Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Combatants for Peace

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Combatants for Peace (Hebrew: לוחמים לשלום‎‎; Arabic: مقاتلون من أجل آلسلام‎‎) is a bi-national, grassroots movement of Israelis and Palestinians who lead a non-violent struggle against the occupation, and support a peaceful solution for all peoples in Israel and Palestine. The movement was formed in 2006 by Palestinians and Israelis who had taken an active role in the cycle of violence, and decided to drop their arms and work together to promote a peaceful solution through dialogue and non-violent action. Originally, the activists on both sides were solely ex-combatants: the Israelis as soldiers in the Israeli army and the Palestinians as participants in the violent struggle for Palestinian freedom. Today, members of the movement include also men and women who have never taken an active role in the violent struggle.

Contents

For over a decade The Combatants have embodied and served as a model for the humanistic values of freedom, democracy, security and dignity for all. Combatants for Peace is a strong binational community - a community that exemplifies viable cooperation: co-resistance to the occupation and violence on all sides, and forms the basis for future co-existence. Through joint nonviolence in the present, The Combatants lay the foundation for a nonviolent future.

Mission

  • Build an ever-expanding Palestinian-Israeli joint activist community based upon CfP’s bi-national regional groups that embody our vision and serve as a model for both societies and their future.
  • Motivate a broad and effective bi-national, non-violent activity promoting freedom and security for both peoples in their homeland.
  • Change attitudes on a wide scale, both within the Israeli and Palestinian public, as well as with governmental decision makers

    • Activities

  • Holding ex-combatants' meetings, allowing each side to understand the other's narrative.
  • Holding in-house meetings and educational lectures in public forums on both sides (universities, youth groups, schools etc.).
  • Direct actions and protests against the policy of occupation and its outcomes such as road blockings, house demolitions, limitations on Palestinian farmers and confiscation of land by Israeli settlers.
  • Organizing joint daytrips and educational tours of Israelis to the West Bank.
  • Solidarity actions such as joint olive harvests and agricultural work, to help Palestinian farmers who have difficulties in working their lands near army posts and Jewish settlements.
  • Producing special events such as the joint Memorial Day ceremony for victims of the conflict on both sides: Palestinian and Israeli.
  • Providing information and raising public awareness globally through media and international lecture tours.

    • Combatants for Peace has organized a series of meetings between veterans from both sides, most taking place in East Jerusalem in the early years, but have expanded now into seven local bi-national groups operating between Tulkarm-Tel Aviv, Nablus-Tel Aviv, Ramallah-Tel Aviv, Jerusalem-Jericho, Jerusalem-Bethlehem, Beersheva-Hebron and in the North. Additionally, Combatants for Peace now organizes two region-wide Israeli-Palestinian bi-national groups, a Theater of the Oppressed group and women's group. They also participate in humanitarian aid work, including rebuilding demolished playgrounds and houses in the West Bank.

    Press

    A movie was recently made about the work Combatants For Peace is doing, called Disturbing the Peace. The movie is being screened throughout Israel, Palestine, the United States and Europe. Combatants for Peace, and their film, have been widely praised in the International media. They have been interviewed on CNN had a front page article in the New York Times won the first ever Ebert Humanitarian Award, had several articles featured on the BBC, was featured in the Huffington Post and LA Times and been featured on the front page of the Jerusalem Post.

    Awards

    Combatants for Peace has won a series of prestigious awards for their nonviolent, joint activism including:

  • The "Search for Common Ground" Award in 2007.
  • Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey in 2009.
  • The 2009 Euro-Med Dialogue Award Winner.
  • The Livia Foundation Conflict Resolution Award.
  • The Tufts Global Leadership Award
  • The Anna Lindh Euro-Med Award for the Dialogue between Cultures.
  • The IIE Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East, awarded to Bassam Aramin and Avner Wishnitzer, co-founders of Combatants for Peace.
  • The Ben Gurion University Berlson Award.
  • The Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze award for non-violence.

    • Israeli author Jonathan Kis-Lev praised the organization in his book "My Quest For Peace", and author Donna Perry dedicated her book "The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Movement: Combatants for Peace" to the organization.

    Their message is simple: "We refuse to be enemies, and both Jews and Arabs who used to be enemies do not need to be anymore”.

    References

    Combatants for Peace Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA