OneVoice presentation tackles Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Dalia Labadi, the program director of OneVoice Town Hall meetings in Israel spoke at the presentation and question-and-answer session at Western Michigan University’s Bernhard Center during International Education Week. OneVoice International Education Program is a grassroots group working to end violence between Israelis and Palestinians. (Jo Wei Looi/Western Herald)

Maran Subramain, an International Programming intern for the Haenicke Institute for Global Education, attended the One Voice International Education Program. OneVoice, an international grassroots group, visited Western Michigan University’s campus Tuesday during International Education Week. (Jo Wei Looi/Western Herald)

By Kayle Dembowski
Western Herald

OneVoice hosted a presentation to discuss the Israeli Palestinian conflict and potential solutions to help end the conflict on Nov. 17.

The OneVoice Movement is an international mainstream grassroots movement that aims to amplify the voice of Israeli and Palestinian moderates, empowering them to seize back the agenda for conflict resolution and demand that their leaders achieve a two-state solution guaranteeing the end of occupation, establish a viable independent Palestinian state, and ensure the safety and security of the state of Israel — allowing both people to live in peace with all their neighbors.

The event had two main speakers, Arwa AbdelRahman and Guy Lupo. AbdelRahman is a OneVoice Youth Leader in Palestine.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in radio and telecommunication broadcasting and a master’s degree in internationalization and communication.

AbdelRahman explained that she didn’t really get involved with OneVoice until it launched its, “What are you willing to do to end the conflict?” campaign in 2006, which aims to get the public more involved in trying to end the conflict.

“I felt like everyone is somewhat responsible for ending the conflict,” AbdelRahman said.

AbdelRahman also said that in order to end the conflict there will need to be compromises from both Israelis and Palestinians.

“In order to achieve peace there has to be compromises, compromises from both sides,” AbdelRahman said.

After AbdelRahman’s spoke, Lupo explained how he got involved in OneVoice.

“I really didn’t feel I had an influence to end the conflict but then I came to a seminar for OneVoice and they really discussed issues that are at the heart of the conflict,” he said.

Lupo is a OneVoice Youth Leader from Tel Aviv. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in information systems engineering.

He said that initially, as a child the conflict really didn’t have a strong impact on him.

“My father was a bus driver who knew a lot of Palestinians.

As a kid I wasn’t even really aware of the conflict,” he said.

Lupo said that it wasn’t until he served in the military, that he got more in touch with his family’s history and the conflict.

He said that his uncle once went hitchhiking and was picked up by several Palestinians driving a van, who then murdered his uncle with an axe.

After the presentations Lupo and AbdelRahman went on to discuss the town meetings they have helped conduct for the OneVoice movement and what impact it has on the people.

“We are giving the populations the tools, the talk, the understanding to achieve a solution to the conflict,” Lupo said.

For more information visit OneVoice’s Web site at www.onevoicemovement.org.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 18 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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