As part of the United States Institute of Peace’s work with youth in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and its efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, USIP staff recently met with OneVoice Palestine and Israel youth leaders to learn more about their work on the ground.

 “In addition to the important analytical work we do at USIP, it is equally vital that in the context of our work on the Arab-Israeli conflict we familiarize ourselves and engage with the many groups and organizations working at the grassroots level and reaching the people who feel the effects of the conflict on a daily basis,” USIP Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution’s Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen said. “OneVoice is one such movement.”

OneVoice is a non-profit peace advocacy organization that trains youth leaders in conflict resolution in the Israeli and Palestinian communities. On Sept. 28, 2010, representatives from OneVoice Palestine (OVP) and OneVoice Israel (OVI) met with the Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, who works on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Stephanie Schwartz from USIP’s Youth Working Group and author of “Youth in Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Agents of Change.” Although there is no formal partnership between USIP and One Voice, USIP recognizes the importance of meeting with youth groups like OneVoice to talk about peacemaking efforts in regions of conflict, like the Middle East.

 “It was great to meet with the OVI and OVP youth leaders to see how young people are hitting the ground running to build grassroots peace movements in their homelands,” said Schwartz. “It’s critical to the work of USIP to touch base with young social entrepreneurs, like the OneVoice Movement, to better understand what they believe, as leaders of the next generation, are the preeminent issues in the places they live, and learn about how they are creatively engaging in peacebuilding.”

USIP has met with OneVoice four times since April 2009. OneVoice was organized in 2002, and has been working as a grassroots organization in Israel and Palestine since 2004. OVI’s Danny Shaket, who works with mainly university groups, said OneVoice has campus chapters at all of the universities in Israel. These university sessions host discussions and debates about the key issues surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict including access to holy sites and property rights.  OVP’s Ahmad Omeir told USIP staffers how OneVoice has been meeting with young Palestinian refugees and other Palestinian youth to discuss and build support for the two-state solution.

 “The model [OneVoice] employs through its youth leadership network– addressing the internal divisions within Israeli and Palestinian societies – is in keeping with USIP’s own approach to the conflict that attaches as much significance to the internal dynamics of Israeli and Palestinian societies as to the  relationship between the two sides,” said Kurtzer-Ellenbogen.

In 2010-2011, USIP is  examining these internal dynamics through its series of panels on "The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Internal Challenges on the Road to Peace." Through these public events, and related publications, USIP explores the critical yet oft-neglected internal dynamics of this region: those issues that while, of domestic concern to Israelis or Palestinians, have implications for the broader conflict and for international efforts toward a peaceful resolution. It also seeks to promote debate and discussion around the impact of these issues on consensus-building among the Israeli and Palestinian publics toward a negotiated solution to the conflict