Lucy Nusseibeh, Director of Mend

By the summer of 2006, MEND now has eight active non-violence groups, including one in Gaza and all of
them with committed groups of youth, Menders, trained in media as well as non-violence. MEND has become a
fully national organization and has also begun on the way to becoming regional and has already started to
distribute advocacy materials via this regional Arab network. The summary for the year of MEND from July 2005
to 2006 shows in particular the development and consolidation of the Menders. Starting in July 2005 with a trip
to Berlin where a group of ten Palestinian Menders met with nine Germans working in peer mediation at the
Kaupfstrasse School – (they also visited the Berlin Wall and compared it with the Separation Wall) and
completing this July with a summer camp in Beit Jala (Talitah Kumi) for nearly 70 young Menders from all over
the West Bank – the title of their project seems borne out – “Leading the way together”. In addition to their many
activities, plays, radio broadcasts etc, their work has been consolidated in a peer to peer training manual, and in
the films each group has produced via the method of participatory video. The youth have also participated in a
groundbreaking project exploring the possibilities for a curriculum towards a culture of tolerance and
coexistence. The centres have set an example via the commitment of the adults despite the changed political
climate and the lack of continuing funding – as they continue to organise trainings and in the case of Gaza,
open debates around the topic of non-violence. Mend’s slogan of “Smarter Without Violence” is becoming
increasingly widely known through the T-shirts and the bumper stickers and the poster of 198 methods of non-
violence (Gene Sharp), also through the help of the local authorities.
Newsletter
MEND UK
PO Box 51762, London, NW1 4QJ Tel: 0207 487 3419 Mend_UK@btinternet.com
What we’re up to…
Establishing a Non-violence Office in Gaza From October 2005 in
conjunction with the UNDP, this project will establish a centre from which
training courses and ideas can be implemented.
Leading the way together – in conjunction with
‘Save the Children’
From May 2006 Menders from each of the nine non-
violence centres across the West Bank and in Gaza
will participate in a summer camp in Beit Jala near
Bethlehem, giving them further training in media,
drama, participatory video and non-violence.
Following the camp each group will launch a
newsletter, radio series and website, as well as
working on an on-going film.
Towards A Culture of Tolerance and Coexistence
Started in September 2004 with support from the EU,
this joint Israeli-Palestine project is researching
violence, human rights and perception on both sides,
with the aim of creating a curriculum based on this
research. Through a formal agreement with the Ministry
of Education a text book shall be produced and spread
across schools. Seminars and summer camps shall be
run for the teachers and students respectively.
The Participatory Video (PV) Project – in
conjunction with the Ford Foundation.
Started in August 2004 groups of teenagers across
eight cities in Palestine will be trained to use video
cameras to film activities and events which will
enable them to express their ideas, aspirations and
hopes towards the future and contribute to their
communities through filming about occupation,
rights, archaeological and historical places.
The Active Nationwide Non-violence Network – funded
by the European Union and supported by the British
Consulate General and Development Cooperation
Ireland.
Over the course of the two year programme, eight non-
violence centres have been established all over the West
Bank. These centres provide training in non-violence,
human rights and conflict resolution as well as a venue
for people to participate in active non-violence. It is
hoped that we will be able to establish many more of
these centres across the Palestinian territories as well as
regionally.
MEND UK at Parliament

MEND UK launched at Parliament on July 4th with the former President of Ireland, Mary
Robinson, voicing her support to MEND and praised Lucy for her work in Palestine. Mrs
Robinson said “Those who share MEND's values of non-violence, personal responsibility and
civic pride are pioneers in the search for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East.” Mrs
Robinson also talked about the problems of terrorism and the dangers of the media
making “terrorism” synonymous with the Palestinians.

Figures from the world of politics and the media came to listen, including Rt. Hon Stephen
Timms MP, Marsha Singh MP, the Honourable Haifa Al-Kaylani Chair of the Arab Women’s
league and The Revd Anthony Ball.

Lucy Nusseibeh, director and founder of MEND, spoke movingly about the damaging
effects that the conflict is having on the children in Palestine through the absence of
hope and aspirations. Despite the conflict though, Lucy described the warmth she had
experienced from Palestinians.  She told one story of her car breaking down in the
Palestinian territories in the midst of a torrential downpour. Villagers appeared from
nowhere and began to help. One person asked where she was from and another replied,
“It’s obvious she is from the settlement over there.” They had helped her anyway.

Mrs Nusseibeh also highlighted the accomplishments we have made in Palestine through
the continued establishment of non-violence centres and projects like participatory
video training, a teen radio soap opera, as well as human rights and conflict resolution
education. All of these projects aim to reinvigorate young people and enable them to see
available alternatives. Lucy concluded: “Mend has been so successful that members of
Fatah have approached us to learn about non-violence, and the politicians now talk
about non-violence as a viable future.”

Ziyaad Lunat, a Portuguese LSE masters student who recently returned from Palestine,
spoke about his involvement in MEND’s community projects and how valuable the
experience was both to him and to the young children he bonded with.

We would like to give special thanks to our hosts Evan Harris MP, Mark Field MP and Kerry
McCarthy MP, and everyone else that came to listen to what Mend has accomplished and
hopes to achieve.
Glimpse of Hope
How Mend changes communities
Ahmed was a 13 year old boy living in Tul
karem.  Like many other Palestinian children
Ahmed belongs to a large and deeply
religious family. He felt unheard at home and
isolated at school. His dad worked all day to
feed the family and his mum focused on the
younger children. Life for Ahmad was mainly
attending school and the mosque and he
saw little meaning in anything outside of this.

On the first day of a Mend Participatory
Video training workshop, Ahmed was
withdrawn and uncomfortable. He found it
hard to integrate with the rest of the group
and did not understand why he was there,
and what value learning new skills might
have. He did not want to be there.

As the training sessions went on, Ahmed
went from being skeptical to enjoying the
course. He started interacting with
everyone else in the group and embraced
the new skills he was learning. The joy and
sense of confidence he discovered through
MEND's help has made Ahmed feel like a
productive member of his community.
Among many other activities, he now
volunteers for MEND. MEND has helped
many children and teens like Ahmed.  
Volunteering for MEND in Palestine
Julie Norman
As a summer intern with MEND, I have had
the opportunity to visit many of MEND’s
projects, assisting with video trainings with
youth in Izariyeh, participating in human
rights discussions with teens in Hebron,
observing drama workshops with children
in Nablus, and more.  MEND engages youth
in conversations about nonviolence,
human rights, and conflict resolution in
innovative ways that emphasize
empowerment and expression, especially
through the use of participatory media.  

With this creative spirit in mind, I spent the
majority of my time this summer reaching
out to community centers in the
Jerusalem and Bethlehem areas,
coordinating photography workshops with
different youth groups.  The youth receive
basic training with point-and-shoot film
cameras, and then take pictures in their
communities on topics that they choose,
such as human rights or daily life.  We then
use the youths’ photos to discuss these
topics on the personal and societal
levels.  We are planning exhibits of the
photos in the centers at the completion of
the project, as well as the development
of a website.  The idea is to use arts as a
form of expression and empowerment on
the one hand, and secondly to use the
photographs as a means of advocacy and
nonviolent activism.

So far the project is off to a good start,
with the youth having completed their
initial trainings and beginning to take
pictures on their own at home.  Some of
the youth have never used a camera
before, while others with more experience
have said that this is the first time they
have used photography to document
their own lives and communities.  Indeed,
we are all learning from the project, me
perhaps most of all, as the youths’ photos
allow them to share their stories with
others in a unique way.  While working
hard and learning a lot, we are all having
fun with the project, and I look forward to
continuing working and learning with them
in the upcoming weeks.  
Dear Friends...
Gillian Mosely, Trustee of Mend UK

Today Mend celebrates its first birthday in the UK. Set up as an organisation intended to support Mend Palestine’
s projects focusing on children and youths, we have taken our first baby steps. Our official launch in November
2005 was held at the LSE with a panel on children and women in Palestine. Hind Khoury, then parliament
minister for Jerusalem lead a panel which included anthropologist and Mend UK trustee Jonathan Benthall,
Lucy Nusseibeh founder of Mend and Dana Abdul Fatah, who spoke movingly about her participation in a
variety of Mend projects. In addition to giving Mend a face in the UK, we were able to send money to maintain
the Menders newsletter for six months. Information evenings followed in March ’06 at my home in St James,
London, in May at Oxford University, in June at the home of Martine and Peter Halban, who generously gave us
a wonderful evening, and, an event hosted by Jews for Justice for Palestine. In addition in April, indie bands
‘The Deptford Beach Babes’ and ‘Naked Ruby’ played a packed benefit gig for us. This was all crowned by the
parliamentary event in July. As a result these evenings we were also able to sponsor a youth/conflict resolution
training session conducted by Gerald Coyningham in Tul Karem.
So what now? We are planning a series of dedicated fundraising events from an acoustic gig, to a classical
concert, ‘debate fundraising dinners’, and a charity party among others. With these, we hope to make a far more
substantial contribution to the work of Mend in Palestine, with children and teens, aimed at making a peaceful
future real. In today’s environment, the work of Mend is needed more than ever!
Mend UK would like to thank Lucy Nusseibeh and everyone in the Jerusalem office, as well as Professor Mary Kaldor and her department at the LSE, and all
of our volunteers for all of their help in making Mend UK an active reality.