Education & Empowerment
Creating opportunities to gain the knowledge, skills and experience to join the movement for peace and justice.
Israeli Freedom School
This intensive, immersive program empowers young Israelis to develop the knowledge and skills to be leaders in nonviolent grassroots action towards a more equitable reality for all peoples between the river and the sea. Through a series of political lectures, tours and workshops participants engage with the tough questions of identity, the conflict and the occupation.
Palestinian Freedom School
Over the course of a unique six-month program, Palestinian participants from 18 to 29, from various locations in the West Bank, explore the impact of the occupation on their identities, receive training in nonviolent activism, and engage in collective resistance efforts. The cohort meets for one weekend per month, with approximately 25 emerging activists in each group. They engage in fieldwork and political tours, gain a comprehensive understanding of Palestinian history, identity formation, and the principles of nonviolence, as well as develop key organising and advocacy skills.
Freedom School of Faith
Similar to the Israeli Freedom School, this immersive experience is aimed at engaging Israelis from a religious Jewish background in issues of human rights, justice and equality for all peoples between the river and the sea. The program’s pedagogy is rooted in Jewish texts, religious speakers and a curriculum that accommodates participants from a religious or spiritual background.
Land Beyond the Mountains
This program focuses on creating societal change from within the classroom. Jointly organised by Breaking the Silence, Ir Amim and Combatants for Peace, these seminars equip Israeli teachers and educators with the tools to effectively facilitate discussions about the occupation and challenge traditional narratives about the conflict with their students.
Occupation 101 Course
This course is aimed at empowering new Israeli activists of all ages and backgrounds and providing them with the experience, knowledge and community necessary to be active in the peace movement. Over 3 months, participants engage in informative lectures and tours, exploring various political, historical and social topics surrounding the conflict and the occupation.
Encounter Meetings
We lead encounter meetings with Israeli youth in pre-military programs before their compulsory service, sharing personal stories from an Israeli and Palestinian activist of the movement. For most of these teenangers, this is the first time they have met a Palestinian or heard the story of an Israeli who is renouncing violence and choosing to work with the supposed "enemy" for peace. Encounter Meetings help expose Israeli youth to the reality of life under occupation and alternatives to the current reality.
Educational Webinars
We organise online webinars and events that expose a wider audience to the reality of the occupation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a human rights lens, and advocate for our mission of joint nonviolent resistance.
“Since childhood, we have been repeatedly told that ‘there is no partner for peace’ on the other side. Our Freedom School pushes back against dehumanization and offers another path forward”.
Israeli Freedom School Participant, 2023
“I had always heard of the personal storytelling (of CfP), but I did not know how to tell my story. This is what I learned in the Freedom School. I found my voice”.
Palestinian Freedom School Participant, 2023
Breaking down barriers
We are actively creating the alternative reality we wish to see in the land; healing trauma, building trust, denouncing violence.