A Basis for Resolving the Conflict Between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples: principles and tools that lead to building effective cooperation

The long term interests of the Jewish people and the long-term interests of the Palestinian people are not in conflict. The apparent conflicts between them have arisen as a result of manipulation by governments in the Middle East and else where. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains one of the most divisive conflicts in the world today and one of the key reasons for other hostilities in the Middle East. That divisiveness enters into movements for peace throughout the world and diverts activists’ attention away from building a broad-based peace movement and anti-racist movement.

Solving the antagonisms involved is critical. It is important for all of us—those who are immediately involved and those who are broadly but not directly affected—to have a chance to examine our anger, fears and grief over this conflict. It is important for all of us to explore the intersection and connections between racism and anti-Semitism that forms the basis of this conflict.

This workshop will not involve a detailed solution to the problem; but it will involve broad principles that lead to cooperation and help individuals learn to tackle the confusions, grief, and anger, which limit our effectiveness in changing policies. It will introduce the tools of listening and putting attention on the impediments and challenges involved in this struggle through the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling.

What ideas do you want the participants to take away? That it is possible, through active supportive listening, to create the conditions where activists in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict examine our anger, fears and grief over this conflict and explore the effects on each of us of the intersection and connections between racism and anti-Semitism so that we may be more effective in our work to resolve this conflict.

How does your event connect to the USSF Crosscutting Themes? It offers tools individuals can use to face the historical struggles in the region, resolve racism and anti-Semitism and grief and anger about the conflict, and thereby give those involved a stronger basis on which to organize people toward a solution.

How will the participants be engaged? Each participant will pair up with another participant and have several opportunities during the presentation to talk about his or her own experiences and listen to the experiences of his or her partner in the listening pair. One or more participants will have the opportunity to share his or her experiences with the group as a whole as a demonstration of the internal healing work of UER.

What language will your activity be conducted in? English

Will you provide oral interpretation? Will you provide equipment (headset and transmitter) for interpretation? Yes, translation into Spanish will be provided. We will provide interpretation equipment.

Will you provide handouts for attendees? In Spanish? In English? In another language (if so, state the language)? We will provide handouts in English and Spanish.

What is the biggest challenge/adversary your movement/organization faces? Centuries of racism, poverty, and other oppressions that have destroyed and damaged the lives of hundreds of millions of people and corrupted the lives of people by conditioning them to be agents of racism and other oppressions, and the lack of awareness that there is an effective means to free ourselves from the internal damage each individual carries from living in this oppressive society.

What concrete alternative(s) do you propose? UER works to illuminate the damage done to individuals by racism and to undo this damage on an individual basis, using the resources and process of Re-evaluation Counseling. Re-evaluation Counseling is a process for freeing humans and society as a whole from the ongoing internal effects of hurtful experiences such as racism so that we may resume fully-intelligent functioning.

What strategies do you propose to achieve these alternatives? Teaching people the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling that they may then practice in pairs and groups, by people listening to each other and assisting each other to release painful emotions, including those caused by racism.

Any other special needs? No.