Combatants for Peace

Combatants for Peace is a nonprofit whose members are former Israeli and Palestinian fighters. The group advocates nonviolence as the path to lasting peace in the region. The group's “Courage of Conscience Speaking Tour” is helping Americans learn about the former enemies’ peacemaking efforts. I caught the tour in Concord.

Yaniv Reshef served in the Israeli army in Gaza and Lebanon, and Bassam Aramin spent seven years in prison for participating in a failed plan to attack Israeli soldiers when he was a teenager. Listening to them talk about how they came to realize that fighting was actually making their communities less safe, and how they have worked to seek mutual understanding along with several hundred other former combatants, I wondered how much grass roots Middle East peacemaking goes unnoticed by mainstream media?

Andrea LeBlanc, who introduced Yaniv and Bassam, works to bring this kind of good news to light as a member of Peaceful Tomorrows, a 9/11 family group which helped bring Combatants for Peace to America. Andrea told the audience that after her husband’s death on 9-11, she sought stories of reconciliation, cooperation and hope, like Bassam’s and Yaniv’s, as she grieved. Rebuilding Alliance, the speaking tour’s other cosponsor, builds up what war has torn down. With the group’s help, Palestinians and Israelis are building playgrounds together in memory of Bassam’s daughter, Abir. These human connections are making the world safer, even as political solutions bog down and wars drag on.

Watch this video for background on Combatants for Peace: