Pro-Israeli?
Just pro-peace.
More than five hundred Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost loved ones during half a century of Middle East conflict are calling for an end to violence.
As members of the Bereaved Families Forum (also known as the Parents Circle-Families Forum) they are working to build a framework for peace and reconciliation in the region. As well as supporting bereaved families, Forum members are sharing their grief, extending the hand of friendship and creating opportunities for dialogue between the two communities.
Many of them speak movingly of the moment they realised that despite their grief at the death of a child, a parent, a sister or a brother, it was better to build bridges with the other community than to search for revenge and generate more hatred.
Like them, our group – the UK Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum (FBFF) – believes that the tragic loss of life will come to an end only through both sides’ empathy and respect for each other’s pain.
We have been deeply affected by the work of the Forum and the courage of its members. We raise funds to help, offer moral support and work to increase awareness in the UK of the Forum’s activities.
Read more about the activities of the Forum’s Palestinian and Israeli members.
Encounter Point is a graphic documentary about some of the bereaved Palestinians and Israelis who have risked their own safety by pressing for an end to the conflict. You can see the trailer here.
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‘Could you hurt someone who has your blood running through his veins?’
This is the stark question posed by ‘Blood Relations’, a project designed to encourage Israelis and Palestinians to take the symbolic act of donating blood to each other.
Two members of the Bereaved Families Forum – one Palestinian and one Israeli – came to London in November for the UK launch of a short film about the project.
During their visit, Seham Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin (pictured above at the film launch in the ofices of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi) also lectured to students at the London School of Economics, spoke to a group of MPs at Westminster and addressed groups at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, Palmers Green Mosque and the New North London Synagogue.
Blood Relations arose from a competition launched last year by advertising agency Bauman Ber Rivnay – The Impossible Brief. This was an open invitation to all creative thinkers to come up with an innovative solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. People all over the world, including citizens from both sides, were invited to propose a solution to the decades-old conflict.
The proposals were reviewed by a panel of judges consisting of Palestinians and Israelis and the global Saatchi and Saatchi network. The most inspiring concepts were published as a book and sent to leaders around the world. From the hundreds of suggestions submitted, one idea was selected and brought to life: the Blood Relations project, proposed by Jean-Christophe Royer from France.
See entries in the Impossible Brief competition here. Watch the Blood Relations film here.
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‘Revenge? What for? It does not bring anyone back.’ (Photo: Paul Rogers)
Ali Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin speak to The Times, November 2009.
Read the article
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Patrons of UKFBFF:
Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury • Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi
Juliet Stevenson • Imam Dr Usama Hasan • Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg
Dr Amineh Hoti • Karen Armstrong • Huw Irranca-Davies MP
Lord Janner of Braunstone QC • Rabbi Lionel Blue
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Read the latest UKFBFF newsletter.
