Since 1989, Partners for Peace has been educating the American public about key issues in the effort to secure peace and justice among Palestinians and Israelis.Their major projects include the Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths, One shared Vision speaking tours; highlighting the nonviolent efforts of Palestinians, Israelis, and citizens of other nations to end the occupation of Palestinian territories; and in-depth advocacy with the media.
Partners for Peace strongly advocates a connection between means and ends. They think that for the good of both Palestinians and Israelis the occupation should end, but believe this goal is best advanced by nonviolence rather than attacks on civilians. Attacks on Israeli or Palestinian civilians warrant criticism and do significant damage to advancing substantive peacemaking.
They bring to American audiences and the media the voices that often go unheard. They bring the voices of Palestinian and Israeli women seeking a just peace and a brighter future for their children, their communities and their societies.
Partners for Peace is a UN-registered NGO and grew out of a working committee of some 20 professionals here in Washington DC who began meeting in 1988 as a result of their concern about ongoing and deepening violence in Israel and the occupied territories.
In the fall of 1991, the working committee merged with The American Alliance for Palestinian Human Rights, a UN-registered NGO, changing the name of the organization to Partners for Peace.
For several years they researched cases of human rights abuse by Israel against American citizens of Arab origin. These young men were detained without charges, and interrogated, tortured, and imprisoned without due process of law. U.S. government spokespeople said they were able to do very little to protect their rights.
They pursued a media campaign to inform the American public about this egregious violation of human rights. More recently, we have worked on cases of nonviolent Americans beaten, detained, or killed by Israeli security forces for their nonviolent efforts.
They bring forward to American audiences and the media the voices of Palestinians and Israelis seeking a just peace.
In Washington recently, I interviewed Joan Drake about the work of Partners for Peace and her hopes for the Middle East with the new US administration.
