Roots is a unique collaboration of local Palestinians and Israelis building a grassroots model for coexistence.

Our mission is to nurture understanding, non-violence and transformation.

Our vision is a new social and political reality founded upon dignity, trust, and mutual recognition and respect for both peoples’ historic belonging to the entire Land.

The Roots Young Adult Program In a Nutshell:

• Recruits 15–18-year-old Palestinians and Israelis who live in neighbouring communities in the heart of the conflict, yet are encountering each other for the very first time, and brings them together through a year-long program
• Promotes critical thinking, personal initiative, and leadership
• Challenges participants to engage and recognize each others identities and experience through exploring core themes in the conflict
• Shows that there is truth on both sides and transforms the enemy into a human being and a partner
• Empowers Palestinian and Israeli youth to take action together
• Participants join our 130-member Alumni Network upon finishing the program

Why?

Young Israelis and Palestinians in the Gush Etzion/Hebron area go to high schools that are virtually within walking distance of each other. They’ve all grown up in the heart of the conflict knowing the other only as the enemy, with absolutely no opportunity to meet them - as equals, as teenagers, as potential friends and partners.

Young people are our future; they have a vital role to play in reconciliation and peacebuilding. It is nearly impossible to move them from ignorance to understanding, fear to empathy, without ongoing engagement. When young people develop the tools to understand who they are and who the other is, to engage with people of difference from a place of empathy, and to begin to see some legitimacy and right on the other side - then hope takes root. Hope creates a sense of the possibility of a better future and encourages people to take responsibility to bring about the change they wish to see. We are the only program that brings young Palestinians and Israelis together in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria area, an area where hope and responsibility are desperately needed.

What?

Each year since 2016, we have brought approximately thirty (this year, forty!) Palestinians and Israelis between the ages of 15-18 together for the Young Adults Program. Through twice-monthly full-group meetings as well as additional small-group sessions, the program humanizes perceptions of ‘the other’ by revealing how each person’s unique self cannot be reduced to stereotypes. But it also doesn’t shy away from discussing the core issues that divide its participants. Indeed, it encourages conversation about contentious issues like settlements and terrorism, and helps prepare the young people to hold ‘two truths in one heart’ and to accept ‘two peoples in one land.’ We further challenge the participants to understand and empathize with key components of each other's historical identities.

Participants also take it upon themselves to come up with and deliver a shared project that both develops their leadership abilities and brings them together as a team. Past projects have included blood drives, art projects, and assisting local farmers.

Throughout, participants are emotionally supported by their incredible counsellors, who create spaces for all-Israeli and all-Palestinian meetings, so that they can unpack what they’re feeling in their native tongue with others who are likely to have similar experiences. Participants come out of the program with deeper understandings of themselves, their communities, and their potential to bring change.

And then what?

The process of personal development and joint partnership does not end when the program finishes! Our Alumni Network is built of 130 young Israelis and Palestinians who continue to meet, work on joint actions together, and engage in professional development courses. We see the Alumni Network as a vital part of our growing movement for understanding, nonviolence and transformation.

What do participants say?

“After Roots I learned that when I’m afraid I need a voice in my head to remind me that not everyone is against me and they have their narrative too” – Israeli participant

“I am confident that these activities make people less possible to be part of a violent reaction or resistance” – Palestinian participant

“As a [future] soldier, at Roots I wanted to talk about the conflict from a Palestinian perspective, to hear about their situation on the other side, and how it felt to be in that situation” – Israeli participant

“These meetings offered me the opportunity to understand my Israeli peers…I learned…that we can live together. I’ve made strong relationships with these peers, relationships that are based on mutual love and respect” – Palestinian participant

“I was afraid not just the first time, but even in the second and the third meetings, and now after several meetings, I am not afraid anymore and I become happy when I hear that we are going to another meeting...My life has changed since then, before I hated the Jews (Israelis) but now I feel the opposite – I like to meet them and talk to them” – Palestinian participant

Donate today and have your impact tripled!

Roots 2021-22 Young Adults need your support to keep the program and its impact growing. We have a bright and motivated cohort for this year. Please support these young adults on their way to becoming peacebuilders.

This campaign is part of a joint initiative sponsored by Amal-Tikva and B8 of Hope. CLICK HERE to see the main campaign page.