Three women, one voice for peace: Group seeks to bridge Israeli-Palestinian divide

By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer | Friday, May 4, 2007 12:56 AM PDT ∞

POWAY -- A trio of young women from both Israel and Palestine challenged a Jewish audience in Poway last week with the question: "What are you going to do to end the conflict?"

Representatives from OneVoice, an international group representing Israelis and Palestinians, visited Temple Adat Shalom to appeal for help curbing "violent extremism" in Israel and Palestine.

"Our goal is to end the conflict with a negotiated two-state solution," said Adee Telem, OneVoice's outreach director for the western United States.

OneVoice has close to 300,000 members, almost equally divided between Israelis and Palestinians, and has offices in Tel Aviv, the West Bank, Gaza and New York, she said.

The group is in the middle of a campaign to revive what they see as comatose peace negotiations, Telem said. The campaign will culminate with worldwide demonstrations in September, she said.

"We are not a 'peace and love' group," Telem said. "We are making an appeal to nationalistic self-interest on both sides."

Michal Blinder, from Jerusalem, and Aya Hijazi, from Ramallah, West Bank, both said their experiences with violence drove them to join OneVoice, even though they were tempted to become bitter and give up.

Blinder, 27, said she was working as a waitress in Jerusalem in 2001 when a suicide bomber struck a Sbarro restaurant across the street, killing 15 and wounding 130.

She described the horrible scene as a "reality check" after she had returned from travels in Central and South America, following her service with the Israeli Air Force.

Blinder now works on a OneVoice program where Israeli and Palestinian youth exchange video diaries, she said.

Hijazi, a 21-year-old university student, said that when the Israel military invaded Ramallah in 2002, her father had to pull her to the floor to protect her from bullets going through their house. Soon after, a friend was beaten to death by an Israeli soldier while trying to protect his mother, she said.

Rather than protest in the street or blow herself up in response, she became a legal aid worker for Palestinians in Israeli jails, she said.

The trio's visit was part of the temple's annual "social action" shabbat service, temple administrator Jane Friedman said.

Rayna Colton, the temple's social action chairwoman, said she was inspired to ask OneVoice to visit after hearing about the group from the sister of its founder, entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky. Colton said she was pleased with the turnout of roughly 200 at the temple.

After their speeches, the OneVoice trio were deep in conversation with young temple members.

"We want to expand our presence in California," Telem said. "It's important for us to get backing in the diaspora," the group of Jewish people living outside Israel.

For an organization that describes itself as "grass roots," OneVoice has an impressive list of backers and advisers, such as Irwin Jacobs of Qualcomm, Craig Newmark of craigslist and Dennis Ross, a former State Department negotiator.

Learn more at onevoicemovement.org.

-- Contact staff writer Quinn Eastman at (760) 740-5412 or qeastman@nctimes.com.

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