Working for Peace - TUFI & Peace Groups
Trade unionists can play an active role in supporting the Israeli and Palestinian peace movement. Constructive action to help those who are working for peace on both sides can make an important contribution to bringing an end to decades of suffering.
TUFI works with a range of organisations to help promote the cause of peace:
One Voice is an organisation with offices in Tel-Aviv & Ramallah that runs a range of peace education projects in both Israel and Palestine.
Its goal is to find moderate, pragmatic voices from all political parties on both sides to find common ground and work for peace. They also run an international education programme, focused primarily on university campuses to help increase awareness and understanding of the issues in Israel and Palestine.
TUFI works with OneVoice to host meetings for trade unionists with leaders from their Israeli and Palestinian offices.
Hand in Hand is an education project that runs three mixed Jewish and Arab schools in Israel, aiming to break down barriers between communities.
Each school is co-directed by Arab and Jewish co-Principals and each classroom is co-taught by Jewish and Arab teachers.
Students at each grade level are balanced between Arab and Jewish children and are taught inboth Hebrew and Arabic, learning to treasure their own culture and language while understanding the difference of others around them.
Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum works in the UK to support ‘Parents Circle – Families Forum’ composed of Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families who have joined together to spread a message of tolerance, dialogue and non-violence.
The organisation is active in Israel and the Palestinian Territories promoting peace and reconciliation. As well as supporting bereaved families across the divide, members are also involved in creating opportunities for dialogue.
TUFI is working to promote the important work this group is doing to spread tolerance despite their personal grief. For more information contact info@FamiliesForum.co.uk
Peace Now UK works in the UK to promote the goals of Israeli Shalom Ahshav - Peace Now, founded in 1978 as a grassroots peace movement, campaigning for a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours and a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on mutual recognition, self-determination and peaceful co-existence.
TUFI has recently established contact with Peace Now UK and is looking at potential joint projects to involve trade unionists in promoting a meaningful two-state solution. For more information contact paul@peacenowuk.org.
The Abraham Fund Initiatives works to advance co-existence, equality and co-operation among Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens by creating and operating large-scale initiatives, cultivating strategic grassroots projects and conducting public education and advocacy that promotes its vision of shared citizenship and opportunity for all of Israel’s citizens.
It runs a range of initiatives designed to empower Israel’s Arab communities and tackle discrimination in Israeli society. TUFI is currently working with them to help set up a UK based support network.
The Geneva Initiative is the organisation founded to support the Geneva Accords, the final status peace proposals created by a group of moderate Palestinian and Israeli Politicians, NGOs and individuals.
Givat Haviva is a peace educational institution that works to build co-operation and co-existence between Israel’s Jewish and Palestinian communities and between Israelis, Palestinians and people from Arab States, primarily Jordan. It runs the Jewish-Arab Centre for Peace that brings more than 15,000 students, teachers, community professionals and laypersons who are Jews, Palestinian citizens of Israel and members of other minority communities together for peace education work.
One of the many projects that brings together Israeli and Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and Jordanian young people is Crossing Borders (www.crossingborder.org) run in conjunction with other regional NGOs. The young people meet, often in a third country, to write a magazine for distribution in schools.
Givat Haviva now runs a small group of mixed Jewish and Arab schools with its own co-existence focused curriculum. TUFI regularly takes delegations to Israel and Palestine to visit Givat Haviva and are working with the Friends of Givat Haviva UK (GivatHaviva@aol.com).
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