Our amazing friend Jason Alexander, whose George Costanza character in Seinfeld is the furthest thing different from the real Jason, spoke to OneVoice youth earlier today about the Imagine 2018 essay and film project and caught a ton of media attention.

It cracks me up how amazing stuff happens every day by ordinary Israelis and Palestinians but never gets media coverage.  It takes a celebrity to get attention for moderates.

Below is a good article from Ha’aretz and a video from Jerusalem Online that covers the meeting.

Ha’aretz/ Associated Press story below

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Tags: Israel, Palestine, Mideast Negotiations, Movies, Funnies, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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The New York Times reports about (OneVoice/PeaceWorks Foundation Board member) Dennis Ross’s move from the State Department to the White House.  It offers a lot of theories for the move, many of them probably on target. But it fails to mention one of the most important likely factors: the interplay between all these Mideast conflicts, and the need for an integrated broad approach and appreciation when tackling them. 

It does not mean that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will fix the Middle East! (Ross would plainly disagree with that, as the article points out).  But it does mean that Iran’s arming of Hezbollah and Hamas deeply handicaps efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peace, and that lack of Israeli-Palestinian progress hampers US national interests - as well as Israeli and Palestinian and Arab progress itself.

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Tags: Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Mideast Negotiations, Middle East, United States, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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Here is an interview about OneVoice, PeaceWorks, and "my life" (the title and theme of the show, Hayati) that aired on the Arabic TV Network Al Hurra.

It is painfully funny to watch how chubby I was…

Tags: Latin America, Family, Israel, Palestine, Philanthropy, Entrepreneurship and Management, Mideast Negotiations, Interesting Random Stuff, Funnies, PeaceWorks Business, Middle East, United States, PeaceWorks Foundation, Mexico, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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A year ago we conceived a project to help young Palestinians and Israelis visualize what their lives would be like ten years from now if peace were to come.  To dare them to believe, hoping this will then prompt them to invest into turning this vision into a reality.  The project, Imagine 2018, received thousands of essay submissions from students, and captivated the imagination of millions.

Now its next phase - turning children’s winning essays into short films by award-winning directors - is also becoming a reality, as described in this email from Gil from OneVoice Israel. The next step is to make peace a reality.

Soldier and Boy                 Tel Aviv Damascus

Dear all,

We would like to update you that OVI had filmed the 2 short movies of the "imagine 2018" project.

There were two days of shooting : 24-25 of may.

Overall the outcomes  were beyond our expectations, since the producers and directors were very professional and organized, and they were able to recruit some of the best actors in the local market, that made this project very prestigious .we had:  Yona Elian – A very famous and respectable theater and movie  actor. an Israeli icon, Aki Avni, a very talented and well known actor. worked in LA in the past few years, Clara khoury, who played the "Syrian bride", Oshri Cohen, played a leading role in "beau for" Ali Nassaer (an Arab Israeli  actor and director) and the amazing kid , Abdallah Akkal.

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Tags: Palestine, Israel, Movies, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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Dan Bar-On was an extraordinary man who, together with Sami Adwan, conceived a powerful shared narrative project, where Israelis and Palestinians read about their and their counterparts’ historical narrative - helping them understand they don’t need to give up their patriotism to better understand the other side.  Bar-On, who gave his life to peace efforts and who was an inspiration to OneVoice, lost his battle to cancer last fall.  He once wrote:

"[Hope for achieving co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians may in the end depend on] giving up the romantic, monolithic desires of the idealized past in favor of a less perfect but more complex understanding of the world and ourselves, an understanding that can create new possibilities for dialogue within our selves, among ourselves within a collective, and with the Other."

From "Tell Your Life Story" by Dan Bar-On, as related by Dr. Saliba Sarsar

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Tags: Israel, Palestine, Favorite Quotes, Leadership, Mideast Negotiations, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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For those who can understand Hebrew - and for those who will get a kick out of just seeing the b-roll - here is a link to a story that appeared on Channel 2 in Israel, in their top news program, about OneVoice’s project Imagine 2018 - and the first two short films that were created by leading directors from essays from young kids visualizing what their world will look like in the year 2018.

דני דה ויטו ואקי אבני יעשו לנו שלום?

בארגון ONE VOICE בטוחים – יהיה שלום במזרח התיכון. השאלה רק איך הוא ייראה, בעוד עשר שנים נניח. אז איך זה קשור לדני דה ויטו ואקי אבני?

אורן אהרוני | המהדורה המרכזית, חדשות 2

Tags: Palestine, Israel, Media and Alternative Media, Movies, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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Barack Obama’s election, and his speech today to the Muslim world, may be looked back upon in future years as a turning point for human progress and global understanding.  Far more revolutionary than the historical first of the heritage he represents is the ideological depth of his commitment to shared humanity.

I LOVE THIS MAN!

The philosophy is very much aligned with OneVoice, and some of the language and definitions properly redefine terms like violent extremism that were misused and abused in the last Administration and that did not even exist or make sense when OV was forged.

Tags: Iran, Israel, Palestine, Leadership, Mideast Negotiations, Middle East, United States, Religion, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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OneVoice Glasgow is a purely-volunteer-driven chapter that has risen above the rest of the international support efforts to such degree that it is worthy of attention.  They receive zero funding from OneVoice, yet deliver so much in their community and beyond. If we can decode what has made them so extraordinary, international support for Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution will really take off.  Witness what a few committed volunteers have done:

Tags: Europe, Palestine, United Kingdom, Israel, Gaza, Mideast Negotiations, Leadership, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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When my team members first connected with Paul McCartney, none of them imagined he would become such an engaged and passionate leader for the cause of peace among Israelis and Palestinians.  Not only did he passionately embrace the work of OneVoice Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders and rally behind the courageous partnership of the Noa and Mira singing duo, but he now also wrote to President Obama to let him know about OneVoice, and encourage him to support their work!

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Tags: Palestine, United Kingdom, Israel, Music, United States, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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Paul McCartney, the newest member to join OneVoice’s Honorary Board of Advisors, has recently written to President Barack Obama making him aware of OneVoice. While performing in Tel Aviv last year, Paul’s message was to bring people together via the power of music - a sentiment that is shared by two singers, Noa, an Israeli Jew and Mira Awad, an Israeli Arab, who are members of OneVoice Israel.  They performed a song together for the Eurovision song contest titled There Must Be Another Way.

 “This seems to me like a great idea, the symbolism of two people from both sides coming together to spread their message of peace via music is exciting and inspiring for me. I hope President Obama looks into this organisation and feels that OneVoice could be part of a peaceful solution.”

Link to the story

Tags: Europe, Israel, Leadership, Middle East, OneVoice Movement by daniel
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