Program Description

The Israeli-Palestinian region has been embroiled in one of the world’s most intractable conflicts for over a century, characterized by prejudice, failed peace talks and violence. In this increasingly tense time Radical Aliveness is empowering Jewish and Palestinian women and men to become peace builders throughout the region.

The Radical Aliveness Peace Leadership Program works with these local leaders to develop the skills needed to lead their families, organizations, and communities towards co-existence and peace. Our 30-month program cultivates understanding, connection, and expansion between people who have previously considered each other enemies.

In this program, we engage both the mind and body, with all the rich information they hold, as a crucial part of the “healing” process. Participants harness intense emotions and the conflicts that they trigger as a way to deepen their understanding of themselves and others. By experiencing their own triggers and feelings, these leaders learn how to hold people without judgment or blame. When we know and experience these feelings in ourselves, we develop a deep empathy and understanding for the pain and powerful emotions of all human beings.

This program supports leaders to develop awareness and become educated around cultural differences, assumptions, power dynamics, social stratification, intention, and impact. Within this supportive space, we are not afraid to engage the deep feelings and chaos that has historically led to violence. The leaders are trained to stand in the fire of powerful conflict by exploring the strong feelings among participants without trying to control or tame them. Processing these feelings allows our leaders to discover fresh insights and new solutions for connection and peace building. We believe this combination of education, developing awareness, and engagement with and processing of powerful feelings is unique in the world.

Our goal is to have 22 Jewish and Palestinian leaders who have learned to work together to resolve conflict. At the end of this program our leaders will bring this peace building experience to their families, schools, work, and communities. They will create spaces for the pain around them to be held and expressed so that it can be transformed into wisdom and empathy rather than transmitted to the next generation.

Program Dates: January 2023 - October 2025

Where: Palestine and Israel

Who: Palestinian and Jewish leaders