The project of the NGO consortium for spreading a culture of nonviolence concludes

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies organised a closing ceremony for the project “The gathering of civil institutions for spreading the culture of non-violence”, which aimed to spread the culture of non-violence and civil peace, strengthen the language of dialogue in Palestinian society, spread the culture and behaviours of dialogue and discussion as a civilised method in solving differences and disputes, and strengthen reconciliation and tolerance among the sons of the one people — in partnership with the FXB institution.

The ceremony was opened by Mr Omar Shaban, director of the Pal-Think institution, thanking the FXB institution and all the partner institutions that worked on carrying out the initiatives during the project's period and contributed to spreading the culture of non-violence — affirming the importance of continuing to spread the culture of non-violence, tolerance, and love and to renounce the concepts of hatred in Palestinian society. He likewise noted the necessity of carrying out sustainable projects that treat the issues of violence and increase the awareness of the institutions and individuals of the importance of the existence of a healthy environment free of violence.

For her part, Ms Sally al-Sammak, “the project coordinator”, presented the project's idea, goals, and stages of implementation, and affirmed that the Pal-Think institution worked during this project to support the implementation of 39 initiatives carried out in partnership with the civil institutions in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem — all these initiatives seeking to strengthen the culture of non-violence — and she spoke of the most prominent successes the project achieved.

The ceremony was interspersed with two sessions. The first session, moderated by Mr Wisam Qatanani — activities coordinator at the Arab Women for Jerusalem Association — was titled “The communal initiatives around the subject of non-violence and its effect on society's categories”.

During it, Mr Khaled Abu Jame of the Banaa Youth Centre spoke on the initiative “Together to strengthen the culture of non-violence in the schools”, making clear that their initiative focused on carrying out extracurricular activities inside the schools that strengthen the concepts of non-violence among schoolchildren, in addition to carrying out murals in the area east of Khan Younis

Ms Faten Abu Harb of the Youth and Environment Association likewise spoke on the initiative “We are all family”, which worked to strengthen solidarity and social interconnection in the city of Deir al-Balah, through carrying out evenings discussing social issues.

As for Ms Adeen Dhafer of the Al-Awda Centre for Childhood Rehabilitation in Tulkarm, she spoke via Skype on the initiative “Strengthening the culture of dialogue within the Tulkarm community”, and made clear that this initiative worked to strengthen the concepts of dialogue through raising a set of the issues and problems that face Palestinian youth related to social and economic rights — by carrying out and holding youth debates that support the peaceful solutions to these issues.

As for the second session, which was titled “The role of civil society institutions in facing violence and spreading the culture of non-violence”, Ms Maysa al-Sultan of the Palestinian Institute for Communication and Development spoke on the idea of the initiative “Ask and Share”, which discussed the issue of the right of access to information and its importance, it being counted among the most important human rights.

For her part, Ms Reem Radwan of the Arab Centre — Nashit spoke on the AOA initiative for non-violence, noting that this initiative came from the standpoint of the negative phenomena spread at the level of the Palestinian street.

She added: “We followed the cluster methodology in this initiative and worked on limiting violence, critical analysis, and determining the kind of intervention necessary for our society.” This initiative targeted 12 activists who received guidance trainings and took part in dialogue sessions on non-violence and passed these experiences to a group of adolescents; communal activities were carried out afterwards with the municipalities, women, and youth. Among this initiative's outputs was the carrying out of a number of murals and the writing of articles and short stories, all discussing the issues of violence in Palestinian society.

As for Mr Sami al-Bahdari of the Solidarity Charitable Association, he spoke of the initiative “A tolerant society”, carried out in the Shabura neighbourhood in the city of Rafah. He mentioned the most prominent challenges facing the civil institutions generally and affirmed the efforts that must be exerted in this regard, and made clear that the initiative carried out by their institution worked to train a group of pioneers to produce a simple theatrical work titled “Accepting the other” and to make murals calling for accepting the other.

Via Skype, Mr Ghassan al-Sheikh, coordinator of the initiative “The Tolerance Bus” from the Friends of Vision institution — Jenin, was hosted, who in turn spoke of the initiative's implementation and the effects that resulted from it through networking with civil institutions and hosting them in this initiative, to intensify efforts around the issue of spreading the culture of non-violence in society. He affirmed the modes of dealing between civil society institutions and the circumstances in which they work, and the importance of the existence of a base for this community and a formula for work between civil society institutions.

During the encounter, the attendees affirmed the importance of working to strengthen the culture of non-violence in Palestinian society, given the circumstances Palestinian society is passing through. Many likewise pointed to the importance of partnership and the unification of efforts between the communal-work institutions toward strengthening the culture of non-violence and dialogue, and direct work with all society's categories to guarantee the achievement of civil peace in Palestinian society