Palestinian and Israeli peace activists with Salt of The Earth will share their personal stories of the reality on the ground and their vision of a path toward collective safety and liberation.
The devastating escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine has left many feeling powerless, angry, and hopeless. Rotem Levin and Osama Iliwat believe in a different reality and in the possibility of a shared future of security, equality, and justice for all people.
We invite you to hear their perspectives, vision, and experiences about humanity in times of dehumanization and war, and about their courage to share this hope publicly.
They will share their personal stories of transformation, lessons of joint peaceful resistance, and the vastly different realities they face in the same land.
Speakers
Osama lliwat was born in Jerusalem where is family is originally from and was displaced like so many Palestinians around the world after the war of 1967. He grew up in Jericho. He has been in the peace world for more than 15 years and is the co-founder of Visit Palestine. He has dedicated his life to nonviolent resistance working with different organizations such as: Sulha Peace Project and Interfaith Encounter Association, appearing in several documentaries including Objector and The Other and regularly speaking on peacebuilding at organizations and universities around the world. Osama has made a name for himself in the Peace world with his collective liberation perspective and opting for peaceful resistance. When Osama is not working for peace internationally, he helps his community of Jericho and other communities in the West Bank, supporting them to stay on their land and rebuilding homes, parks and educating. He also offers political educational tours in the West Bank and goes to schools to talk with Palestinians and Israelis about, amongst other things, non-violent resistance and communication. Osama taught himself Hebrew in order to connect on the land. He also does trauma and healing work to support and educate people in his community.
Rotem Levin was born and raised in Ein Vered. After his military service he participated in a transformational intensive dialogue program in Germany where he got to know Palestinians on a personal and intimate level. This instigated a change in perspective on the story he was born and raised with. After this experience he started organizing similar programs in Aqaba, Jordan where he offered the experience to other post-military Israelis and for Palestinians and Israelis medical workers. He is a committed activist and doctor by profession. While studying medicine at Ben-Gurion University, he dedicated himself to learning Arabic and building solidarity relationships with Palestinians. He also worked with different peace organizations. Rotem moved to Beit Jala, a Palestinian village in the West Bank in 2020 to get to know his neighbors’ reality of living under military occupation, understand their culture, and improve his Arabic. When Rotem is not giving conferences for peace internationally he invests most of his time creating healing spaces for Israelis and Palestinians on the land.