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marcgopin.com
ENGAGING RUSSIA–AGAIN
I have a friend, Bryan Hamlin, who has been an amazing citizen diplomat all his life, who helps entities in conflict understand each other, especially at critical hours. What I mean by ‘citizen diplomat’ is a person who takes it upon himself to build relationships between enemy groups, or between his own culture and a [...]
VERY GOOD NEWS FROM PAKISTAN’S MILITARY
The fact that Musharraf is resigning is excellent news. Yesterday’s news that the military was not going to interfere with his impeachment is far more important. The military was prepared to turn its back on Musharraf’s old ways, of engineering military coups, possibly assassinations, and throwing thousands of democracy proponents in jail.
This is a major [...]
Is There Hope for the Zimbabwe Negotiations?
Donna Bryson reports in the Boston Globe today that Mugabe has accepted an arrangement in which Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition movement, will become Prime Minister with a variety of important responsibilities.
Protesters in Johannesburg demonstrated yesterday against Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, whose role has been a major sticking point in the contentious power-sharing [...]
LEO THE HEALER REVISITED
I had written a piece earlier on Leo Kramer’s pioneering work supporting Palestinian and Israeli doctors who work together. Leo’s follow-up article, Israeli, Palestinian Doctors Affect Change on the Ground, is even more revealing. Leo writes that the medical work is vital because doing is more important than talking, a theme I have been [...]
IT IS WHAT YOU DO THAT DEFINES YOU: A RE-ASSESSMENT OF DIPLOMACY IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
There is a desperation at work in the sad excuse for negotiations underway between Israel and Palestine. This is the latest:
PA rejects Olmert’s offer to withdraw from 93% of West Bank
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday rejected an Israeli peace proposal, which included withdrawal from 93 percent of the [...]
Latest Activity
Marc Gopin replied to the discussion LEO THE HEALER REVISITED: ARE DEEDS OR WORDS MORE IMPORTANT? Aug 17
Aug 17
Marc Gopin replied to the discussion IT IS WHAT YOU DO THAT DEFINES YOU: A RE-ASSESSMENT OF DIPLOMACY IN THE ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN CONFLICT Aug 17
Aug 16
Marc Gopin replied to the discussion LEO THE HEALER REVISITED: ARE DEEDS OR WORDS MORE IMPORTANT? Aug 15
Marc Gopin replied to the discussion LEO THE HEALER REVISITED: ARE DEEDS OR WORDS MORE IMPORTANT? Aug 15
Aug 15
Profile
- Hometown:
- Washington, DC
- Relationship Status:
- Married
- My personal story:
- I have been working in the Middle East for twenty years as a peacemaker, first in Palestine and Israel, but also in Syria for the last four years. I am a professor at George Mason U. in conflict resolution, I now write a blog, marcgopin.com. I grew up in a traditional Jewish household, and in first grade we raised funds at the day school and i got a certificate for planting one tree in Israel-at the hands of the Jewish National Fund. Memory is an interesting thing. It was probably a pine tree. Now i am interested in olive trees.
- Why I want peace:
- Because war between Israel and Palestine is the source of every sorrow in my life, and peace is the source of every hope and every reason i get out of bed every morning.
- Birthday:
- 11/13
- Interests and activities:
- movies, helping people who i believe in, writing in cafes, meeting strangers
- Something you didn't know about me:
- i love to write to trance music
- How I found mepeace.org:
- haaretz article
- What I want to achieve here:
- learn from everyone. support young innovative peacemakers. find hope
media interviews
Marc Gopin's Blog
Which Israel on Film is Real? You Choose
This blog can also be found at my own weblog.
There is so much chaos in Israel and Palestine right now politically and in terms of peace and violence that it is hard for those of us who know them intimately to keep it all in perspective. For today I just ask you to choose which Israel. I thought I had seen everything. Here is a scene of a senior Israel Defense Forces commander ordering a soldier to shoot at close range a bound and blindfolded Pales… Continue
Posted on August 11th, 2008 at 2:07am —
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yesterday i stayed all the night reading what u writing at ur website ... your amazing ... so happy to meet you here .. and hope to meet you oneday in person ...
Shahdan
Nice to see you here! I just discovered and joined mepeace a few days ago. I miss you, but I'm glad you're where you are, doing what you're doing.
Love and blessings,
-Hayyim
Cheers Max.
If you surf over to Rob Schrama's Comment Wall, I just shared a perspective you probably have not heard before, but is common among especially older Palestinians. It will make clear why Palestinian nationalism is a relatively new phenomenon.
Hope to see you soon.
All the best, Aref
am from jordan
welcome the jordan
The sting of all problems between Israeli and Palestinians lays in the Old City of Jerusalem. Her status has to be solved in such a way, that all parties fighting for control over her can agree upon.
On June 24, the ‘Big Hug’ will be hold in Jerusalem. Light workers from Israel, Palestine and from all over the world, ‘Lovers of Jerusalem’, will come together to bring warmth and energy to this city, embracing holding hands the Old City. If we bundle all our positive energies and bring these to Jerusalem, we can create peace to this exceptional place.
We are organizing the Big Hug to make the people aware –especially the Israeli and Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem- that there is a very shaped perspective for the city of Jerusalem as a city of peace: a new, undivided Jerusalem, as the capital of Palestine, Israel and at large.
Let go of the conflict concerning her command and dedicate the city to the Omnipresent. The Old City as a whole is His Temple. To give the walled Old City free to God, as a "Status Apart”, as an independent city, will be the most feasible way to come out the current impasse.
The Old City of Jerusalem must become an open city; a House of Prayer for all the Peoples. This perspective is written down in the Holy Books, this is the perspective we, as ‘Lovers of Jerusalem’ embrace as well as solution. But how many people does already notice this hopeful point of view?
What I saw in Jerusalem and also everywhere else where I meet Islamic and Jewish people is, that not so many persons really think about a future for Jerusalem. Most of the time, they stick with old ideas that the Old City of Jerusalem will always remain a part of Israel, or in opposite, that it will be absolutely a part of a new Palestinian state, as stolen land that has to be given back. With these visions, a future Jerusalem will be a divided city with an East Palestinian and West Israeli part, with barbed wire and checkpoints in between, like the situation of the city from 1948-1967. Or, coming closer to an agreement, people suggest -like proposed in the “Geneva Accord” in 2003- to make a complicated dividing of the Old City in a Israeli and Palestinian part. That will mean that the small alleys will be split by walls and barriers too. The idea that a future Jerusalem will become a divided city, is something that we have to prevent.
There are living about 250.000 Palestinian and 500.000 Israeli rather close together in one city. Do they want to make a separation of Jerusalem in parts or do they choose, deep in their hearts, for unity? So my best friends, it is our task to inform the whole city that there is an alternative for the Jerusalem of today.
All lovers of a united Jerusalem will come together to encircle and embrace the Old City of Jerusalem with love and devotion. We have to encourage all inhabitants of Jerusalem to join the coming Big Hug, with the idea of a New Jerusalem that might be realized with their support.
Rob Schrama Phone:0031-646608660 www.loversofjerusalem.org
Cheers, Max
Max.
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