Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson
Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson is the Executive Director of Partners for Progressive Israel. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2021, she holds an MA in Midrash from JTS and an advanced certificate in Interreligious Studies from the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey and the University of Geneva. Rabbi Hughes-Robinson has a rich background in peacebuilding and political analysis, having worked with organizations like T’ruah and the New Israel Fund, and has also contributed to interfaith initiatives and scholarship through various fellowships and publications.
Arie M. Dubnov
Arie M. Dubnov is a professor of history and International Affairs, holding the Max Ticktin Chair of Israel Studies and directing the Middle East Program at George Washington University. A cultural and intellectual historian of twentieth-century Jewish and Israeli history, Dubnov’s research focuses on the British mandate period in Palestine and Jewish nationalism. His works include the biography Isaiah Berlin: The Journey of a Jewish Liberal (2012) and several edited volumes, such as Partitions: A Transnational History of Twentieth-century Territorial Separatism (2019) and Amos Oz’s Two Pens: Between Literature and Politics (2023). Dubnov’s Hebrew essays and short stories have appeared in various literary and academic publications. His current research explores alternative federalist political schemes during the interwar period.
Oded Leshem
Oded is a political psychologist specializing in the study of hope in the context of war and conflict. Oded teaches and conducts his research at the Hebrew University, where he founded and directs the International Hub for Hope Research. In the last decade, Oded published numerous articles and book chapters on hope and despair as political phenomena and lectured on hope to a wide range of academic and non-academic audiences.
Nizar Farsakh
Nizar Farsakh is a leadership, negotiations, and advocacy trainer with over 20 years of experience across the Middle East and North Africa. He co-founded the Inspire Leadership School and is a board member of the Museum of the Palestinian People.
Alliance for Middle East Peace
ALLMEP is a coalition of over 160 organizations—and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis—building cooperation, justice, equality, shared society, mutual understanding, and peace among their communities. We add stability in times of crisis, foster cooperation that increases impact, and build an environment conducive to peace over the long term.
Ruti Kadish
Ruti has been active in the feminist, LGBT, and peace movements, in both the U.S. and Israel, for over three decades. She received a BA in Women’s Studies and a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from UC Berkeley. For the past 15 years, Ruti has worked in the Israel/Palestine space, educating toward social justice, a diplomatic solution, and self-determination for Palestinians and Israelis. After October 7, Ruti developed Tovanot, an interactive 12-hour dual-narrative Israel education program. At its core, Tovanot is a program that challenges the norm. It rejects the either/or binary and refutes the claim that we’re engaged in a zero-sum game. Instead, Tovanot encourages a rigorous understanding of Israel (and Israel/Palestine) and the land's significance to Jews and Israelis as well as to Palestinians. contact Ruti at ruti@moedcommunity.org
Music: Jerusalem Youth Chorus
The Jerusalem Youth Chorus is a choral and dialogue program for Palestinian and Israeli youth in Jerusalem. JYC's mission is to provide a space for these young people from East and West Jerusalem to grow together in song and dialogue. Through the co-creation of music and the sharing of stories, JYC empowers youth in Jerusalem with the responsibility to speak and sing their truths, as they become leaders in their communities and inspire singers and listeners around the world to work for peace, justice, inclusion, and equality.
Photography: Face 2 Face: Israël, Palestine by JR
In 2007, during the Face 2 Face project, artists JR and Marco organize the largest illegal photography exhibition ever. For this project, portraits of Israelis and Palestinians are pasted face to face, in monumental formats on both sides of the wall and in several Palestinian and Israeli cities.
Ted Talk: Ali Abu Awwad & Ami Dar – An Israeli and a Palestinian talk peace, dignity and safety
A bereaved Palestinian, former prisoner and a non-violence activist talking about his peace work and his activities toward finding nonviolence solution for the israeli palastinian conflict. Ali Abu Awwad is a Palestinian, non-violence activist born in Halhoul, Hebron, raised by politically active refugee family. Following his mother's footsteps, Awwad became a member of Fatah and served 2 prison sentences for violent activism. During one sentence, a 17-day hunger strike granted him permission to see his mother. This success was a turning point, realizing the power of non-violent protest.
Ted Talk: A Palestinian and an Israeli, face to face
How can Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace? Palestinian peacemaker Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli peacemaker Maoz Inon discuss the immeasurable tragedies they've experienced growing up in the region — and how they choose reconciliation over revenge, again and again. With a fierce belief in a better future, they talk about conflict, safety, finding shared values and how they're building a coalition of Israeli and Palestinian citizens who are intent on creating a path to hope and peace.
Ted Talk: Robi Damelin – Can I reconcile with the man who killed my son
Robi, an Israeli mother, ponders the possibility of meeting her son David's killer, and can't help wonder how honest she is with herself in her quest for reconciliation. Can a person who stole the life of a women's child ever truly be forgiven? Is the dialogue between perpetrators and victims the key to ending the bloody never ending Israeli/Palestinian conflict? And can a glimmer of hope come from a place of unbearable pain? Recognizing the humanity in the other must be a recipe for ending the cycle of violence.
Book: The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
In 1967, Bashir Khairi, a twenty-five-year-old Palestinian, journeyed to Israel with the goal of seeing the beloved stone house with the lemon tree behind it that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family left Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next half century in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, demonstrating that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and transformation.
