Deep Work of Healing

Many joint Palestinian-Israeli programs that do not achieve their intended results, and may even discourage participants from long term engagement. Holy Land Trusts' deep work advocates discovering, exposing, and resisting the foundational reasons for the occupation and conflict.

Fear is a key motivation in continuing injustice and violence. The traumas we have experienced and inherited, cause us to become closed and consumed by hatred, mistrust, dehumanizing, violence, and justifying it.

Many of those engaging in peace work, even politicians who want to sign a peace agreement, are consumed by fear and trauma: "Let us reach an agreement before they destroy us."

We are trapped in our deepest existential anxieties: How can Jews give up their historical fear of the "other"? How can Palestinians be asked to believe in any future? Fear, though many will not admit it, defines us – so how can we overcome it?

We will not be able to move towards a more promising future without thoroughly exploring the roots of fear and hatred, learning to recognize them, to cope with their power, and address them.

Paradigm Shifts for the Future

Our work doesn't focus on political solutions, yet we refuse to normalize the reality we live in. This is not a dialogue group or a workshop on resolving this conflict. We go to the core of it all, to create a paradigm shift for a future founded on solid ground. We want to address the conflict not as a political condition, but as a human condition which traps both Palestinians and Israelis emotionally, physically, and spiritually in its brutal existence.

It is possible to study the language of fear and change it into a language of faith in humanity and hope. Together we examine the fears of both peoples; we learn new tools that we can implement to address them. In the world, and in our region, various tools have been developed that allow us to understand and accept our spiritual scars and fears and those of the other. The seminar series provides an in-depth introduction to the use of these tools for implementation in the communities people belong to. The tools include nonlinear thinking, spiritual questionnaires, active witnessing, and mindfulness.