Published: 22 March 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Ahead of their visit, Ronit Zimmer from Project Rozana, and Huda Abu Arqoub, from ALLMEP, discuss the benefits of people-to-people peacebuilding in the Middle East
THE FIRST THING that invariably comes to people’s minds about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the intractable dilemma surrounding security, borders, Palestinian refugees, water and Jerusalem.
Few, however, think of the aspect of life where there is most interaction and cooperation between Jews and Arabs between the river and the sea - namely the area of healthcare.
In order to highlight the many bright spots of coexistence and explore further opportunities for further partnerships, the Australian-founded NGO Project Rozana - which seeks to build bridges to better understanding between Israelis and Palestinians through health - has organised a speaking tour of Australia by two of its leading advocates.
Ahead of their upcoming visit to Melbourne and Sydney, which is called “Pathways to Hope,” the two keynote speakers spoke exclusively to The Jewish Independent.
Ronit Zimmer is the Executive Director of Project Rozana in Israel and Huda Abu Arqoub is the Regional Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP).
In what is her first visit to Australia, Abu Arqoub will be representing the 160 members of ALLMEP who work in people-to-people peacebuilding, including Project Rozana.
Having five of my family members being treated and saved because of those ventilators funded by Project Rozana is a testament in itself.
Abu Arqoub noted that in contrast to many other members of the alliance, Project Rozana is an example of “an organisation that took peacebuilding to the next level by engaging in direct service delivery”.
Abu Arqoub told The Jewish Independent that “in Palestine, especially, during Covid-19, the fact that money came from Australia through [Project] Rozana to support ventilators to the first ever dedicated Covid-19 ICU in Dura, which is my hometown (near Hebron) was incredible”.
