Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy (MEND) promotes active nonviolence and encourages alternatives to violence among youth and adults throughout Palestine. MEND employs innovative methods, especially with the media, and is widely respected for working with authenticity, professionalism and courage. Recently there has been a growing interest in alternatives to violence even at the level of long-term political activists. In fact these activists and community leaders have specifically expressed their dissatisfaction with the cycle of violence and its results, and requested information and training for active nonviolence. MEND, having built its reputation on a holistic and creative approach to violence in schools, has taken this approach further to reach the general population. Working through film, the internet, radio, bumper stickers, posters, and news advertisements, MEND has changed the local attitude to nonviolence from one of scepticism or dismissal (when MEND was first established in 1998) to one of interest and appreciation - so that now even the Palestinian President talks about nonviolence. If there can be a visible nonviolence movement, this will give hope to all those on both sides who fear the cycle of violence and cannot see any partners for peace. MEND is expanding rapidly with the burgeoning interest in nonviolence, and now consists of the headquarters in East Jerusalem, and eight regional centres for active nonviolence and eleven community centres/libraries. As an active member in the Arab Partnership for Conflict Prevention and Human Security, MEND is also rapidly becoming a regional organization. MEND is registered in three locations: England (since July 2005) - launched Nov.14 2005 at the London School of Economics The West Bank/PA areas (since August 2004) Israel (as an "amuta' - since February 1998) MEND has no political affiliations and its sole political goal is to promote peace in the Middle East. MEND does not discriminate - women and men of a wide range of nationalities, religions and political affiliation work and have worked with us. MEND incorporates gender awareness in all its projects. The Core Staff at MEND:
We work with many experts on a contract basis and have built up a wide and highly professional network over the years of both Palestinians and internationals. We welcome volunteers throughout the year. The Board of Trustees:
MEND is a Catalyst for Empowerment and Social Transformation
While MEND works holistically towards peace, and more specifically towards empowering Palestinians, both individually and collectively, towards raising awareness of choice and towards rekindling hope, the work is based on four organizational pillars, capacity building, outreach, media, and education, around a core pillar of nonviolence education. The capacity building is an essential component in working to promote democracy and nonviolence, as it helps people to fulfill their potential and to function better together in a more participatory way: MEND’s trainings and community centres/libraries and also the work with schools, fit within this context. MEND trains in the method of participatory video, which increases self- awareness and crucial planning capacity, at the same time as imparting video skills. MEND is a member of the Society of Organisational Learning. Outreach is essential through publications and media in order to reach the many and increasingly isolated communities in this tiny country; because of the actual physical barriers (many population centres are completely enclosed by the “separation barrier”) that prevent people leaving their places of residence. For the same reason, media is essential in order to reach the entire population as effectively as possible; by working with media to raise awareness both inside the country among Palestinians on issues of nonviolence, gender, etc., as a source of help and support in times of crisis, as an example, and also outside the country to articulate the needs and concerns and the humanity of the Palestinians. For instance, one of MEND’s most successful campaign has been with bumper stickers in Arabic and English, and in Hebrew and English, with the same slogans in each language, which reach across the common human concerns of both peoples; e.g. “What about our Children?” Finally, it is only via extensive work with the education system that future generations will be given the best chance of taking an active part in creating the future they would like to live. MEND’s materials are distributed via the Ministry of Education and the UNRWA and all our training work is coordinated with these key educational institutions. All these are organized around the core values of self-awareness and empowerment.
Our overall goal is to build a peaceful future in this region and this therefore involves work outside the Palestinian community, as well as inside. One of the most important, but very difficult obstacles to overcome, is the image of the Palestinians as terrorists. This image is not only utterly unfair, but in feeding into Israeli fears, it undermines any possibilities for peace and perpetuates the cycle of violence; polls show that over 70% pf both Israelis and Palestinians would opt for a two state solution and see the major problem as lack of trust; it is these majorities that need to be reached and satisfied, and allowed to live the normal life they crave, not the few extremists. At MEND we are working to change the negative stereotypes by raising our profile internationally and by giving talks and distributing our films abroad. We have also started to develop a nonviolence network regionally, starting via a consultation on nonviolence with women from all over the Middle East, and as co-founders of the Arab Partnership for Conflict Prevention and Human Security. As founding members of the Global Nonviolent Peaceforce, our core staff, the four regional coordinators and one of our board members are now (from October 20 – November 4th) participating in a regional training and networking initiative with Nova and the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
The power of nonviolence has been demonstrated many times during the previous century, and as wars affect more civilians and become more potentially devastating, its importance is increasingly acknowledged. Given the overwhelming balance of military power in favour of Israel, nonviolence is the only possible way for Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation. In the context of this conflict (“the stone in the shoe of the world”) the vicious cycle of violence and violent reactions can only be broken by a total refusal to continue in that cycle; by a refusal to be provoked into violent reaction, however strong the emotional need, and by channelling the necessary reactions into nonviolent activities. The occupation has lasted thirty-nine years; the first war between Israelis and Palestinians was over fifty years ago, and although in general Jews and Arab Christians and Arab Moslems all lived their lives in reasonable harmony up until that war, with each day the current conflict continues, the fears and the anger fester more, and the violence is more likely to erupt uncontrollably and to be reacted to (both for and against) equally uncontrollably. |

