OneVoice International Engagement Program Regional Tours: 2008-2009

During Fall 2008, OneVoice conducted four campus tours in the US and the UK, to Washington DC & North Carolina, the New York area, the UK, and Northern California. In addition OneVoice facilitated regional youth leadership training seminars.

Northern California: November 14-21

Uri Fishelson of Tel Aviv and Malaka Samara of Tulkaram joined us on our annual tour to Northern California. We were hosted by a diverse set of student groups at UC Santa Cruz, the Monterey Institute for International Studies, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and Stanford University. We had the special pleasure of serving as the final event of a “Weekend for Peace in Israel and Palestine” event series at the Monterey Institute, where we received sponsorship from Friends of the Middle East, Conflict Resolution Association, the Arabic Club, the Resource Center for Nonviolence - Middle East Program, and the Global Majority. We also had the honor of addressing a large group of community members at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon. Students at San Francisco State are in the process of establishing a OneVoice chapter on their campus to address the polarization that exists among many student groups with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Jewish News Weekly held an hour-long interview with Malaka and Uri.

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New York: October 17-24

Yoni Itzhak of Holon and Nisreen Shahin, the General Director of the OneVoice Palestine branch in Ramallah, served on our tour to New York and New Jersey. We were hosted by a wide range of student groups, including Hillel, Middle East Coexistence, the Muslim Students Association, the Jewish Students Association, Arab Students United, the Roosevelt Institution, Amnesty International, and the International Studies Club. We spoke at 6 universities, including Rutgers, NYU, Marymount Manhattan College, WestPoint, Seton Hall University, and SUNY Geneseo, and had the unique opportunity to address a group of middle school students who are learning about the conflict at Manhattan Country Day School. We served as the climax event of Cultural Harmony Week at SUNY Geneseo, where we received sponsorship from the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Department of Asian Studies. We received a very positive response at our events, and students are in the process of starting a chapter of OneVoice at Seton Hall University. Our event at NYU was covered by the Washington Square News.

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Washington DC & North Carolina: September 12-19

Rami Rabayah of Jenin and Yaniv Sasson of Yahud joined us on our tour to Washington D.C. and North Carolina. We spoke at nine universities, including George Mason University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, American University, University of Maryland – College Park, Guilford College, Elon University, and UNC Chapel Hill. At our campus events, we received solid and diverse sponsors, such as Amnesty International, Students for Justice in Palestine, Israel Alliance, Jewish Student Union, Hillel, College Democrats, the Roosevelt Institution, Project Nur, the Muslim Students Association, Peace and Conflict Studies, among others. We also had the special opportunity to meet several congressmen and dignitaries. We were covered by several newspapers, including The Loquitur, The Guilfordian, The GW Hatchet, The Washington Times, The AU Eagle, and the Pendulum.