For reconciliation and dialogue

Join the Parents Circle Families Forum staff!

24 Israeli and Palestinian women from the Parents Circle – Families Forum present a dried flower to the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, in honor of International Women’s Day, on March 8th.
Every women dried a flower in the name of their lost loved one, and glued it into a hand-made album. Added to this gesture is a letter with a message of hope, that the Biden administration will revive negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

If you have lost a family member due to the conflict, and you are also tired of the never ending cycle of loss of life, we would like to see you with us. Together, we will continue to work to prevent further bereavement, to create dialogue, reconciliation and peace.

The fighting in Gaza, the rocket fire on towns and the violence between Jews and Arabs in Israel and the Territories must stop.
We launched a unique endeavor – The Virtual Peace Square for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace.
Every evening, for 5 weeks, we gathered at the Peace Square (on ZOOM and on the PCFF Facebook page) with bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families and guests from diverse disciplines for a conversation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the polarization in Israeli society, relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel and more. The sessions were open to everyone.

Watch the 2021 Joint Memorial Day Ceremony.
This year we held The Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony for the 16th time. As we do every year, we met in the place where personal memories and longing succeed in overcoming fear and creating a shared act of compassion – thus marking a new path towards a future in which we won’t have to live by our sword, and instead, we could look at a better future for all.
The ceremony was watched by close to 250,000 people from Israel, Palestine and around the world.
We also invite you to watch the Zoom sessions that dealt with memory, fear, the ceremony itself, and the connection between them.

The bereaved Palestinian and Israeli members of The Parents Circle – Families Forum will mark this day by planting 10 Olive trees both in the West Bank near Hebron and in Kibbutz Ramat Rahel , near Jerusalem. Each of these trees is dedicated to an Israeli or a Palestinian immediate family member who lost their life in the conflict and whose family belong to the group. Each year we intend to celebrate Tu BeShvat in this way until we can create a forest of reconciliation and peace.

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.

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.

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.

Feminenza has worked in community & youth-based settings for 15 years, providing reflective education and support to post-conflict, traumatized, and disadvantaged communities; to grassroots community-based organizations (CBOs), NGOs, providers of community social support, education, and health organizations, youth and community workers. PCFF is 1 of the 23 groups, from 12 countries, participating in the program, designed by the Trauma Healing Community Resilience Development (THCRD), and funded by the Erasmus program of the EU.
#THCRDSTS #TraumaHealing #Forgiveness #humanityFirst #STSbuildingreslience