| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper draws lessons from the role played by the black church in creating support for the US civil rights movement in relation to the struggle to involve the Palestinian and the Israeli people directly in the peacemaking efforts to resolve their tragic conflict. The civil rights struggle in both the US and South Africa eventually engaged large segments of the public in both productive debate and campaigning. The corresponding impetus now is to create a major Palestinian-Israeli public negotiating congress that can involve ordinary citizens on both sides in the peacemaking efforts. The Minds of Peace Experiment, a small-scale Palestinian-Israeli public negotiating assembly, is designed to demonstrate the peacemaking power of a subsequent major congress. The exercise, which has been conducted around the US, Canada, and the Middle East, succeeded in creating peacemaking coalitions that are based on commitment to promote the culture of peace. The question is: how can you transform this peacemaking effect into a mass movement? The American black church movement as well as the South African mass mobilization can offer important indications of effective strategy.
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