May 2024

More than six months after October 7

Theater of despicable attacks

War has taken over

Bringing death and destruction

Causing revolting suffering

Upsetting so many beyond words

And raising fears of a conflagration

regionally and internationally.

During these long months, touched to the depths of our hearts, we try to remain faithful to our convictions and our values and to maintain links with the members of our association and our partners on the spot.

New messages to be read in our news 43.

October 2023

We are still shocked by the ongoing atrocities in Israel/Palestine.

We resolutely and unreservedly condemn the barbarity of the murders and the horror of the hostage-taking, and hope for their safe return.

With bated breath, we stand in solidarity with ALL the civilians and think of all the fantastically courageous men and women engaged in the ceaseless quest for peace - an effort that has been murdered once again today.

We are appalled by the infernal cycle of violence against civilians, and our only aspiration is to see an end to it.

Initiatives to promote dialogue have once again been severely undermined. All the more reason to continue supporting those who are trying to build a future of peace by restoring the humanity of others.

We are in contact with our local partners individually. We will be sending them a message of support, to help both communities get through the terrible turbulence they are experiencing today.

You can read their messages here.

Projects 2024

These projects will be described in detail in a future newsletter, but here's a brief outline:

Breaking The Ice / end of August

A new group of students from Kibbutzim College, a pedagogical school, will be visiting our mountains to get to know each other better, far from the conflict. This year, for the second time, the group will be visiting schools and universities, and spending a few days in Lausanne with young people or host families.

Rozana Health / November

The Rozana Health Diplomacy program (www.projectrozana.org) founded in 2013, aims to promote cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli healthcare professionals. We'll be hosting a group of head nurses taking part in a project combining clinical training and peacebuilding.

But also :

Reinforce the facilitators of the conflict

In 2024, we will continue to support the facilitators who took part in our two-year project in 2022 and 2023 but will not be hosting them in Switzerland. Indeed, when this project came to an end in August 2023, the need emerged within the group to continue the work begun in Switzerland. The tragedy of October 2023 turned this need into a necessity. Their current work plan is to organize six Zoom meetings over the next twelve months, with interpreters present for all meetings, and two facilitators for three of them.

You are interested by our activities ? Contact us, we always welcome new members and families interested by an enriching and transformative experience.

WHAT do WE DO?

Coexistences hosts mixed groups of Palestinians and Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs and Arabs from the West Bank, that have been pursing dialogue for a while, for short stays in Switzerland. This allows them to continue the important dialogue initiated in Israel, away from the conflict. The association offers a welcoming place for groups of youth and adults from all walks of life.

Coexistences believes that listening to the other side makes it possible to change the perception of the other, and that coexistence will not emerge from big changes but instead from small evolutions. It is to this end that we wish to help develop the aptitudes of dialogue of women and men engaged in a process of encounter and mutual acknowledgement.

However small our action might be, we hope to contribute in a reciprocal understanding and to the coexistence of populations that have been deeply marked by tens of years of a violent conflict, which has erected a wall of misunderstanding.

To know more about us, a brochure, THREE movieS

Our presentation brochure (in French) « Soutenir le dialogue pour un avenir meilleur » presents the key points of the projects carried out since 2006, and the echo they have encountered in the written press or on the radio, in Switzerland and internationally.
Download the brochure

"The First Stay in Switzerland", by Beni Gassenbauer in 2006, describing a stay with Coexistences

Watch the movie (16')

« We can talk » by Uri Levi and Moriya Benavot produced in 2016, is a collection of interviews with six young Israeli-Palestinians engaged in dialogue.
Most of them were hosted in Switzerland by our organisation.

Watch the movie

"Where are the boarders ?", a movie by Beni Gassenbauer and Felix Sandri in 2010, about a group of university students from Haïfa reaching the peak of the Mont-Blanc.

Watch the movie (20')