Israel Palestine Peace (IPPeace) was organized in 2016 and focuses on topics related to both Israel and Palestine. The group is especially dedicated to furthering our learning about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, its roots, its ramifications, and the possible roles of the American Jewish community in considering actions that might contribute to achieving a just and lasting peace.  IPPeace seeks to foster respectful dialogue across different points of view. The group maintains a listserv open to all members of CDT and hosts programs providing information, perspectives, and possible pathways to action. Please scroll down for information about upcoming events!

Watch the recording of the November 28 discussion with Gail Pressberg, Lessons Learned In the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, on YouTube here.

IPPeace is led by a steering committee of four members: Louise Enoch, Elaine Landes, Sue Lanser, and Jonathan Rosenthal. 

Please contact any steering committee member to share your thoughts, suggestions, or concerns. Please contact Sue Lanser if you would like to join the cdt-ippeace email list. IPPeace programs are open to all members of Dorshei Tzedek whether or not you subscribe to the list; some programs are also open to the public.

Report from Rabbi Toba: Jewish Clergy Project for Peace & Justice in Israel/Palestine  (Zoom recording, December 2022)

RESOURCE:  How to Stop the Annexation

IP/Peace Winter Study Group:  Palestinian and Israeli Visions Beyond Two States

Wednesday evenings, January 25, February 22, March 15, 2023  7:30-9:00pm

Register here to receive a Zoom link

Fall / Winter 2020 Events

October 25th, 1pm. Building Our Capacity for Dialogue with the Arava Institute. Learn more. 

Winter 2019 - 2020 Events

Winter Study Group: CDT’s Israel/Palestine Peace steering committee will be sponsoring a winter study group again this year.  Our topic for 2020 is “Beyond the Green Line:  The Territories Since 1967.”   

• ​​​​Wednesday, January 29 (7:30 pm) The first of our three sessions focuses on “‘Facts on the Ground’:  Israel/Palestine in Time and Space.”  This session will familiarize us with the chronology of events in the West Bank and Gaza from 1967 to the present and will explore, through maps and short readings, the ways in which these territories are organized, administrated, and populated.  We will also look at key terms and controversies in naming and discussing the places and events “beyond the Green Line.” Readings for this meeting are online here.
• Wednesday, February 26 The second session of our Israel-Palestine Peace Study Group, “Beyond the Green Line:  The Territories Since 1967,” will meet on Wednesday, February 26 at 7:30 pm in the library on the second floor at 60 Highland Street. You can find a folder of preparatory materials for this session at this link as well as a folder of additional resources.  The materials we’ll be discussing are brief, and you are welcome to attend whether or not you’ve had time to read or view.  

By popular request, this session, “Turning Points,” will focus especially on the period of the Oslo Accords (the 1990s), bracketed by the first and second Intifadas.  We will read informative explanations of these events as well as diverse perspectives on the failure of Oslo to achieve a permanent and peaceful solution to the conflict.  Our final session, scheduled for Wednesday, March 25, will explore daily life in the Territories today through the voices of both Palestinians and Israelis and consider paths forward that respect the rights and needs of both peoples.  

The study series is open to all members of CDT, and you are most welcome to join us whether or not you attended the first gathering.  Our goal is to foster deeper understanding by exploring diverse viewpoints on the conflict and paths toward peace.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact any member of the IP-Peace Steering Committee:  Louise Enoch, Elaine Landes, Sue Lanser, Ruth Paris, Jonathan Rosenthal.

• Wednesday, March 25. 

  The third session of our Israel-Palestine Peace Study Group, “Beyond the Green Line:  The Territories Since 1967,” will meet online on Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 pm. To enhance our discussion, we encourage you to have a look at the selection of video and print materials in the “Session 3” folder at this link.  You will also find at the same link a second folder of additional resources specific to this session.  The materials we’ll be discussing are brief, and you are welcome to attend whether or not you’ve had time to read or view them.  We will send the zoom link next week in a reminder email.  

   

  Our March session is designed to explore daily life for both settlers and Palestinians, to assess prospects for a two-state solution, and to explore some other alternatives that have been advanced as ways to address the needs and rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.  The study series is open to all members of CDT (but only to members).  You are most welcome to join us whether or not you attended the earlier sessions.  Our goal is to foster deeper understanding by exploring diverse viewpoints on the conflict and on pathways toward peace.

   

  For further information about this session or to share your thoughts or suggestions, please contact Louise Enoch, Elaine Landes, Sue Lanser, and/or Jonathan Rosenthal (members of the IP/Peace steering committee).

The study series is open to all members of CDT.  Our goal is to foster learning and understanding in an environment where we can explore different viewpoints within an open and respectful learning community.  Materials for the first session will be posted by January 8, but you are welcome to attend whether or not you have completed the readings.   For further information, please contact any member of the ippeace steering committee:  Louise Enoch, Elaine Landes, Sue Lanser, Ruth Paris, Jonathan Rosenthal.

Fall 2019 Events:

Friday, November 1 at 6:45 pm:  A Shabbat Evening of Peace: with guests from Wahat al-Salaam/Neve Shalom. Hosted by Congregation B’nai Or at First Parish, 50 Church St., Waltham

Saturday, November 9 at 12:45 pm:  “The Evolving Relationship of Israel and the U.S.:  Learnings from the 2019 J Street Conference and Beyond” Join CDT’s Israel-Palestine Peace group on Saturday, November 9 after kiddush to hear from CDT members who attended this year’s J-Street Conference in Washington, DC and to think more broadly about the relationship between Israel and the United States in the context of prospects for peace.  Brief presentations will be followed by open discussion.  For more information, please contact Elaine Landes (elaine.felson@gmail.com).  

Sunday, December 8 at 4:30 pm: “A Boy from Gaza”:  presentation by Amir Qudaih. Hosted by Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in the Fellowship Hall of Second Church, 60 highland Street, West Newton. 

CDT’s Israel-Palestine Peace Group invites you to a presentation by Amir Qudaih, a refugee from Gaza who is now studying engineering at UMass-Lowell.  Amir comes from a prominent farming family that learned to live without electricity or running water; he was trained in civil engineering in Gaza and also worked as a local producer and translator for CNN.  He will speak with us about conditions in Gaza, about his personal experiences surviving three major wars, and about his arduous journey to escape Gaza for the United States.  Through his presentation, Amir hopes to raise awareness of the situation in Gaza today.  This event is open to the public.  Light refreshments will be provided. 

Forthcoming CDT Israel-Palestine Peace events scheduled include

• a reading and conversation with Haaretz columnist Ilana Hammerman, author of A Small Door Set in Concrete:  One Woman’s Story of Challenging Borders in Israel/Palestine, out this winter from the University of Chicago Press.  

For questions or further information, or to join the IPPeace listserv, please contact Sue Lanser (lanser@brandeis.edu) or any member of the IPPeace steering committee (Louise Enoch, Elaine Landes, Ruth Paris, Jonathan Rosenthal).

Winter and Spring 2020 events (dates to be announced):

Reading and Conversation with Ilana Hammerman, Haaretz columnist, Hebrew University Professor Emerita, about her memoir A Small Door Set in Concrete:  One Woman’s Story of Challenging Borders in Israel/Palestine

Study Group: “The Evolution of the Occupation and its Impact on Everyday Life”

Film screening and discussion, details to come

Past Events

 “Israel: Jewish and Democratic” (Study Group: January, March, April, 2019)

“Combatants for Peace” (February 2019, co-sponsored with J Street)

“Jewish Perspectives on BDS” (February 2019 and February 2018)

“From Generation to Generation:  A Conversation with Members of If Not Now” (December 2018)

"Disturbing the Peace”: Film, Dinner, Discussion (November 2017)

“Women Wage Peace:  A Conversation with Donna Kirschbaum” (June 2017)

 “Jerusalem/AlQuds:  Dreams and Realities” (May 2017)

“A Conversation with Sindyanna” (April 2017)