About MEND
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.
In light of the victory of Hamas in the recent Palestinian elections,
Palestinians risk more than ever being collectively dismissed as violent and
impossible to talk with.
For the past few years, however, there has been a growing interest in
alternatives to violence even at the level of long-term political activists. In fact
these activists, 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 via films, with radio, with bumper stickers and posters and
news advertisements, MEND has changed the local attitude to nonviolence
from one of skepticism 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.
The interest and the movement that MEND has promoted can and must be
developed at this critical time. 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's main focus at the moment is on the consolidation of the active
nonviolence centres and their full integration into the central structure of
MEND, and on the development and again integration of all the work with
youth.
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:
Lucy Nusseibeh (Founder and Director – MA Oxford, MA Harvard,
2004-2006 Senior Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Programme,
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University).
Fakhira Haloun (Coordinator/Trainer for the project “Towards a Culture of
Tolerance and Co-Existence – Conflict Resolution expert)
Hodoub Allan (Finance Officer)
Osama Abu Karsh (Ramallah/youth coordinator)
Hejazi Jaaberi (Hebron/southern coordinator)
Yacoub Rujoub (Izariyya/youth coordinator)
Nour Shahadeh (Tul Karem/Northern region coordinator)
Adel Ruished (Board Member, Monitoring Committee, MBA Al-Quds University)
Lozan Diazdara (secretary and finance assistant)
Elias Abu Rakabeh (office manager)
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 and in November we will have two new volunteers,
Nancy Mahmood, part-time, who will be helping with fund-raising and local
publicity, and Gianfabrizio Ladini from Italy, who will be helping generally in
the office.
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES:
Dr. Marwan Abu Zalaf, Editor-in-Chief, Al-Quds Newspaper
Dr. Jantien Dajani, Paediatrician and Director, Spafford Children’s Centre
Adel Ruished, Government Relations, Al-Quds University,
Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, Director PECDAR – former Minister of Housing
Ambassador Hind Khoury, Palestinian Ambassador to France
Ali Hassoune, Director, Ministry of NGO Affairs
Suheil Omary, Director, Acre Children’s centre
MEND IS A CATALYST FOR EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIAL
TRANSFORMATION
How We Work:
Four Organisational Principles: Capacity Building, Outreach, Media,
Education.
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 Goals:
Peace Via Breaking the Stereotypes, regionally and internationally
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 ane
networking initiative with Nova and the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
Our Justification:
The Potential and Need for Nonviolence Now
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 channeling 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.
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.
In light of the victory of Hamas in the recent Palestinian elections,
Palestinians risk more than ever being collectively dismissed as violent and
impossible to talk with.
For the past few years, however, there has been a growing interest in
alternatives to violence even at the level of long-term political activists. In fact
these activists, 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 via films, with radio, with bumper stickers and posters and
news advertisements, MEND has changed the local attitude to nonviolence
from one of skepticism 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.
The interest and the movement that MEND has promoted can and must be
developed at this critical time. 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's main focus at the moment is on the consolidation of the active
nonviolence centres and their full integration into the central structure of
MEND, and on the development and again integration of all the work with
youth.
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:
Lucy Nusseibeh (Founder and Director – MA Oxford, MA Harvard,
2004-2006 Senior Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Programme,
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University).
Fakhira Haloun (Coordinator/Trainer for the project “Towards a Culture of
Tolerance and Co-Existence – Conflict Resolution expert)
Hodoub Allan (Finance Officer)
Osama Abu Karsh (Ramallah/youth coordinator)
Hejazi Jaaberi (Hebron/southern coordinator)
Yacoub Rujoub (Izariyya/youth coordinator)
Nour Shahadeh (Tul Karem/Northern region coordinator)
Adel Ruished (Board Member, Monitoring Committee, MBA Al-Quds University)
Lozan Diazdara (secretary and finance assistant)
Elias Abu Rakabeh (office manager)
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 and in November we will have two new volunteers,
Nancy Mahmood, part-time, who will be helping with fund-raising and local
publicity, and Gianfabrizio Ladini from Italy, who will be helping generally in
the office.
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES:
Dr. Marwan Abu Zalaf, Editor-in-Chief, Al-Quds Newspaper
Dr. Jantien Dajani, Paediatrician and Director, Spafford Children’s Centre
Adel Ruished, Government Relations, Al-Quds University,
Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, Director PECDAR – former Minister of Housing
Ambassador Hind Khoury, Palestinian Ambassador to France
Ali Hassoune, Director, Ministry of NGO Affairs
Suheil Omary, Director, Acre Children’s centre
MEND IS A CATALYST FOR EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIAL
TRANSFORMATION
How We Work:
Four Organisational Principles: Capacity Building, Outreach, Media,
Education.
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 Goals:
Peace Via Breaking the Stereotypes, regionally and internationally
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 ane
networking initiative with Nova and the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
Our Justification:
The Potential and Need for Nonviolence Now
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 channeling 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.
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