Comments on: Huffington, Newmark praise OneVoice’s work in Palestine and Israel

By: Miriam (Egypt/Israel/USA)

Miriam (Egypt/Israel/USA) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 05:44:19 +0000

I think you mean Neve Shalom, Ray; unless your Freudian slip was intentional.

By: Ray Hanania (Palestine/USA)

Ray Hanania (Palestine/USA) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:10:49 +0000

Esra’ you are right on with this one. One Voice is a great organization shackled by its failure to let loose. People in the Middle East are so used to having “President’s For Life” that we feel uncomfortable when we don’t have a dictator (or, a pushy leader who dominates — it’s typical of most Arab AMerican organizations, too). They build up on great platforms and then can’t let go, fearing they will be undermined by outsiders. So it is, as Bush says, “you are with us or against us.” No in-between.

OneVoice could be a far more effective organization besides the darling of the Israeli press — it does not get that much embrace in the Arab or Palestinian media — if it would just open up and live the principle rather than talk-the-talk.

Never Shalom is like that. I was on its board in the late 1980s and early 1990s when no Palestinian wanted to help it … and then, as it grew, they decided that it was better not to have a Palestinian with an opinion — I’m one of a few professional Palestinian journalists out there in the West — and moved on … still, it is a great concept that has gone nowhere fast. Same village. People living together, living their own dream. And they can’t get outside of the village that they live in.

Sad but true.

Ray Hanania
http://www.ArabWritersGroup.com

By: Kareem

Kareem — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:21:04 +0000

I have to agree with Corey. Some of us who are very familiar with the conflict and work on it every single day tend to get a bit cynical, but I can tell you that I’ve been to multiple OneVoice events where average people come away with a completely different attitude. This is not just uninformed folks who are marginally interested in Israel and Palestine, but activists and others who are deeply involved. Like Corey said, sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we do in fact have partners on the “other side,” and that’s the role OV has to fill. The more average Israelis and Palestinians believe that they have counterparts on the other side, the more their leaders can bank on the political capital necessary to finally end this God-forsaken conflict once and for all.

By: Corey

Corey — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:04:27 +0000

I have a different view on OneVoice: What I like about OneVoice is that through pure optics (an Israeli and a Palestinian sitting together as equals) it manages to change people’s views on the conflict. Changing the dynamic from whose narrative is more correct to one of working together to look for solutions that work for both peoples.

I will give you an example. My partner is a typical Israeli. He wants peace but is frustrated with all the failures to date. He doesn’t believe that anyone on the “other side” feels and thinks like him. Knowing very little about OneVoice, I took a chance and had the Israeli and Palestinian representatives at our home. After two minutes of speaking to the Palestinian member, he turned to me and said “ok, I will join this group”. The idea that a Palestinian from Jenin would put aside his feelings of anger and frustration and go out of his way to show that we CAN solve this conflict if we do it together was more powerful than any slogans or peace groups.

That may not be the government and policy level that changed. But I have seen Israelis and Palestinians changed by this organization.

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:32:11 +0000

I would have to second Ray here in that I don’t see OneVoice really opening the doors to anybody but themselves. There’s an apparent lack of networking and those who want to conjoin efforts really have no clear/good way of doing so – you either do it through them or you don’t do it at all, it seems to me (and correct me if I am wrong.)

Basically, I do wonder if they’re all about just marketing their efforts for the sake of publicity or do they really go out of their way to achieve real, serious, ground-breaking change beyond media appearances. I feel bad for feeling this way, and I really do support the great idea I just think they are trying to achieve it the wrong way… I just wish they spent their energy in the things that really mattered or invested some of their time empowering people/voices who really make a difference.

Again though I am not declaring myself an expert, and if anyone has a refutation of this please do share it.

By: Ray Hanania (Palestine/USA)

Ray Hanania (Palestine/USA) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:02:23 +0000

Daniel Lubetzky has dominated One Voice with an ironfist … it is about him not the Palestinians. The organization is marginalized and dioes not work with other groups. I know because I have asked him to work with the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour and he refuses — politely. I also know many of the Palestinians ont he One Voice staff and I know that my views parallel many of their own … but who wants to stand up to Daniel and push him to do the right thing.

Don’t get me wrong. One Voice is a great idea, but Daniel needs to do more to make it representative rather than build up statistics that have had absolutely no impact on the people on the ground.

And leave it up to the board members to promote it like the guy from Craig’s List, and ignore all the other efforts out there. Maybe I am just despondent about the inability of the peace movement to galvanize Palestinians and Israelis, and while my efforts and the efforts of other Palestinians I know have failed so far, One Voice has not succeeded in that respect either. And to me, that is the real painful tragedy.

Ray Hanania
just one voice ont he topic
http://www.ArabWritersGroup.com

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:34:58 +0000

That’s really a great report Mimi, thanks so much for sharing it and representing us at the conference. I support OneVoice’s efforts but it may take a while for them to be a real vehicle for change. For such a growing movement, with offices in 5 locations or so, I really don’t see them creating the much needed noise or awareness. All I know is that they exist. But living in the region, I know that not many people even know what OneVoice is, including bloggers. But a growing number of people seem to be more and more aware of things like Avaaz which is way more visual and straight-forward: this is the mission, here’s a petition, here’s a video, spread the word. And people do, and often they take action. I wish OneVoice was more like that, involving us all in one cause, and being more inviting (and to the point) about what we can all do to help (other than donating!)

Therefore, and I hope I’m not at all offending you knowing that you work there, my answer to this:

Can a movement like OneVoice really make a difference on the governmental and policy levels?

… is “no.”

By: Egypt » Blog Archives » Weaving - Where Would We Be Without It?

Egypt » Blog Archives » Weaving - Where Would We Be Without It? — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:41:23 +0000

[...] Huffington, Newmark praise OneVoice’s work in Palestine and IsraelOkay, I’ll be straight with you. I was not entirely comfortable being the MidEast Youth representative at the blogger meetup on OneVoice hosted by Thinktank 3 in TriBeCa tonight that was graced by the presence of Ariana Huffington (The … [...]