Orli Fridman

Israel

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to spiral out of control, with understanding between the two groups growing more distant. Orli Fridman is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and is currently researching conscientious objectors in Serbia and Israel. She was a staff member at the School for Peace (SFP). Located in the Arab-Jewish village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam, SFP is a bicommunal learning center that promotes better understanding through a broad, in-depth examination of the relationships between the two groups. Ms. Fridman also worked as a facilitator at the Seeds of Peace (SOP) summer camp in Maine, which is dedicated to preparing teenagers from areas of conflict with the leadership skills required to promote coexistence and peace. She has taught a course on the modern history of the Middle East, and she is a research assistant at the United States Institute of Peace. She earned her master’s degree from the Department of Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Ms. Fridman’s peace-building activities includes:

• facilitating joint dialogue groups for Israelis and Palestinians, allowing youths and adults from both communities to meet, share stories, and explore the conflict and their identities;
• training young people from the Cypriot, Northern Irish, and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts to be cross-community facilitators;
• facilitating discussions among groups of teenagers from the former Yugoslavia and Cyprus with SOP, and conducting follow-up sessions to reinforce the lessons learned; and
• participating in Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, which provides specialized, intensive training in peace building, conflict transformation, trauma healing, and restorative justice to practitioners from around the world.

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