 | The Power of Dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians: Stories of Change from the School for Peace Subjects: Multicultural education -- Israel; Neve shalom (School); Arab -- Israeli conflict -- 1993 -- Peace; Jews -- Israel -- Interviews; Palestinian Arabs -- Israel -- Interviews; Conflict management -- Israel; Israel -- Ethnic relations; In The Power of Dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians , scholar and activist Nava Sonnenschein shares a collection of twenty-five powerful interviews she conducted with Palestinian and Jewish Israeli alumni of peacebuilding courses, a decade after their graduation. Participants with diverse personal and professional backgrounds completed a series of conflict transformation workshops using the model developed by the School for Peace at the world's only intentional Jewish-Palestinian community, Neve Shalom-Wahat al-Salam ("Oasis of Peace" in Hebrew and Arabic). Critically, the interviews vividly demonstrate that peacebuilding does not end with the courses. Most of the graduates choose to work professionally in roles that contribute to peace-building. Sonnenschein shows the transformational potential of encounter between members of groups in conflict, sharing how ordinary Israelis and Palestinians coming together in an open and honest environment undergo life-changing experiences that provide concrete hope for a sustainable path to a peaceful shared existence as equals in Israel and Palestine. NAVA SONNENSCHIEN is the founder and current director of the School for Peace in Israel. She has trained more than a thousand Palestinian and Jewish facilitators and social change agents to plan, structure, and lead programs for groups in conflict in Israel, Palestine, and around the world. In 2010, she received the U.S. Department of State's Women of Courage award for her leadership and advocacy for social change and coexistence. |
