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Young Women from Palestine and Israel to Speak About Peace at College of Mount Saint Vincent Oct. 18, 2012

9/28/2012

Riverdale, N.Y. — On Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 11:30 a.m., three young women from Israel and Palestine will address the public on their peacemaking work in the Presidents Reception Room, Founders Hall, on the College’s Riverdale campus. This event is jointly sponsored by the Mount’s Sociology Department and the Office of Peace, Justice, and Integrity of Creation of Sisters of Charity of New York.

These women are senior leaders with Creativity for Peace, a New Mexico-based nonprofit with operations in Israel and Palestine. They will discuss the personal transformations they have undergone since their involvement with the organization; their ongoing struggles and passion for peace-building; and their dreams for a future of peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians.

“Everyone who meets our young women is changed by the experience,” says Dottie Indyke, executive director of Creativity for Peace, who will also speak this event. “They inspire with their courage and eloquence and instill hope that peace may actually be achieved in Palestine and Israel.”

Since its inception in 2003, Creativity for Peace has brought 193 girls, ages 15-17, of Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths from Israel and Palestine to New Mexico for a summer program of peacemaking using facilitated dialogue, ar tmaking, field trips and social time. The girls return home and continue to meet year-round and take part in leadership and communication training offered by Creativity for Peace in the region.

The speakers include:

RULA ABU HUSSEIN – Rula (Palestinian living in Israel) has been an active participant in Creativity for Peace since 2005. She is a senior young leader who worked at a summer camp in 2009 and has given public talks in support of our leadership and peacemaking work. Rula is an accomplished photographer, a student of gender and film at Tel Aviv University, and the daughter of a prominent human rights attorney.

ADI GOLDSHTEIN – Adi (Jewish Israeli) is a senior young leader who joined Creativity for Peace in 2005 and worked at camp in 2007. The following year she began her service in the Israeli military. As an officer, she shared her transformation from “right-wing” to a committed peacemaker with the 40 soldiers under her command. Adi now works as the assistant to the military attaché at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. and hopes one day to attain high government office.

DIANA FRAIJA – Diana (Palestinian from the West Bank) joined Creativity for Peace in 2006 and is a senior young leader who worked at camp in 2007 and 2008. She was selected as one of a handful of young women to receive a Creativity for Peace academic scholarship to attend BirZeit University in Ramallah, where she graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism. Diana is an electrifying public speaker who has transformed her anger and despair into a passion for peace.

About the University of Mount Saint Vincent
The University of Mount Saint Vincent is an academically excellent, authentically inclusive, Catholic and ecumenical liberal arts college. It combines a strong core curriculum with a full array of majors in the liberal arts and selected professional fields of study, including accounting, business administration, education, and nursing. Through its School of Professional and Continuing Studies, the College extends its primary undergraduate mission by offering high quality graduate studies in business, education and nursing and an array of undergraduate and certificate programs serving non-traditional students. Mount Saint Vincent is located on a pastoral campus in New York City, with easy access to all the educational, cultural, and recreational opportunities that the City affords.