Daniel Lubetzky

A lot of people are worried that 2008 will pass without an agreement among Israelis and Palestinians to define a Palestinian State – and presumably and hopefully start implementing such vision.  I, too, get worried about this, every day.  But listening to Tzipi Livni is quite reassuring.  She genuinely speaks with the OneVoice language and framework and today recommitted herself and the Israeli government to the timeframe and the goals set out in Annapolis.  Most important, she was asked tough but valid questions by Palestinians, and she treated them all with respect, without dismissing any of the human pain inherent in the questions.  I need to check with those who asked the questions, but my impression was that, even though they hate the Israeli government, they recognized a sincerity and goodwill on her part.

Wouldn’t it be great if ordinary citizens all joined together and said, "I have had enough – and I am going to do something about it!" and then pushed their Heads of State to once and for all deliver a two-state-agreement?!

They could draw inspiration from this:

"I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take this anymore!"

- From NETWORK, the movie (let’s just hope that the civic action wouldn’t be hijacked by corporate networks, though it could turn into something like this):

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OneVoice recently launched one of its most ambitious and impactful projects: an essay contest asking every Palestinian and every Israeli child to dare visualize what 2018 would look like if we were to get our act together and achieve a framework 2-state-agreement in 2008.

You can see here a video of the Imagine 2018 essay contest being imparted at a school in Gaza.

While it’s an essay contest, in addition

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Malaka Samara and Shani Gershon just completed a OneVoice Tour to Southern California – one of six regional tours with young Israeli and Palestinian OneVoice activists completed over this last year by Laurel Rapp, International Education Program Coordinator.

Neither of them had ever met someone from the "other side" before, so they did not just impact the hundreds of people they spoke to but also

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Nisreen Shaheen, the General Director of OneVoice Palestine, emailed us this update about work on the ground in Nablus:

Yesterday[ed: email was mid-April] we were in Nablus, we met with the Governor and briefed him about OV work, we took 3 youth leaders from Nablus with us so that if they will need any help in the

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I just got this very cool invitation from Laurel Rapp, who runs our International Education Program…

You’re Invited: Global Town Hall Meeting
(webcast live to your classroom!)

Ever wonder what young Israelis and Palestinians growing up in conflict zones hope for, dream about, and are working to change?
Ever wonder what both groups are doing to end the conflict between their two peoples?  
Ever wonder what our role as citizens of the world should and can be?

If you’ve ever wondered and would like to know more, please join Empower Peace and OneVoice on Monday, May 19, for a Global Town Hall Meeting webcast from East Jerusalem linking Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders with students and young people from around the world.

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You may be surprised to learn about some of what is happening in Gaza.  Read this letter:

Dear All,
Onevoice movement in the Gaza Strip expanded its campaign and organized its fifth Town Hall Meeting in the North of the Gaza Strip.
The Objective to introduce the Movement & gather support for the two states for two people notion.

The Participants about 60 activists from Jabalia refugee camp and Bait Lahia city.

Ezz started the meeting by introducing Onevoice Movement vision of Ending the Israeli military occupation which started in 1967, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to the state of Israel. Ezz then moved to the issue of not allowing other states in the region in particular Iran & Syria to dictate for us Palestinians what to do. Ezz talked about the importance of delivering a message to our President Mahmood Abbas telling him to move forward with the direct negotiation with the state of Israel and to reach at least by the end of 2008 a comprehensive framework agreement with Israel’s Prime Minister Olmert.

Moafaq talked about the need to abandon violence as a mean to resist the Israeli military occupation, and adopting nonviolent methods to resist the occupation. he also introduced the notion of imagining 2018 if Palestine and Israel reached a peace agremment in 2008. Moafaq went on saying that Palestine will not be a poor state, but rather a rich state since Palestine will generate money from the religious tourism and from natural resources such as the gas mines off the shores of Gaza cost.

The participant told us that this is the first time that they actually hear something like this in Gaza. Usually what they hear is enticement against Israel and calls for revenge, the audience congratulated us on our brave decision to continue our public activities in Gaza and the majority asked us if they can become active members of the movement.

We explained to the participants that this meeting and other like it are only the beginning, and we are planing on holding a massive gathering sometimes this summer. Also, we told the participant to check our website and to add their comments to it..

David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, wrote about OneVoice on his blog.

Today Sherazad Hamit and I were in the Bay Area to discuss OneVoice’s campaign for 2008 with several of our supporters.

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  Our OneVoice team in Gaza continues to work with the local communities across Gaza – this last week in Gaza City – to build a human infrastructure of citizens committed to a two-state solution.