Israeli-Palestinian grassroots peace initiative comes to Ashland Nov. 5
ASHLAND, Ohio – The Ashland Center for Nonviolence (ACN) at Ashland University is welcoming the “Roots Tour: Two Truths in One Heart, Two Peoples in One Land,” a grassroots movement that fosters understanding, nonviolence and transformation among Israelis and Palestinians, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Trustees Room of the John C. Myers Convocation Center.
The “Roots Tour” features the speaking team of Khaled Abu Awwad and Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger. They will share the inspirational Roots message, as well as their personal stories of how they each came to a place of respect and understanding and an eventual partnership in 2014.
Abu Awwad and Schlesinger are two of the co-founders of Roots, a joint Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking initiative. Roots envisions a social and political reality that is founded on dignity, trust and mutual recognition and respect for both peoples’ historic belonging to the Holy Land.
“The world desperately needs groups like Roots,” said Craig Hovey, Ph.D., director of ACN and professor of religion at AU. “They’re getting people to talk and listen to each other. They’re working for peace and understanding in a very dangerous and complicated part of the world. I think we’re going to learn a lot.”
Abu Awwad is among the leading figures in the Palestinian community working toward peace and reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. He has been part of the founding of three groundbreaking organizations, has been awarded various international prizes for his projects, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of nonviolence and tolerance in 2011, and was named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in 2010 by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre.
Schlesinger, an Orthodox rabbi and teacher, lives in Israel and serves as the director of international relations for Roots. He also is the founder of the American Friends of Roots and frequently speaks in the United States. Schlesinger had previously spent his career teaching Jewish studies in various colleges and seminaries in the Jerusalem area, Boca Raton, Fla., and Dallas Texas. It was in Dallas where he first became interested in interfaith work, and there he founded Faiths in Conversation, a framework of Jewish-Christian-Muslim theological dialogue.
ACN, in its 22nd year, promotes alternatives to violence through education, training and building relationships that foster awareness and consideration of issues related to nonviolence and social justice, and supports ways to create a caring community that is inclusive and just.
For more information, please contact ACN at acn@ashland.edu or 419-289-5313.