Jews did not return to their ancient homeland to oppress the Palestinian people, and Palestinians did not resist the creation of a Jewish state out of hatred of the Jews. The NSP is both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. Both sides have a right to live in peace with justice and dignity, both sides are victims of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Israelis from their long history of oppression and genocide in Europe and active discrimination in Arab and Muslim lands for hundreds of years, Palestinians from the devastation of the Nakba in 1948 and ongoing acts of oppression by the Israeli government) and so often act in ways that sustain fears about them from the other side. Both peoples need empathy, compassion and healing if any political solution is going to work.
– Rabbi Michael Lerner
Welcome to our Peace and Reconciliation in Israel and Palestine page. We have various resources that we believe will be helpful to you. We will continue to update this page.
Resources
Embracing Israel/Palestine, by Rabbi Michael Lerner
Embracing Israel/Palestine’s Accompanying Study Guide
A Jewish Renewal Understanding of the State of Israel
Mourning for a Judaism Being Murdered by Israel
What Terms for a Middle East Peace Would Actually Work
Inspiring Videos and Conference Calls on Israel/Palestine
Listen to a call with Uri Avnery, chair of the Israeli peace movement Gush Shalom and prior member of the Knesset, conducted by Rabbi Michael Lerner and Cat Zavis regarding the Israel/Gaza War in Summer 2014.
Listen to a call with Sami Awad, from Bethlehem, Palestine on the Israel/Gaza War in Summer 2014. Sami Awad is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust (HLT), a Palestinian non-profit organization that he founded in 1998 in Bethlehem. HLT works with the Palestinian community at both the grassroots and leadership levels in developing nonviolent approaches that aim to end the Israeli occupation and build a future founded on the principles of nonviolence, equality, justice, and peaceful coexistence.
Healing Israel/Palestine, Rabbi Michael Lerner, National Chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives and editor of Tikkun magazine, talks about the NSP’s vision for how to heal Israel and Palestine.
Watch Rabbi Michael Lerner on CNN, where he discussed his insights into the Israel/Gaza War.
Watch Rabbi Michael Lerner at the JStreet Conference discuss the Egyptian uprisings and finding ways to infuse compassion into a global political ethos and movement.
Israel/Palestine Workshop – Communicating Across Differences
Rabbi Michael Lerner and Cat J. Zavis, executive director of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, mediator and trainer in empathic communication can provide trainings in your synagogue, mosque, place of worship or community in how to communicate about this issue in a compassionate and open-hearted way. One of the major challenges in communicating about this issue is that people are very polarized and operating from a deep place of fear. In order to be able to communicate across differences and divides, it is critical that people experience truly being heard and understood for their experience before they can be expected to open their hearts to a different perspective. Our training will provide an opportunity for deep empathic listening, healing and speaking as well as teaching you how to engage in the same. To change the discourse on this issue we need to change consciousness, that can only happen through empathic communication and healing. Click here to learn more about the training. If you are interested in having us come to your community, please email Cat at cat@spiritualprogressives.org.
Media
We encourage you to write letters to your media setting forth a compassionate approach to the situation that simultaneously acknowledges the uneven balance of power and the suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that both Palestinians and Jews experience. We will provide sample letters and talking points that you can use. You can also pull material from the resources above.