Palestinian Voices: Huda Abuarquob and Nivine Sandouka, ALLMEP

Zoomcast Notes: November, 2022

Warmest thanks to Huda Abuarquob and Nivine Sandouka for a passionate presentation on the peace building work they are doing with ALLMEP--Alliance for Middle East Peace.

Find out more about ALLMEP at https://www.allmep.org/ and explore the ALLMEP initiatives Huda and Nivine described at the following links:

https://www.allmep.org/our-work/meppa/

https://www.allmep.org/scalehub

https://www.allmep.org/alumhub

https://www.alllmep.org/global-advocacy

Summary of Huda and Nivine’s Major Points:

…we need to find ways of talking to one another, not isolating out of fear

…we’re engaged in non-violent co-resistance and peace building

…median age of people in Gaza and the West Bank is around 16 to 20 years old. We must engage them in new narratives. We are stuck in narratives of the past which serve neither Palestinians nor Israelis.

… we must learn to listen to one another. People need to be seen, to be acknowledged. This is especially true for young Palestinians who feel--and often are--invisible to outsiders

…everyone needs to be included--settlers as well.

…we want to move from a binary way of seeing the world to a circular, inclusive view

…it doesn’t matter if we end up with one state, two states, a confederation: if we treat people as equals, the political situation will resolve; look to Northern Ireland and Liberia and the work women peace builders have done for models of how to move forward

…we must take risks to build peace; can’t let our youth on both sides keep moving to the extremes

…there are no honest brokers helping to bring peace

…we must find a third narrative; make space for those hijacked by dysfunctional, confrontational stories

…the outside world must listen to Palestinians and Israelis who live there

…we need to be carriers of peace; we are engaged in conflict transformation

…nations and people need to be held accountable for ways in which their funding makes things worse and heightens dissension and conflict

…continuing the conversation with others is a vital step towards changing the conflict-based narrative. We each have a role in peace building

…getting to mutual understanding of differences as well as common ground is in the interests of a better life for both Palestinians and Israelis.

The Stones You See

Report on Zimbabwe's Cyclone

Meeting with the survivors and examining the rubble covering the residential places where homes were destroyed and lives were lost was heartbreaking. Most of the survivors are failing to cope with the trauma. Whilst several humanitarian organizations are distributing aid and offering counseling services,  the interventions  lack proper coordination.

There are so many people needing help who are left neglected. Some are drowning their pain and sorrows in abusing drugs and alcohol. At one of the shelters we visited, most of the young men and women including some elderly folk were heavily drunk. Women and children comprise approximately 80% of the people who died or are still missing. They were either swept off by the floods or  covered in mudslides that were subsequently covered by huge stones which emerged from the ground as top soil layers had been swept off by the unusually heavy rains.

Most painful is  that the two places extensively impacted were settlements  erroneously set up by the city council in places well known to be waterways. These places had been designated as unfit for human settlement during the colonial era, However, after Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, the local city council authorities disregarded these regulations and proceeded to permit residential building there. All the houses along the two waterways were wiped out and most of the residents were either swept off into the ocean or severely injured. A few survivors remained with absolutely nothing--food, shelter, clothing all gone. All that remains are the huge stones covering the place  they used to call home. 

Sophie Chirongoma, July 2019