Vice President
CurrentAs the immediate past President ( November 2006 - December 2013 ) and current Executive Committee member I enter my 11th year serving the philanthropic mission of the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam. The current crisis between Israel and Gaza is in fact a challenge, which the Oasis of Peace Village and its several initiatives ( establishing a World Peace College, running a School for Peace, operating a 30 year old Primary School -- the first Primary School in Israel to have all of its classes in both Hebrew and Arabic, and a Pluralistic Spiritual Center ), is uniquely qualified to meet. Thirty families in the Village ( named NS/WAS or Oasis of Peace ) are Israeli Jewish and thirty families are Israeli Arab. They convened a 400 person gathering in Tira City, Israel, half Jewish, half Arab, declaring " Arabs and Jews Refuse to Be Enemies. " While the declaration is counter-intuitive in a time of violence -- missiles being fired by Hamas into Israel, the Iron Dome protecting Israeli citizens, and air and ground fire power responses by the Israeli Defence Forces -- it is the only way toward a future in which both Palestinians and Israelis can raise their children without fear of their premature deaths !!Spiritually, the leaders of the Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- are now being held accountable for the hope that they preach to their own followers. Is that hope based solely on violence and injustice or is it based on the divine promise that the blessing on Abraham's families will be a blessing to all Abraham's future families ? Is that hope going to arise from work for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and between Arabs and Israel, or are the extremists of all three faiths going to kill hope for the world ??We raise money, awareness, and efforts for hope.
