For reconciliation and dialogue

Together, we will work to prevent more bereavement, and to promote dialogue, tolerance, reconciliation and peace.

The Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, together with Combatants for Peace and other organizations, gathered at the Almog Junction in the Jordan Valley, to jointly oppose the annexation plan, and to stand in solidarity with our Palestinian partners against the occupation.

The Israeli and Palestinian bereaved members of the Parents Circle – Families forum wishes to differentiate itself from all the current voices and opinions who are asking to exclude a democratically elected party from the decision-making process in the Israeli Parliament.
We believe in reconciliation and cooperation and revile racist incitement and behavior on any public platform. It is important to point out that not all bereaved families who lost loved ones as a consequence of the conflict have the same opinion. The current atmosphere and political discussions made it vital to point this out.

Watch the 2020 Ceremony here!
The Ceremony was held on Memorial Day Eve, April 27th, 2020, 8:30PM. About 200,000 viewers from all over the world, including thousands of viewers from Gaza and tens of thousands from the Palestinian Authority watched the Ceremony via web streaming.
Following the streamed Ceremony, ten bereaved families opened their homes and invite anyone who wanted to join a zoom conversation with them in their private living room, sharing their bereavement stories and about the path they have chosen to take – a path of reconciliation rather than revenge.

The Parents Circle Families Forum opposes the U.S. plan to annex territories in the West Bank. This plan goes against international law, denies Israeli citizenship to its Arab citizens and is a unilateral move that does not include a Palestinian partner. We, who have paid the highest price of the conflict, call for an immediate end to these unilateral steps, which will only lead to more bloodshed and more unnecessary hatred. Any real and sustainable peace must acknowledge both sides of the conflict, because it won’t stop until we talk.

An Israeli and a Palestinian, who tell their personal stories of bereavement and explain their choice to engage in dialogue instead of revenge.
Over the years, PCFF has conducted almost 7,000 dialogue meetings, with more than 200,000 very moved people in the audience.If you too would like to be a part of promoting peace and reconciliation, you’re welcome to arrange dialogue meetings in your home, in your workplace, in the community center near you, or anywhere you’d like. Just call us and we’ll arrive.

In the United States a novel was published, inspired by the special personal story of forum members Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan. The book was written by the author Colum McCann and is called “Apeirogon” (an Apeirogon is a polygon with infinite sides). It recently became known that producer and director Steven Spielberg has acquired the film rights to the book, and a film may be produced in the future. Look for the Novel in Amazon.

Every PCFF member has lost someone to the conflict who was their entire universe. Here you can read the personal stories of Forum members, about their loved ones who are no longer present, about the journey from pain to hope and about choosing reconciliation and partnership.

The joint meeting between Israeli and Palestinian participants and between the two groups’ different narratives, reinforced their understanding of the other side, and motivated them to act together to promote reconciliation and recognition of the other side.
In the “Two Sides” project, the participants chose to relate their experience from their joint meeting with the other side and described how looking at the conflict from the perspective of the other side, even if only for a brief moment, strengthened their understanding that peace is the only solution.

To get to know the personal and national narrative of the “other”, as an important step towards reconciliation between the peoples. So far, during the nine years of the project, 40 groups have been conducted.