How can we speak about and respond to the violence and suffering in Palestine / Israel and our despair, outrage and fears? How do those of us living in other countries want to be heard and understood about the rise of Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism all over the world?
In this two-part series, NVC trainers from the region and globally will hold and guide us through NVC practices that generate honest sharing, deep listening, and heart to heart connection. We will learn and practice communication that conveys how we feel and want to be understood without judging. We will learn to meet our own judgments, feelings, and needs with empathy and understanding and to hear others’ in the same way. This creates safety to explore how to express what is important to you and makes it more likely that others will hear and be affected by what you share.
This course is intended for anyone who feels any distress about the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, and it aims to model communication that connects us across divides.
Nadya and Roberta have shared NVC and facilitated conversations together with Israelis, Palestinians, and Internationals in Israel/Palestine and globally through Zoom for many years. They each have brought NVC consciousness and skills to people of all faiths in the Mideast, the Americas and Europe. They have witnessed and experienced the ongoing trust, connection and understanding that blossoms between Palestinians and Israelis when held in the energy of Nonviolent Communication.
Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the seizing of hostages, the continuing Israeli bombing and destruction of Palestine in both Gaza and the West Bank and ongoing displacement and suffering of all the peoples in the region, they have been with teams of NVC trainers and practitioners facilitating and organizing ongoing gatherings, conversations, and dialogue.
As facilitators, they model and share NVC approaches of deep listening and honest heart-to-heart sharing. They also support and facilitate conversations separately with Jewish and Palestinian groups and communities in Israel and the US.
In this interactive series, participants will have the opportunity to practice NVC listening skills and transform obstacles into communication that connects.
This will be an opportunity to learn how to:
- Frame and express your own thoughts in ways that are more likely to be heard
- Use deep listening and honest sharing to hear each other across divides
- Express yourself in a multicultural space with honesty
- Listen without judgment— even if you don’t agree with what you hear
- Give space for you and for others
- Create close communication despite feelings of difficulty, anger, pain, or frustration
- Create the possibility of finding commonality despite differences
- Create healing spaces and experiences for people to share and hear others
“When we gather in this way we soothe hearts that are crying for empathy. We glimpse and experience how the possibility of living together and ending war to solve our differences exists right now. We are planting seeds of peace and reconciliation, keeping alive the vision of a world where everyone's needs are valued and we sit together in hopefulness.” — Roberta Wall
This course is intended for anyone who is ready to conduct a conversation in a multicultural group. No background in NVC is required.
This course will be offered in English, with simultaneous translation to Arabic and Hebrew.
