I am honored to be a part of The Elders delegation visiting Israel and the Palestinian Territories from Aug 24-28. We are meeting with a number of civil society and business leaders, as well as political leaders, to listen, learn and lend momentum to the peace process.
The Middle East has been an area of interest for me for some time. The region draws an inordinate amount of world attention, and why not? With the energy interests of the major powers (US, Europe, Russia, China) and interlocking tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, Israelis and their neighbors, and Shiites and Sunnis, the Middle East threatens to embroil the entire world in turmoil.
The Elders believe that we are at a historic crossroads where peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is attainable. I hope so. Peace between these peoples would go a long way to defusing tensions in the entire region.
Over the past five years especially, I have ramped up my business and philanthropic activities to encompass peace building activities in the Middle East through the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media and the Skoll Global Threats Fund.
Skoll Foundation:
The Gandhi project: With our friends at Relief International, we dubbed the film “Gandhi” into Arabic (which had never been done before!) and screened the film to almost 100,000 Palestinians from 2004 – 2008. These screenings were followed by discussion groups and led to the formation of multiple youth groups, women’s cooperatives and community centers.
Social entrepreneurs: The Skoll Foundation supports a number of social entrepreneurs working in the Middle East to promote peace and economic development, including:
- PeaceWorks: PeaceWorks’ OneVoice movement encourages the moderate majority on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide to raise their voices in support of negotiations for peace. OneVoice has over 650,000 signatories and 2,000 youth leaders.
- EcoPeace-Friends of the Earth Middle East: A unique tri-national NGO, EcoPeace-FOEME promotes both grassroots and policy cooperation between Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians to make water – a source of conflict – a platform for collaboration and peace.
- Injaz Al-Arab: Injaz tackles the education crisis in the Middle East by incorporating entrepreneurship and life skills training into the curriculum, tapping private sector volunteers to teach. It has reached over 500,000 youth in the last five years.
- Search for Common Ground: Search for Common Ground works in the region developing independent media (including the weekly show, The Hard Questions, co-produced by the Ma’an Network), convening regional dialogues, building regional cooperation, and encouraging local civil society capacity-building.
Participant Media:
Over the last five years, Participant has produced a number of films dealing with the Middle East or involving Middle Eastern themes, including Syriana, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Kite Runner, The Visitor, and Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains. These films have helped to focus public attention on the complexities of the Middle East, lay out the human and economic costs of conflict there, and encourage individuals to engage on the issues affecting the region.
Skoll Urgent Threats Fund:
Earlier this year, I announced that Larry Brilliant, a world-renowned leader in public health and social change, would head up a new organization, the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund, to tackle urgent threats to the world. The first five issue areas for the fund are climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict. The Skoll Urgent Threats Fund is exploring innovative ways to tackle these challenges, leveraging advocacy, public consciousness, policy, grants, and more.
The people in the Middle East have the same vision that we all share: living in a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. Visits like that of the Elders are designed to highlight, and give hope to, individuals in the region working toward that vision. The Elders encourage everyone who supports this vision to visit their web site, engage on these issues, and express their support for peace.
More posts to follow as the trip proceeds!
Jeff
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