RAGFP Presents Rotary’s Peace Vision to Palestinian Community Leaders

In Ramallah, Rotarians are working to rehabilitate the water infrastructure in 50 public schools within the West Bank. This allows schoolchildren to enjoy a clean, healthy environment for learning. These Rotarians focus on peace by supporting Palestinian children and helping them develop, grow and learn in the midst of a conflict zone. (It’s no wonder that the very first Rotary International Presidential Peacebuilding Conference in 2018 spotlights Environmental Sustainability and Peace.) Access to clean water is a basic human need, especially for kids in schools surrounded by many other distractions.

As a Rotary Peace Fellow from Tulkarem, she is living proof that Rotary International and Rotarian Action Group For Peace supports their efforts to make a difference in Palestine by engaging in peace projects that promote the public good for all.

In Nablus, Reem met with Dr. Joni Aasi, Dean of the School of Law and Media, and UNESCO Chair on Human Rights, Democracy and Peace at An-Najan National University. Dr. Aasi is currently involved in two important peace initiatives focused on human rights and environmental sustainability for people across the Middle-East.

The Istanbul Protocol calls for fair treatment of detainees. His peace concepts encourage Palestinian officials to “effectively investigate and document torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as stipulated in the Istanbul Protocol.” Dr. Aasi works to enlighten his own Palestinian authorities, and teach Palestinian Law students, to abide by strict international standards of human rights.

As an environmental advocate, he heads a UNESCO project designed to create environmental sustainability education in 10 secondary and primary schools in Nablus, and throughout Palestine. These programs will raise awareness about environmental sustainability issues in schools and affect the future of countless lives.

“The students were amazing and smart. I noticed they were exhausted of politics,” she says. “Their eyes lit up when I shared my own story about my Rotary Peace Fellowship and described what it taught me about peace through development. Developing individuals and human minds is the key to peace. They loved learning about Rotary as a global force for peace.”

Reem met with leaders of Women Media and Development/Tam, an organization of human rights supporters who focus on helping women have a voice and platform to “speak” through media. Palestine is a land of multicultural peoples and religions. Sorting through the noise of gender equality can become confusing for many women. Simply “speaking up,” presents challenges and requires education to do so, for women around the world.

Women Media and Development/TAM offers practical guidance and education for women to make their practical and peaceful voices heard. The organization gives women tools to navigate and integrate themselves into their communities, positively, through various forms of communication. They help women directly affected by conflict and provide them tools to integrate into productive society and find a path to success.

As a native Palestinian and Rotary Peace Fellow, who now leads a global Rotarian peacebuilding Action Group, Reem offers a shining example of how Rotary International’s global focus on peace engages and empowers women of all religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, colors or creeds, to become advocates for peace action in every corner of the globe.

Reem’s narrative, from a bright young face in Tulkarem, Palestine (like the children in her “selfie” photo) to Executive Director of Rotarian Action Group For Peace based in Portland, Oregon, USA, allows little girls and children across the occupied Palestinian Territories to dream big, and imagine peace. Rotary International is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world and provides opportunities for growth, human development, and peace, for all children around the world.

Thumbs up for Peace!

Reem was pleased to meet Dr. Siham Thabet, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and share how Rotary’s positive peace vision can promote peace in the Middle-East.

Rotarian peacebuilders apply the 4-way test to guide all peacebuilding efforts. Rotary’s 4-way test is simple: Is it the Truth? Is it Fair? Will it bring Goodwill and Better Friendships? Is it Beneficial to all concerned? Certainly, these principles of peacebuilding can apply to a region of unyielding conflict.

“Mohammad demonstrates how tender voices can be louder than all noises of war,” she says. “He is one of the biggest Arab Idols ever found in the Middle-East, yet, the Palestinian refugee camp where he grew up is always in his heart. He is a down-to-earth advocate for peace.”

Influential Artists such as Mohammad Assaf, are essential to peacebuilding. Reem shared Rotary’s vision for peace and the mission of RAGFP with Assaf during her visit to Palestine.