Montreal community group launches project to ease tension over Israel-Hamas conflict

Mmal Elsana Alhjooj says she’s seen first manus really tensions person accrued successful Montreal since nan commencement of nan warfare betwixt Israel and Hamas.

“How tin you locomotion successful nan City of Montreal emotion that you tin trim nan aerial pinch a knife,” she said.

That hostility is why she started Solidarity With Dialogue done her organization, Promoting Leadership for Empowerment, Development and Justice (PLEDJ). Alhjooh’s extremity is to get group from different communities to understand each different done honest, straightforward chat of differences. She is Palestinian and says she has mislaid relatives successful Gaza.

“For me, it has ever been nan mobility of whether I’m going to descend into nan pain, aliases I request to toggle shape that symptom into hope,” she told Global News.

The inaugural is simply a one-year aviator project, nan first portion of which progressive training 20 front-line organization leaders from a assortment of backgrounds successful conflict solution and dialogue.

“They will beryllium equipped to facilitate difficult conversations and to create a space, a safe space, for brave conversations,” Alhjooj said.

Wednesday was nan past time of nan four-day training fixed by conflict solution experts. Alhjooj said she hopes others will beryllium inspired, partially because she has collaborated pinch Peace Network for Social Harmony, an statement headed by long-time friend, Brian Bronfman, who is Jewish.

Bronfman admits it mightiness not beryllium imaginable to alteration what’s happening successful nan Middle East from present successful this city.

“But it seemed that location was thing that we could do to straight effect what happened here,” he said.

The adjacent measurement for nan 20 leaders is for them to group up chat sessions, sloppy of nan topic, successful their communities, and that, “we will beryllium doing what we tin to thief them group up spaces for those conversations, for those speech sessions,” Bronfman continued.

According to Alhjooj, nan action process wasn’t easy particularly since nan conflict is ongoing.

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“There were group saying ‘I don’t consciousness ready. There’s a batch of divisions, a batch of tensions, and I don’t consciousness fresh to commencement nan process,’ ” she said.

Some successful nan group, specified arsenic Lisa Grushcow, elder rabbi astatine Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, admitted that immoderate of nan discussions successful nan training were really hard.

“There’s a batch we don’t work together on,” she noted. “I wouldn’t expect to and there’s nary constituent successful conscionable talking to nan group you work together with.”

Grushcow besides said that though members of her organization consciousness anxious and afraid, these conversations are important to build bridges.

Rev. Arlen Bonnar of St. James United Church said she agrees that immoderate of nan speech was hard, but he said he besides believes nan conversations are needed fixed nan number of challenges facing galore successful nan city.

“I deliberation we’re each called upon to reside those conditions and effort to make nan changes to make nan world a amended place,” he said.

Solidarity pinch Dialogue task organizers opportunity their purpose is to yet widen nan task crossed nan country. Next year, connected nan first day of nan task successful March, they dream launch
an yearly Montreal Solidarity Day.