April 6, 2005
Clark Hosts Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace
WORCESTER, MA- Clark University Hillel, the Peace Studies Department, Peaceworks, and others will present the Parents Circle-Families Forum, at 7 p.m. Monday, April 18 in the Grace Conference Room on the first floor of the Higgins University Center. A Palestinian, Aziz Abu Sarah, and an Israeli Jew, Ya'ara Shapira, will share their painful stories of loss in the hopes of inspiring peace.
The Parents Circle-Families Forum comprises 500 bereaved families who have come together in search of a peaceful solution to the conflict. Each member has lost a loved one in the ongoing violence. Through dialogue they have achieved a mutual understanding that the cycle of violence must end. To reach its goal they work to “imbue both sides with a sense of tolerance and reconciliation rather than hatred and revenge.” The organization does not take a political stance, but is united for the purpose of acknowledging each other’s suffering and accepting the responsibility that each side must take for the past.
Aziz lost his brother from physical injuries resulting from interrogation and arrest. He was suspected of throwing stones. Ya'ara will tell how her peace activist brother chose to turn his weapon on himself rather than others during his required IDF service. They humanize the statistics and act as an example for the positive effects of a process of reconciliation.
The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. The Union of Progressive Zionists (UPZ), a network of campus organizations in search of a two-state solution and an end to the occupation, is sponsoring the nationwide tour for these representatives from the Parents Circle-Families Forum. While in the United States they will be visiting Yale, Harvard, Brown, and Wesleyan among other universities.
For more information, visit theparentscircle.com or contact Merav Kweskin at (314)-606-7531 or Hillel's director, David Coyne, at (508)-793-7296 or dcoyne@clarku.edu.
Clark University is a private, co-educational liberal-arts research university with 2,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. Since its founding in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in New England, Clark has challenged convention with innovative programs such as the International Studies Stream, the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the five-year BA/MA programs with the fifth year tuition-free for eligible students.
Jane Salerno
Assistant Director, Media Relations
Clark University
(508) 793-7554
jsalerno@clarku.edu
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