens during summer dialogue programs in Chicago and San Diego, and build on this transformative experience with alumni seminars and leadership development in the Middle East and in the U.S. Thank you for walking with over 500 alumni along the path to peace!
Recruitment for 2017 Summer Program
We are currently scheduling host family and participant recruitment outreach at all sites. If you'd like someone to speak to your class or group, please contact Jewish Israeli Regional Manager
Amit Caraco, Palestinian Regional Manager
Hoda Barakat, Palestinian Citizen of Israel Regional Manager
Rana Haddad, San Diego Site Director
Sarah Heirendt, or
Chicago Site Director
Rhonda McCarty.
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Middle East Updates
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Another seminar record! In October
, more than 70 alumni descended on a small village in northern Israel for our Fall Seminar. For "Hands" from the Chicago and San Diego summer programs in July 2017, it was their first chance to reconnect with their dialogue partners from the summer and was their introduction to the broader Hands of Peace community in Israel/Palestine. More than 80% of our alumni from 2017 and 2016 attended, a remarkable turnout given their busy extracurricular and exam schedules.
During the seminar, younger alumni participated in a multi-narrative tour of the Mediterranean city of Akko, learning about the city's complex past from historic sites. These alumni from 2015/16/17 also heard a lecture from a Tel Aviv University professor on the First Intifada from a Jewish Israeli perspective, and watched an Al Jazeera film on the First Intifada with a Palestinian perspective. The alumni had three dialogue sessions where they had opportunities to reconnect and explore different topics related to the programming, and their own stories and narratives.
Meanwhile, the older alumni up to 2014 had a smaller, more personalized tour of the predominantly Druze village of Pki'in by a guide affiliated with EcoPeace, an NGO focused on water diplomacy between Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians. The guide showed the group the water resource issues in the village, and then led a mini-negotiation exercise to challenge the alumni to work creatively toward a solution in a water-related case study. The first day concluded with a formal presentation from EcoPeace followed by dialogue.
The next day, alumni talked with staff about their visions for older alumni involvement in the future (see Executive Director column), and concluded with a commitment to continue to work together in the months ahead to see their vision become reality.
Nearly 100 people, Including alumni, staff, facilitators, and chaperones, contributed their heart, minds and honest dialogue to the seminar, demonstrating the increasing reach of Hands of Peace. Thanks to all who attended and to the Peacemakers Fund at The San Diego Foundation for their support of essential followup programs in Israel/Palestine.
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Chicago Updates and
Upcoming Events
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HOPEducation Movie Night
"My Land"
Tuesday, December 5, 2017 - 6:30-9:00pm
Glenview Community Church, Mayflower Room
Filmmaker Nabil Ayouch is Moroccan, Arab and Jewish. In 2011, he collected stories from Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Israelis living near the northern border. These fascinating videos explore the deeply felt connections to the land and how each of the people interviewed makes sense of their stories and histories.
Free and open to the public. Gathering at 6:30. Film will begin promptly at 6:45. Group discussion will follow.
For more information, contact
Rhonda McCarty.
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San Diego Updates and
Upcoming Events
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HOPEducation: By-Stander Intervention:
Rapid Response Training
Thursday, November 30, 2017 6:00-8:00pm
Peace Resource Center - 3850 Westgate Place
Join Hands of Peace in partnership with the Peace Resource Center of San Diego for this rapid response training session.
What is Rapid Response?
It is a dedicated belief in the rights and liberties of all peoples here and now. It is democracy in action. It is people who refuse to back down in the face of aggression, and who act to support those under attack. It is coming out into our streets, our schools, our neighborhoods in immediate response to hate. This workshop will help bystanders become "upstanders" who help de-escalate conflict, tension and hate in our neighborhoods. Participants receive intensive Know Your Rights instruction and role-play different approaches that can de-escalate hate. Learn how to document and provide witness to attacks, Cop Watch and provide support to survivors and their families after the attack. PRC workshops are based on the War Resisters International Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns. No cost for participation. Space is limited to 30 registrants. RSVP to Sarah Heinredt.
HOPEducation: Upcoming Book Club
Tuesday, December 5, 2017 5:30-8:30pm
Home of Jenny Parker
Join us for our next book club, where we will be reading
Getting to Peace (or the Third Side)
by William Ury.
In
Getting to Peace
, Ury challenges the fatalism that is so fashionable. Using new archeological and anthropological evidence, he overturns old myths about human nature and offers a new and hopeful story about human conflict. He suggests a powerful new approach for turning conflict into cooperation which he calls the "Third Side." For in every dispute, there are not just two sides, but a silent third side that can help bring about agreement. By discovering the ten roles of the third side, each of us can act as teachers, healers, and mediators to achieve fair and non-violent conflict resolution. Our happiness at home, our productivity at work, and our very lives depend on
Getting to Peace. RSVP to
Sarah Heirendt for more information.
HOPEducation Movie Night
"Seeing Through the Wall: Meeting Ourselves in Palestine and Israel"
Thursday, January 18, 2018 - 6:00-8:00pm
Cardiff Branch Library, 2018 Newcastle Avenue
M
any walls separate Palestinians and Isra
elis - walls of concrete, of mistrust, of ignorance, of fear. This film follows a group of Americans, led by Rabbi Dov Taylor and Hands of Peace Director of Facilitation and Mejdi Guide Husam Jubran, on a 2016 trip to explore what life is like in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Many of those on the trip describe their own reflection and transformation as a result of these intense encounters. SEEING THROUGH THE WALL invites and challenges viewers to question their own preconceptions as well.
Please arrive by 6:00 for refreshments and mingling. Screening will begin promptly at 6:15. Please RSVP to
Sarah Heinredt
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| Executive Director Update (continued) |
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Shalom, Salaam, Peace,
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 With the holidays quickly approaching, we wanted to remind our supporters that AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Hands of Peace every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Hands of Peace - at no cost to you! Please support Hands of Peace by doing all your online Amazon shopping through smile.amazon.com. |
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To volunteer with Hands of Peace, please
click here!
Visit our website for more information at
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