OVP/Gaza's first volunteer group after completing a seminar on establishing and working within a team.
New York, October 24, 2012—Roughly two dozen twentysomethings, split evenly between men and women, gathered earlier this month at the Adam Center for Dialogue of Civilizations in Gaza City's Al-Rimal neighborhood for OneVoice Palestine's leadership development pilot program in Gaza.
The nondescript conference room in Al-Johara Tower was buzzing with chatter. The participants, handpicked by OneVoice's Gaza Director Ezzeldin Masri, differed in background, education, and politics, but shared a belief in the two-state solution. In coordination with the Adam Center, and other local civil society organizations such as Save Youth Future, OneVoice Palestine planned an intensive 36-hour training program in leadership skills and teamwork.
"Over the next couple of weeks, we're hoping to solidify these participants into the first OneVoice volunteer group in Gaza," said Masri enthusiastically. "Then, we'll support them in designing and implementing initiatives across Gaza." Their focus will be on ending the internal division in order to present a united front in negotiations with Israel.
"We cannot have 20 factions each trying to impose their vision on the people," explained Masri. "We need national consensus on how to end the occupation and the conflict, and the only pragmatic solution is the two-state solution. We must come to terms with Israel to put Palestine back on the map."
Imad al-Falouji, head of the Adam Center, joined Masri for the introductory session to the trainings, spoke about pursuing a non-violent political course to achieve an independent Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and answered questions about the Fatah-Hamas split and the power of the grassroots to effect positive change. The participants, many of them university graduates without job prospects in Gaza's crippled economy, agreed to start the program on October 11, eager to make an impact in their communities.
Since reopening the Gaza office in late 2011, Masri led 15 informal sessions about OneVoice's mission and work, reaching a total of 350 young people. "My goal throughout," he said, "was to train young Palestinians to become moderate political leaders supportive of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a negotiated two-state solution."
While the challenges of operating under a government opposed to the two-state solution remained, successfully recruiting a core group of participants meant Masri had overcome a major hurdle. It left him confident that there was indeed space for OneVoice Palestine to operate in Gaza and as he stated, "move forward."
Go ahead guys
Thanks One voice for everything
Posted by: Motasem | November 01, 2012 at 04:36 PM
This kind of organization is essential to the Palestinian cause. It is necessary to bring people with different backgrounds and opinions together to unify their goals in order to bring about the change they need. With the divided factions of Palestinians arguing with each other, they will never be able to come to an agreement with Israel.
It is also nice to see many people who support a two state solution or other peaceful compromise. Despite the pop culture icons and literary giants, such as Amos Oz (an Israeli supporter of the two state compromise), on both sides backing a compromise between Arabs and Israelis, it is important to note that there are everyday Israeli citizens and Palestinian refugees that feel the same way. The media paints both Palestinians and Israelis as extremists who want it all for themselves. Even though hate is prolific on both sides of the struggle (as can be seen in Emile Habiby’s description of the Israeli state’s treatment of its Arab citizens in his book The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist and Mahmoud Darwish’s early poetry, including Identity Card and the anger he expresses through it) there are people who see past this hate and understand both perspectives of the conflict. It is important to note that there are people who are willing to cooperate in order to come to a peaceful agreement.
It is also important that the youth are participating in this cause. As they are further separated from the bitter feelings felt by those present at the beginning of the conflict, it can cause a rift in the comprehension of the struggle and a misunderstanding of what is being fought for, or it can let the feelings of resentment settle some and increase the likelihood of a compromise. In order for the second to occur, the youth must be educated about the conflict. In class we discussed the knowledge about the origins of the conflict that many Israeli youths lack in today’s society. This lack of knowledge hinders a solution by not allowing them to fully comprehend the reason behind Palestinian rebellion. If they had more information, they could understand what Palestinians are fighting for without the strong feelings older generations have getting in the mix. This knowledge and understanding is the best way to promote peace and a solution for the region.
Posted by: Haley | November 15, 2012 at 12:37 AM