Press Announcement

PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS MEET IN BRUSSELS 23-25 JUNE

On the initiative of Pax Christi, the International Catholic Peace Movement, representatives of Israeli, Palestinian and European civil society will come together in Brussels from 23 to 25 June for a strategic meeting aimed at mobilising more people for a just peace in the Middle East. The programme, entitled “Roots for Peace, Strategies for Civil Mobilisation” will consist of two days of closed meetings, on 23 and 24 June, and a hearing at the European Parliament on 25 June. The initiative is based on the assumption that, in this situation of political deadlock, the initiative has to come from below, from civil society.

The participants from the Middle East are:

Mrs Dina Zisserman (Lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and representative of NGOs active within the Russion community in Israel)

Mr Noah Salameh (Director of the Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation in Bethlehem, initiator of different projects in Deheisheh refugee camp)

Mr Fu’ad Giacaman (Director of the Arab Educational Institute in BethMr Fu’ad Giacaman (Director of the Arab Educational Institute in Bethlehem, an affiliated organisation to Pax Christi International, which runs educational projects, especially for the youth)

Mr Eyal Hareuveni (Activist in Yesh Gvul, the Israeli movement of conscientious objectors to military service in the occupied territories)

Mr Ali Qleibo (Islamic scholar, working at al-Quds University in Jerusalem)

Mr Alick Isaacs (Verbonden aan het modern-Joodsorthodoxe Yakar Centre in Jerusalem)

Mr Muneer Nusiebeh  (Student at al-Quds University in Jerusalem and a volunteer at the YMCA)

Mrs Haneen Zoaby (Representative of Ittijah, a network of Palestinian organisations in Israel)

Mr Yitzhak Schnell (Active in the Peace Now movement in Israel, professor at the university of Tel Aviv)

Mr Walid Salem (Peace activist and director of the Palestinian NGO Panorama in Jerusalem, one of the organisers of a human chain along the green line that was planned for 28 June)

Mr Paul Scham (Working at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem)

Mrs Amneh Badran (Acting Director of the Palestinian Jerusalem Center for Women in Jerusalem)

Mrs Jessica Nevo (Representative of the Women’s Coalition for a Just Peace in Israel)

The participants will be available for interviews during their stay in Brussels.

More information:

Pax Christi Netherlands, Marjolein Wijninckx, +31-30-2333346 / +31-6-53 77 23 87