IRD Activities

• Senior Religious Leadership

  the Religious Peace Initiative was established in order to shift the emphasis of action from the official leaders deep into the circles of religious opinion makers, including – or chiefly – the radicals . More and more of the leading rabbis and sheikhs in the land between the river and the sea are taking part in the senior religious leadership program, and demanding of themselves to deal courageously and jointly with the religious challenges of peace. Recent years saw a number of substantial breakthroughs, when senior adjudicators in the wider Arab world expressed support for the coalition and its path and joined its activities, and many leaders are increasingly willing to come out from behind the curtain and publish their participation in the meetings and their insights

• Young Religious Leaders

  The confusion and grievance of young generations throughout the Middle East, and particularly in the religious communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, give rise to distrust of traditional leadership. The once hierarchical nature of societies is fractured, and the “old establishment” of religious leaders is often seems as failing to deliver on its promises.Although the senior leaders still carry a great influence, and remain the main opinion makers, they sometimes struggle to convey their message to the youth. In order to effectively combat religious-driven extremism within both societies, we identify young upcoming religious leaders that can potentially teach and operate in accordance to the teachings and worldview of the Religious Peace Initiative.Those young Rabbis and Sheikhs are given guidance and the opportunity to dive into the religious challenges for peace and develop ways to address them. They, in turn, have the ears of the young generation and are able to appeal to them and appease their frustration and disappointment from the lack of political prospects

• A Women´s Coalition

  The goal of the Women’s Coalition is to bring together Jewish and Muslim religious leaders, who will discuss together ways to achieve peace between the peoples, recognizing the crucial place of religion in the process and solution. The activity enables religious women who are prominent in their community to deal with these challenges from their life experiences and based on their beliefs, and to give room to the female voice in a conversation were it is rarely heard. Growing communities of women in religious and traditional societies live the reality of the conflict, but are not sufficiently involved in frank and open discussion of the possibilities of resolving it. The women’s coalition allows them to find out in their own language, and on the basis of their own faith, how peace between Jews and Muslims may be realized.

Main Focus Countries of Activities

Israel - State of Palestine - Egypt - Israel - State of Palestine - Egypt - Israel - State of Palestine - Egypt -