Daniel Lubetzky

I just received an email from OneVoice Israel describing their Award Ceremony for the winners of the Imagine 2018 Essay Contest on the Israeli Side.  This event follows a similar one that OneVoice Palestine organized last month in parallel, in their case with the participation of the Chief Palestinian Islamic Justice and the Palestinian Minister of Education among others.

Here are excerpts of the Israeli letter:

Dear All,

OVI is happy to share with you the summery on the 2018 prizes ceremony and the launch of our new book "2018" (see cover attached).

The ceremony took place at the Tel Aviv cinematheque, during the international children film festival. We invited the 50 winners and their families, and 95% of them showed up.

The hall was packed with over than 250 people, while a few leaders left with no seat. The crowed was very heterogeneous and the kids and their families came from all across the country. We had kids from towns and villages, different refigures, boys and girls.

[I encourage you to read more by clicking below]

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When Sir Paul McCartney performed a historic concert in Israel earlier this week, he wore the OneVoice symbol on his lapel – as did every member of his band.

How did this come about?

When we learned that McCartney was headed to the Holy Land, our team in OneVoice Europe, led by Sayyeda Salam, took the initiative and reached out to him.  They relied on a few of our Board members and supporters to connect, but it was primarily gumption and determination that got them to him.

Apparently Sir Paul was the most down-to-earth and kindest person, and he loved learning about OneVoice’s mission of empowering ordinary Palestinian and Israeli citizens who reject extremism and absolutism and demand a two-state solution.  OVE arranged for Paul to meet with OneVoice activists in the region.

Anti-Israel groups campaigned aggressively to dissuade McCartney from visiting the Holy Land, and threatened to boycott him if he didn’t boycott Israel. Never mind that McCartney was bringing a message of peace and humanity and that he visited Palestine and respectfully shared a non-political humanitarian message for both Israelis and Palestinians.  “Anti” groups and “cultural boycott” organizations often harm their own people because they make no distinction of the substance of the message or the group involved – rejecting and attacking even those who would work for a two-state-solution.

When McCartney met with our OneVoice Israel activists, he empathized with the challenges they faced exactly a year ago, when extremist groups attacked the OneVoice Summit, a parallel effort of mainstream Palestinian nationalists and separately mainstream Israeli nationalists to mobilize tens of thousands to propel their political representatives to end the occupation and all forms of violence through a comprehensive two state agreement.

McCartney told our activists:

“My father told me that regular people don’t like wars and don’t want conflict. I’m not a politician – I just want to bring a message of peace. In every place I perform I see that people want the same thing.”

Gil Shamy, our Israeli Executive Director, gave him the OneVoice pin.

McCartney was so touched with the vision of our youth leaders that he decided to wear the pin during the concert – and give a pin to everyone in the band who did the same.

At at a press conference later on, McCartney still carried with him the message he and OneVoice had agreed on:

“My little bit is to try to bring people together through music … It seems to me that most of the people are quite moderate and would like a solution. They would like peace like most people in the world … They want the governments to decide quite quickly on two states, on two nations rather than this conflict. They want it to work so they can both be separate and peaceful.” (full story)

Here is a story by UPI.  One on E Entertainment’s website.  One in the UK’s Independent.  And one in the Wall Street Journal.  Pictures show Paul McCartney wearing the OV symbol, including on Ynet.

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Almost a year ago, I was so upset at unfair attacks being lobbied at my Palestinian partners at OneVoice. As they were gaining more and more prominence for their work to achieve a two state solution, those who opposed them within Palestine tried to discredit them based on a smear campaign revolving around questioning their patriotism.  I was filled with hatred.

I blogged back then how I realized this and fought it and literally forced myself to disavow that hatred and even work around my emotions to literally stop hating and actually start caring for those who I was most hateful towards.  OneVoice, the Movement, rose to do the same.

If I hadn’t gone through such a tough period, I would never have written these lines, and reading them would have made me gag for their cheesiness.  I don’t consider myself a "leftist" or a "pacifist", just an ordinary human being who recognizes that the betterment of humanity and of one’s ethnic, religious or national compatriots comes from understanding the shared humanity they have with their neighbors and rivals – getting both sides to recognize the essential human needs and rights of the other, and working together to achieve them.

But something happens when you get so close to the abyss, when your anger at a sense of injustice leads you to feel unrelenting hatred that you had not felt before, that you literally discover a new negative dimension you didn’t know you had – and do not like having.  And this scary discovery also affords you the possibility to fight that hatred back, to ensure you don’t become that which you are trying to fight, to grow from the challenge. 

When I meditated back then, I couldn’t put it into words – to be earnest, it certainly was not "love" – but I did achieve a sense of empathy with even these former "enemies" that had attacked my partners.

Earlier today I was struck when Frederic Brenner shared that "compassion is the only antidote to cynicism and cowardice."  Looking back, THIS was the feeling that gave me the strength to find myself again, to extricate myself from within so much hatred I had created, and to rescue the mission.  COMPASSION. 

Indeed, compassion is an antidote to cynicism – and to fear, and to hatred.  It is the antonym of hatred, more than love is.  You don’t need to "love" your "enemy." But if you have compassion towards all others, even those who offend you most – no, particularly towards those who offend you most – then you will be able to find the way.

From a lunch meeting with my friend Frederic Brenner, the photographer, philosopher and social anthropologist, he shared this powerful quote:

Nous sommes tous de lopins et d une texture si informe et diverse, que chaque pièce, chaque moment fait son jeu. Et se trouve autant de différence de nous a nous mêmes que de nous a autruy.

Michel de Montaigne. Essais

Rough translation: we each have within ourselves so much diversity and texture, so many pieces with their own role to play, that the differences we house within ourselves are greater than those between us and other people.

Frederic, who nobody will accuse of being shy, quiet or boring, just completed a 10-day meditation during which he could not speak or write – no interaction or expression with others, for 10 full days, each day with 11 hours of meditation.  Imagine.

Another insight I enjoyed him sharing was about how the three great monotheistic religions have defined much of our world and ourselves into Dualities – Mind vs. Spirit, You vs. The Other – separating in strict binary constructs things that are often far harder to separate in real life.  In the world we live in, he feels we need to better recognize the ambivalence, paradox, and complexity within each of us, within our narratives, and our traditions.

This is not just arm-chair philosophy. It has very practical applications in the work of co-existence, from OneVoice to fostering Universal Values, and simple Kindness to each other.  If we are trained to recognize ourselves in the other, if we are trained to recognize the other within us, we are far more likely to disavow absolutist visions and work harder towards achieving shared human values.

More and more mainstream Palestinians disenchanted with the continuing occupation are wondering if they should get behind the call for a "bi-national" "one state" approach.  Most of them prefer a Palestinian State unencumbered by Israeli Jews, and would prefer a two-state solution.  But they wonder if negotiations will ever really lead to this, and wonder if Israelis are willing to make the historic sacrifices and compromises necessary (something most Israelis wonder in parallel about Palestinians).

So many Palestinians want to use the "One State" approach more as a threat or bluff, than as a preferred course.

The Palestine Strategy Group (www.PalestineStrategyGroup.ps) just published a paper analyzing alternative options to accelerate either a two state solution or the One State approach.

While a lot of arguments in this study are compelling and make sense for Palestinians who want to end the occupation, I really worry that the movement towards this One State Threat will backfire.  Here is why.

If Palestinians start pursuing the one-state approach, to the vast majority of Israelis it will translate to “you see, they want the whole thing, a phased approach to Greater Palestine, so let’s not negotiate anything, because we are not getting any real peace in return.”

The “one-state” “threat” is a dangerous one.  On one side it may awaken some people to recognize that if they don’t move fast to end the occupation through two states, that option will disappear.  But on the other side most Israelis may be so threatened and turned off by this vision that they will assume Palestinians are not serious about a two state solution.

A MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE IF DIFFICULT APPROACH IS FOR MORE ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS TO RAISE THEIR VOICES AND DEMAND A TWO-STATE-SOLUTION, to put pressure on their politicians, to support moderate policies, to propel an agreement, and TO SHOW THE OTHER SIDE THAT MAJORITIES ARE BEHIND A HISTORIC SOLUTION.

So, to the Palestinian people I recommend: amplify your voice of support for a two-state solution – emphasize you respect Israel’s right to exist, but demand also your liberty and dignity.  THAT WILL BE FAR MORE EFFECTIVE IN RALLYING ISRAELIS AND THE WORLD BEHIND YOU.

And to the Israeli people I recommend: get your act together and support the moderate majority of Palestinians who want a two state solution, before it truly becomes too late and we become enmeshed in an eternal battleground.  Be a credible partner by showing real progress towards establishing a Palestinian State that is vibrant and free.  This can become your formidable partner for the future.

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Watch this and I dare you not to smile.

You can learn more about Matt here.

I noticed he visited Tel Aviv and East Jerusalem for modest takes in each place, but I’d love to bring him back for a BIG dance across Israel and Palestine.  We at OneVoice are always so worried about ensuring the OV brand is mainstream and not seen as flighty or disconnected from the reality on the ground, but frankly, you see this video and you realize, in the end, all that matters is what Matt is doing – transcending differences.  And to those that don’t understand that, I dare them not smile (and discover others’ humanity) watching Matt’s work.

Thanks to Stacy Perman for a profile about PeaceWorks, KIND, and OneVoice in BusinessWeek yesterday.

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From the OneVoice newsletter:

The results are in!

Ø 50 Palestinian winners and 50 Israeli winners have been selected

Ø Read some of the winning essays

Ø Israel & Palestine to Co-Host World Cup in 2018? Check out one vision for the future

· OneVoice Youth Leadership & outreach update

Ø OneVoice Israeli & Palestinian Youth to Tony Blair: “A Mideast Quintet”

Ø From our Gaza office: Town Hall Meeting in Beit Hanoun

Ø OneVoice is Referenced in House of Lords Debate 5 Times

Ø OneVoice Student Leader at Stanford Organizes Islam-West Unity Event

The Imagine 2018 campaign has only just begun – now that 100 winning essayists have been selected, 10 foremost directors will begin selecting 10 essays to turn into short films. 

These films – the visions of Israeli and Palestinian youth brought to life – will be used to inspire people worldwide to envision some of the tangible benefits peace – to empower people to take action, and to ensure that the leadership acts with urgency and commitment to reach a two state agreement which ends the occupation and all forms of violence, and establishes a viable, independent Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the state of Israel.

How you can get involved:

Donate – Sign up to the Movement – Forward our videos – Visit our blog & tell us what you think

The OneVoice Teams in Ramallah, Gaza, Tel Aviv, London, and New York

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Khaled Diab wrote a nice article about OneVoice‘s Imagine 2018 project, asking Palestinian and Israeli kids to visualize what their lives will look like in 10 years IF a peace agreement is achieved between Israel and Palestine.

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Some will criticize this as Shimon Peres’s much-discounted "New Middle East" vision, but I love it, and I am confident that if Israelis and Palestinians get their act together and accept the historical compromises necessary to a comprehensive permanent agreement, this will only be the beginning. Check out this vision for the future of the Arava, intersecting Israel, Jordan and Palestine.  It fits nicely within OneVoice’s Imagine 2018 Project.