PEACE BUILDING IN ISRAEL - WEST BANK

Long-time readers of my blog will know the great respect I have for the Rossing Centre in Jerusalem. My wife and I attended the ‘Healing Hatred Conference there in 2018. Their collaborative approach with Arab-based entities to create dialogue and understanding is outstanding. One of their latest initiatives is Project Rozana.

Project Rozana has received $US2.35 million from the US Government for a landmark program that uses nurses as ambassadors for peace.The average nurse cares for 100 patients a year. In a 40-year career that’s 4000 patients, not counting her family, friendship and community connections.

She – it is usually she – is highly respected, well-integrated in her community and has remarkable potential for positive impact.

The strategy is to train 480 Israeli and Palestinian nurses together, teaching them peacebuilding as well as clinical skills, and you have the potential to touch hundreds of thousands of people with a greater understanding of co-existence and mutual wellbeing.

That’s the arithmetic of peace behind a new peacebuilding program for nurse training that has just received a $US2.35 million ($A3.63 million) grant from the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA) through USAID.

The Palestinian-Israeli Specialist Nursing Hub will train 16 cohorts of 30 Palestinian and Israeli nurses at eight hospitals on both sides of the border, providing them with both clinical training and specialist relationship and peacebuilding skills.

Photo: Rossing Centre