During the past fifteen years, people-to-people peacebuilding organizations working in Israel/Palestine have faced many challenges. The unrelenting expansion of Israeli settlements, the increasing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, the lack of US leadership, and the inability and lack of will of political leadership in Israel and Palestine to move the peace process forward are just a few of the realities that have made the work of peacebuilding organizations every more difficult and, at times wholly disheartening. At the same time these dire developments have also prompted the peacebuilding community to work collaboratively to identify new strategies and approaches to the "what" and the "how" of the work they do.
But recent violence in the region and the conflict both within Israel and between Hamas and Israel give a new urgency to the reckoning that has consumed the peacebuilding field in recent years.
Some of the tough questions being asked include:
Is people-to-people peacebuilding even possible when restrictions on movement, compulsory military service, and an ever-growing anti-normalization movement make meeting face-to-face nearly impossible? If not, what can take its place?
Is bringing together Israelis and Palestinians even advisable given the gargantuan power differences between the two sides? If not, is there a way to bring the parties together despite the vast political inequities.
Given the bleak political landscape on all sides, how do people-to-people peacebuilding organizations even measure success?
In a two-part series, CNI will take a look at these issues from two different perspectives.
First, on June 30, join us as an expert panel shares their views about the future of the peacebuilding movement in Israel and Palestine.
Then, on August 4, join us as we welcome youth voices to the table. In this session, we will hear from young people who have been involved in people-to-people peacebuilding to get their own thoughts and reactions to peacebuilding in the current contentious climate between Hamas and Israel.
CNI is honored to host the following panelists for this event:
Huda Abuarquob is the Alliance for Middle East Peace’s first on-the-ground regional director. She has years of experience in conflict resolution, NGO leadership, and social change education and activism, as well as life-long commitment to building strong people-to-people Israeli-Palestinian relations. She is a well-known speaker on issues related to Middle East politics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After studying conflict transformation and peace studies as a Fulbright scholar, she worked as an executive director, a program director, and an NGO consultant to a number of organizations in the U.S., Israel, and Palestine. She is a co-founder of the Center for Transformative Education and has taught and trained hundreds of students in Israel and the U.S. She has long been an active leader in grassroots Palestinian initiatives focused on women’s empowerment and people-to-people diplomacy.
Previously, Huda worked as a teacher, trainer, and consultant for the Palestinian Ministry of Education for fifteen years. She earned her M.A. in conflict transformation and peace studies from Eastern Mennonite University and her B.A. in education for social change from Al-Quds Open University in Jerusalem.
Huda is the oldest of twelve children, the daughter of respected Palestinian educators, and an aunt to twenty-two nieces and nephews. Born in Jerusalem, she has traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East, lived for years in the U.S. and now resides in Hebron.
Joyce Ajlouny joined the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as general secretary in 2017. A Quaker leader who is committed to help bring peace and justice to oppressed and vulnerable communities globally, Joyce brings to AFSC a depth of experience in international development and relief, education and 30 years of non-profit management. Under her leadership AFSC is entering its second century with a bold strategic revisioning and planning initiative that set organizational goals for the next decade (2020-2030).
A Palestinian American, Joyce started her career working in international development in Palestine, focusing on minority and refugee rights, gender equality, economic development, and humanitarian support. She served as the country director for Palestine and Israel with Oxfam-Great Britain, chaired the Association of International Development Agencies there and took on leadership roles at the UNDP and UNFPA. Prior to joining AFSC, Joyce served as the director of the Ramallah Friends School, a leading K-12 Quaker school in Palestine, for 13 years, where she led a diverse staff to transform the school academically, physically and financially.
Joyce holds a master’s degree in Organizational Management and Development from Fielding Graduate University in California. While based in Philadelphia, Joyce’s home is in Bethesda, Maryland, where she lives with her husband. They have three adult children.
Lior Amihai is the Executive Director of Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization that monitors, researches and conducts legal and public advocacy regarding human rights violations inherent in Israel’s prolonged occupation, with the aim of enhancing access to justice for Palestinians in the West Bank. Yesh Din has gained international recognition for its research and litigation in the following areas: accountability of Israeli security forces personnel; law enforcement on Israeli civilians who harm Palestinians or their property; and takeover of Palestinian land.
Before joining Yesh Din, Lior jointly headed Peace Now's Settlement Watch project, responsible for exposing and analysing the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Lior obtained his master's degree in human rights as a Chevening scholar from University College in London, and his B.Sc. from the City University of London, as a participant in the Olive Tree Scholarship Program for Palestinian and Israeli scholars. Lior grew up in Jerusalem and today he resides in Tel Aviv with his wife and their two children. He is the director of Yesh Din as of 2017.
Eileen F. Babbitt, PhD, is Professor of International Conflict Management Practice at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Recent publications include: “The Responsibility to Protect: Time to Re-Assess.” Journal of Human Rights Practice. (2017); "The Pragmatics of Peace with Justice: The Challenge of Integrating Mediation and Human Rights." in Coleman, Deutsch, and Marcus. The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice, Third Edition (2014); "Mediation and the prevention of mass atrocities." in Serrano and Weiss (eds.) The International Politics of Human Rights: Rallying to the R2P Cause?(2014); and "Preventive Diplomacy by Intergovernmental Organizations: Learning from Practice." International Negotiation (2012).
Her 30+ years of practice as a facilitator, trainer, and mediation specialist has included work in the Middle East, the Balkans, and with the United Nations (UNDP, UNHCR, UNAMI), U.S. government agencies (USAID, US Department of State), regional inter-governmental organizations (African Union, OSCE), and international and local NGOs. Dr. Babbitt holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Ph.D. from the MIT.
Ned Lazarus is Associate Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University's Elliott School, and an Israel Institute Teaching Fellow. A Conflict Resolution scholar, practitioner and evaluator, Ned has conducted evaluative studies of peacebuilding initiatives on behalf of USAID, USIP, the European Union and the US Department of State. Ned has taught Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, Georgetown University, American University, the University of Malta and the University of Massachusetts-Boston; his work has been published in Peace and Change, International Journal of Conflict Engagement and Resolution, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Palestine-Israel Journal, Fathom, Pulse: A Sociopolitical Journal and Israel Studies Review. Ned earned his doctorate from American University's School of International Service in 2011; his dissertation traces the long-term impact of peace education participation among more than 800 Israeli and Palestinian Seeds of Peace participants from adolescence through adulthood. Before entering the academic field, Ned served as Middle East Program Director for Seeds of Peace, based in Jerusalem, from 1996-2004.
[Panel Moderator] Robert C. Bordone is an internationally-recognized expert, author, speaker, and teacher in negotiation, conflict resolution, mediation, and facilitation. A Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School, he served on the full-time faculty at Harvard Law School for more than twenty years as the Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law, Director, and Founder of the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program before launching his full-time consulting, advisory, speaking, and training practice. Bob has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and a Visiting Clinical Professor of Conflict Transformation at Boston University’s School of Theology.
As a professional facilitator, mediator, and conflict management consultant, Bob works with individual, non-profit, governmental, and corporate clients across many sectors. He specializes in assisting individuals and groups seeking to manage conflicts in highly sensitive, emotional, or difficult situations. His corporate clients have included Premera Blue Cross, Health Net, Gap, Inc., Fidelity Investments, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Exelon, Heineken, and Microsoft. In addition, he has worked on projects with many nonprofit, educational, governmental and cultural institutions including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Massachusetts General Hospital, Dartmouth College, the Swiss Foreign Ministry, the U.S. Department of Justice, the United Way, the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Seeds of Peace, and the Vienna School of Economics and Business Administration.
He has also trained attorneys at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the National Association of Realtors, and many leading international law firms.
During his time at Harvard Law School, Bob led the school’s flagship Negotiation Workshop, more than doubling its size. He also developed several new classes at Harvard including an Advanced Workshop on Multiparty Negotiation and Group Decision-Making and a Facilitation Workshop.
Bob is the recipient of many awards for teaching, research, and innovation. These include The Albert Sacks-Paul Freund Teaching Award at Harvard Law School, presented annually to a single member of the Harvard Law School faculty for teaching excellence, mentorship of students, and general contributions to the life of the Law School. The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution’s (CPR) awarded Bob its Problem Solving in the Law School Curriculum Award for his innovative work in creating and building the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program. Four graduating classes of Harvard Law School selected him to deliver a Last Lecture prior to their graduation, a recognition reserved for only four faculty members each year.
Bob’s current research and writing interests include the assessment, reform, design, and implementation of dispute handling systems and developing and testing methods of effective public dialogue on issues that cut to the core of identity, meaning, belonging, and belief. He is the co-author of two books: Designing Systems and Processes for Managing Disputes, 2d. Edition (Wolters-Kluwer, 2019) and The Handbook of Dispute Resolution (Jossey-Bass, 2005). He has also published articles in leading dispute resolution journals including the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, the Journal of Dispute Resolution, Negotiation Briefings, Dispute Resolution Magazine, and Negotiation Journal. Bob’s writing and commentary have appeared in various print and broadcast media outlets including NBC News, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, America, The Chicago Tribune, CNN’s Situation Room, and BBC Radio.
Bob has served on a variety of advisory boards that include the Dartmouth College Center for Social Impact and the Harvard Law School Mediation Program. He has served as Associate Editor of the Negotiation Journal and as a member of its Editorial Advisory Board, as well as a member of the Program on Negotiation Executive Committee, and as faculty adviser to the Harvard Mediation Program, the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and Harvard Negotiators. Bob currently serves on the Board of Directors for Seeds of Peace, on the Advisory Board for the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, on the Board of the Systemic Justice Project at Harvard Law School, and on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Empathy in International Affairs. He is also Senior Advisor to the National Institute for Civil Discourse and an appointed member of Cambridge, Massachusetts LGBTQ+ Commission.
After graduating from law school, Bob clerked for The Honorable George A. O’Toole, Jr. of the United States District Court for Massachusetts. In addition to his many years at Harvard Law School, Bob has also worked at the Washington D.C.-based law firm of Crowell & Moring, the New York-based law firm of Cravath, Swaine, & Moore, CBS News, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Boston Consulting Group.
Bob received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and his A.B., summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College where he majored in Government. You can follow him on Twitter with the handle @bobbordone or on his website: www.bobbordone.com.