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Media coverage

BBC RADIO, 5 MARCH 2019

Asked by Nick Robinson on the ‘Today’ programme how he could devote himself to working for peace after his daughter had been killed by an Israeli soldier, Bassam Aramin said: ‘I have another five kids. They deserve to live in peace.

‘Yes, an Israeli soldier shot Abir. But 100 former Israeli soldiers came and built a garden at the school in her memory.

‘Israel didn't kill six million Palestinians and the Palestinians didn't kill six million Israelis. Now there are good relations between Israel and Germany. It's a matter of faith.’

Robi Damelin said that her views had been moulded by her experience of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.

‘If you had told me in 1967 when I came to Israel from South Africa that blacks and whites would be able to sit together in peace, that there wouldn't be a bloodbath, I would have said you were mad. Yet it happened. It was a miracle.

‘And it can happen for us too.’


SKY TV NEWS, 19 AUG 2013

‘Violence only brings more violence. Revenge, anger, doesn't bring loved ones back.’ Interview with FBFF Secretary Dr Chani Smith.

Watch video


THE GUARDIAN, AUGUST 2013

‘In the end there will be a peace agreement, that is absolutely clear. It will happen at the moment when the price of not having peace exceeds the price of having peace.’ – Rami Elhanan.

Read article


NEW YORK TIMES PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY 2013

‘When the army officers arrived I knew, because Yael always called after every suicide bombing. I could not stop crying for days, and I was so full of anger that I could explode.’ – Ben Kfir, bereaved father.

Ben, centre, was photographed in East Jerusalem in March 2013 with Dr Adel Misk, a Palestinian, whose 73-year-old father was killed by an Israeli settler in 1993. Nella Magen, right, lost her 32-year-old husband, Efi, who was shot down while serving in the Israeli Air Force in 1971. Photo: Rina Castelnuovo.

See photo slideshow


NEW YORK TIMES, 22 NOV 2012

‘You don’t need a curriculum to make you hate if you live in Gaza. And it is the same for Israeli children in Sderot…’

Read article


THE GUARDIAN, 25 NOV 2012

‘It’s very easy for both the Muslim and Jewish communities in the diaspora not to compromise; they’re not exactly put to the test every day.’ 

Read article


SKY TV NEWS, 21 NOV 2012

‘I wish Obama could help us find a solution…’ – Mazen Faraj and Robi Damelin.

Watch video


THE GUARDIAN, 19 JUNE 2012

‘If you travel with hopes and dreams, it will be easier’– Seham Abu Awwad.
From Hugh Muir’s account in The Guardian of a reception held in the Speaker’s House at Westminster on 19th June 2012

Read article


EMEL, DEC 2010

‘It is often difficult for us to meet; she lives in Israel and I in Palestine. There is a wall, checkpoints and Israeli soldiers that divide us. But our friendship is so established that no matter how many barriers we encounter, we will always find a way of keeping our friendship alive.

Read article


SUSSEX UNIVERSITY, 22 NOV 2010

‘If I kill someone in revenge, will that bring my baby back to me? And if I cause someone else pain, will that ease my own pain? Absolutely not.’ – Extract from pamphlet distributed at meeting hosted by Sussex University Students’ Union.

Read article


THE TIMES, NOV 2009

‘Revenge? What for? It does not bring anyone back.’

Read article


CHURCH TIMES, MAY 2009

‘Being a victim, there is so much pain… but giving up victimhood, there are so many responsibilities.’

Read article


THE GUARDIAN, 10 MAY 2009

‘She’s Israeli, he’s an Arab. War has made them like mother and son’.

Read article


CHURCH TIMES, DEC 2006

‘Why do they always concentrate on revenge? It encourages the extremist minority, and dehumanises the conflict. It also denies a voice to the majority on both sides who yearn for peace.’ – Chani Smith, Israeli-born musician and teacher.

Read article


BBC NEWS, 19 SEPT 2005

‘Pain equalises you and you start to listen and that’s when you start to understand.’

Read report

Published: 27th April, 2020

Updated: 15th June, 2020

Author: Peter Singer

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