Hundreds participate in Israeli-Palestinian Freedom March

[Israeli]

The protesters marched towards road 60 and walked all the way to the tunnels checkpoint, separating Bethlehem area from Jerusalem.

Checkpoint.. (photo credit:COMBATANTS FOR PEACE)

Some 600 Israelis and Palestinians participated on Friday in the 'Israeli-Palestinian Freedom March,' held by the Tunnels Checkpoint at the West Bank.

They called for "a better future for both people, a future of peace, justice and equality." The demonstration, marking the tenth year anniversary of Combatants for Peace was organized in cooperation with Standing Together.

The march started from the entrance of Battir village south of Bethlehem. The protesters marched towards road 60 and walked all the way to the tunnels checkpoint, separating Bethlehem area from Jerusalem.

During the march, accompanied by IDF forces, activists and members of Combatants for Peace used hand-made puppets to close the road and then used it during the protest as they chanted anti-occupation slogans and demanded "the end of occupation and the establishment of peace."

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Hundreds-participate-in-Israeli-Palestinian-Freedom-March-460552

[Israeli]

1. 500 Israelis and Palestinians to hold Grassroots Negotiating Congress in Tel Aviv

21/07/16

Rothschild Boulevard, opposite Habima Theater, Friday, July 22, 2016, 10 am – 4 pm. The largest in the series of grassroots negotiations organized by “Minds of Peace”:will take place on Friday, July 22, in downtown Tel Aviv. No less than 500 people – half of them Israelis, half Palestinians – will sit down for six hours on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, to discuss all issues of the prolonged conflict and try to reach a solution.

The format remains essentially the same as at several earlier such events: Each congress invites an Israeli delegation and a Palestinian delegation to negotiate solutions to the conflict. The negotiations are conducted in front of an audience which is invited to participate in the peacemaking process. This time, with 250 Israelis and 250 Palestinians involved, there will be 20 tables plus a plenary table.

Over the past month, organizers had made considerable efforts to get permits for the West Bank Palestinian participants to enter Israel and attend the Tel Aviv event. This was far from easy. Unfortunately, it proved virtually impossible to get permits for Gazans who wanted to take part, and their voice will be missing from this event.

Obviously, neither delegation is in any way empowered or authorized to actually negotiate and reach a binding agreement. Rather, the purpose of this event – as of previous ones – is to show that unofficial Israelis and unofficial Palestinians, representing a wide cross-section of the grassroots of their respective societies, can sit down in amity, tackle even the most difficult issues and reach agreement – even under the present highly inauspicious conditions of violence, bloodshed and deep mutual distrust.

Continued @
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1469101104/

[Little Tich]

2. If average Israelis can do it, then perhaps if there are politicians who are just as brave,

there could be peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Just a thought...

[Israeli]

3. That is just one example Little Tich.....

.........there are many grass roots movements .........here is another one :

Circles of hope

Op-ed: Following the litany of horrors in Jerusalem's recent past—Shira Banki, the Dawabsheh family, Mohammed Abu Khdeir—the Yerushalmit Movement has called on the public to take back the capital and make it a meeting place for understanding.

Tehila Friedman|Published: 21.07.16 ,

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4831526,00.html

There were teens who passionately explained that Jerusalem needs to be only for Jews, and they suddenly discovered that they were sitting in a circle of immigrant teens who were not Jewish according to Halacha (Jewish law). And for one joyous moment, they were completely confused. There were old Yemenites that joined in singing in Arabic with Arabs from the east of the city. There were so many different vignettes and stories, funny and scary. And always very meaningful.

It's still not completely clear what took place there in the square. A public therapy session? A public mechanism to relieve stress and pressure? It's uncertain. The only thing that is clear is that we made contact there with a large need of people to talk. To get to know each other. To look each other in the eyes.

Shira was stabbed on July 31, 2015, and she died three days later. However, we mark today, at Jerusalem's Pride parade, together with her family, the anniversary of her death and a year to continuing the discussion in the square. We'll mark it the only way we can: Making Jerusalem into a massive meeting place with different circles. Between Jews and Arabs, rabbis and LGBT people, youth from the periphery and normative adults. Between everyone and everyone. We'll be at Zion Square and Maccabi Mutsri Square and in Menorah Park.

Jerusalem has a long history of zealotry and hatred. It also has the ability to become a place of meeting. And hope. This is our choice, and it's only dependent on us.

Tehila Friedman is a fellow at the Shaharit Foundation and a board member of the Yerushalmit Movement.

Our politicians, in general, are more interested in holding onto their power than doing anything
towards peace .