CRT Peacemakers in the News

Interfaith Activities in Northern Israel

On December 1, 2011, with the help of a CRT mini-grant, women of different faiths from the TRUST WIN (Women's Interfaith Network) in Israel fulfilled a promise they had made one year earlier. Last December, women leaders of different faiths surveyed the damage of the Carmel forest fire and vowed to replant trees in honor of the forty-four people who perished there. Under the leadership of Elana Rozenman, and with the cooperation of the Daliat al Carmel Community Center, TRUST-Emun held the Planting and Opening Ceremony of the Garden of the Mothers, planting forty-four trees and creating a permanent and serene symbol of the sisterhood of Christian, Druze, Jewish, and Muslim women who have worked together in the northern region for ten years.

The Garden of the Mothers will serve as a gathering place for women's interfaith activities in northern Israel . . . View the video on YouTube . . . Read the full article

CRT Supports Peacekeeping in Kenya

With support from the CRT, MPANZI conducted training for the Maasai and Gusii ethnic communities in the rural town of Kilgoris, Kenya in August 2011. Over 55 participants engaged in conflict mapping, relationship building, and the development of action plans for peace initiatives locally . . . Read the full report.

CRT Mini-Grants Program

CRT has launched a new “mini-grant” program to provide funding to projects working for peace in the Middle East and Africa . . . Read about the projects being funded in the CRT Newsletter.

YouTube video interview of Pat Westwater-Jong (Partially in Italian and partially in English)

Pat Westwater-Jong is interviewed at the opening of her exhibit "Courage and Compassion in the Holy Land" in Jerusalem on June 26, 2011. The exhibit is a project of bearing witness to and documenting Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others who are living and/or working nonviolently for peace and justice in Israel and the Palestinian Territories . . . View the video on YouTube

Teens Making a Difference: Study Circles in Action, Culture of Peace News Network, June 24, 2011

By Dr. Deri Joy Ronis. Dr. Ronis reviews the Study Circles in Healing Racism and Teaching Tolerance at Sarasota High School, a series of discussions funded by the Rotary Club of Sarasota Bay Foundation and the CRT . . . View the full article on the CPNN web site

New YouTube video features Women Reborn

Women Reborn, a social empowerment for Arab Women, was the inspiration of Ibtisam Mahameed, a religious Muslim woman from Fureidis, an Arab village in northern Israel. During the first 3 years, the program achieved 250 direct women beneficiaries and around 8,000 indirect beneficiaries. The program is supported in part by the CRT . . . View the new Women Reborn video on YouTube

Rabbi exends apologies for damaged Korans, Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2011

By Jonah Mandel and Erica Garner. For the third time in the past year Rabbi Menahem Froman paid a respectful visit to a vandalized West Bank mosque, allegedly damaged by Jewish arsonists, to extend apologies and deliver new Korans in the place of those damaged by flames in the Beit Fajar mosque . . . Read the article.

Praying for rain, Jerusalem Post, November 14, 2010

By Arieh O'Sullivan. Rabbis, imams and priests gather to pray for the end of seven-year drought in a valley near Jerusalem . . . Read the article.

Abu el-Hawa's guesthouse, Haaretz.com, October 8, 2010

By Shany Littman. A portrait of the wanderers, god-seekers and lost souls who live at
Abu el-Hawa's guesthouse alongside Lance Wolf, an American resident of the guesthouse who died on the streets of Jerusalem in August . . . Read the article.

Sufi Sheikh who preached nonviolence laid to rest, Jerusalem Post, June 3, 2010

By Lauren Gelfond Feldinger. We are saddened to announce the untimely death of Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari, on May 31st. Sheikh Bukhari was the co-director of the Jerusalem Peacemakers and founding member of the Abrahamic Reunion group of religious leaders. He was not only a close friend of CRT, but a unique spiritual leader who dedicated his life promoting peace, harmony and unity in Jerusalem, in the Middle East and the world. . . Read the article.

Peace cafe builds bridges of understanding. Middle East Peace News. January 18, 2010

By The Middle East Peace Civic Forum (initiator of the Middle East Project). Bethesda Jewish Congregation (BJC) and the Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church (BHPC) held a peace café January 17 which drew almost 100 community members . . . Read the article.

Woman Matters, WSLR Radio Show, December 29, 2009

By Jane Blanchard. Woman Matters host interviews CRT President Andrea Blanch on women and peacebuilding. . . Listen to the show.

Eliyahu McLean, is interviewed by Global Oneness Project December, 2009

Link to videos featuring Eliyahu McLean. . . Read the article.

Ibtisam Mahameed, is interviewed by Global Oneness Project December, 2009

Link to videos featuring Ibtisam Mahameed. . . Read the article.

The Human Spirit: Shop for Peace, Jerusalem Post, August 6, 2009

By Barbara Sofer. Award-winning journalist and CRT partner Barbara Sofer takes a humorous look at shopping as a road to peace, citing Elana Rozenman's work. . . Read the article.

CRT and Partners Call for Effective Diplomacy, August 5, 2009

The Middle East Project, of which CRT is a participant, held a news conference (see the conference) at the National Press Club to call on the Obama Administration to engage in vigorous diplomacy and to include civil society peacemakers in the diplomatic process. Speakers included Eliyahu McLean, co-founder of Jerusalem Peacemakers, and Matthew Lakenbach, CRT Communications Liason and Middle East Project Exec. Director. The Middle East Project is an initiative of the Middle East Peace Civic Forum.

Peace is Possible and Here’s How Middle East Project, May 17, 2009

CRT Executive Director Andrea Blanch and Communications Liaison Matthew Lakenbach, who is also the Executive Director of the Middle East Peace Civic Forum, recently addressed member of Congress, staffers, and community members on the importance of enhanced participation of civil society and interfaith leaders in the Middle East peace process. . . Read the article.

Eliyahu McLean: Building Interfaith Relationships (video), PBS, May 22, 2009

Eliyahu McLean of CRT-supported Jerusalem Peacemakers helps organize a movement called the Abrahamic Reunion (of which CRT Executive Director Andrea Blanch is a Member). McLean says relationships are moving forward, even if the peace process has been stalled. . . Read the article.

Palestinians are so often misinterpreted, Jewish Telegraph-UK, April 17, 2009

By Simon Yaffe. CRT’s Communications Liaison Matthew Lakenbach, who is also the Executive Director of the Middle East Peace Civic Forum, talks about prospects for peace and reconciliation as well as the growing interfaith peace movement. . . Read the article.

Jerusalem Peacemakers on Tour in the UK, Inspire Magazine, March 2009

Abrahamic union members Eliyahu McLean and Sheik Abdul Aziz Bukhari were traveling on tour in the UK in March to spread their message of peace and reconciliation and talk about the impact of the recent violence in Gaza and southern Israel. . . Read the article.

Can we change Hamas? It’s worth a try. Har'aretz, Jan 25, 2009.

By Rabbi Menachem Froman. Abrahamic Reunion member Menachem Froman analyzes the “Gaza War” from the perspective of the Torah. . . Read the article.