In Israel, ICfC launches trainings and workshops and forges a new partnership with Ossim Shalom, Social Workers for Peace

By Anne Peckham, ICfC Intern           

ICfC’s pilot projects in the last three years in northern Israel have met with laudable success. We have created community rapprochement and strengthened faltering relations even where violence and escalation have threatened the peace in the region. Our workshops between Arab and Jewish neighbors in Yaad-Miar, in Pekiin in upper Galilee, and in the Hadar section of Haifa have transformed aggression and hostility into collaboration by inspiring joint youth and community programs. These successes have led to requests for our intervention by civil society actors and new communities and participants.

The timing of our efforts is critical. The tension between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews is growing, threatening the creation of a “Third Intifada.” In order to avoid escalation and the outbreak of further violence, we urgently need to replicate our model for dialogue and collaboration.

We are excited to report that this spring we will expand our reach by launching Historical Conciliation workshops in 10 different “hot spots” in Israel. To enhance our organization’s impact, we recently signed a partnership agreement with Ossim Shalom, Social Workers for Peace, facilitated by our senior fellow and long-time friend Kher Albaz in Israel.  Ossim Shalom (OS), an Israeli non-profit organization founded in 1990, boasts a membership of 1600 social workers.  It calls for using the basic tool of social work – dialogue – as a means to help resolve conflicts between Israeli Arabs and Jews.  Acting in highly diverse social environments, OS social workers believe that bridging gaps between Jews and Arabs within Israel, as well as between Israelis and the Palestinians, is essential to the process of peace building and to the advancement of welfare in Israel and the region.

This collaboration marks an important moment for our organization. By training Ossim Shalom’s experienced social workers as facilitators using ICfC’s methodology of Historical Conciliation, we will establish a strong grassroots network to promote dialogue and to build bridges within communities. With the help of Ossim Shalom, we will be able to apply the successful model of our pilot projects to new locations. Developing a partnership with this local Israeli group will allow us to build a bigger presence in Israel and to work efficiently and sustainably in more hotspots around the country.

We believe that the communication and understanding fostered by our approach can remove the endemic distrust between neighbors and generate new collaborative policies and institutions. With the protracted conflict between Jews and Arabs often evoking overwhelming despair on all sides, even the hint of success through a new approach like ICfC’s leads to hope, optimism, and greater risk-taking for peace. Our ambitious initiative can help make possible a larger peace in Israel and catalyze efforts in the region as a whole.