B8 of Hope

May Tamam rest in peace. 🙏🏽 Tamam was a bright, young Palestinian peace activist from Jenin, a member of the Young Ambassadors for Peace youth group within our grantee organization, Parents Circle Families Forum. Last Sunday, while returning from a hospital in Jenin, where he was offering care to patients, he was killed by an explosion targeting the street he was on. We at B8 of Hope had the privilege of meeting Tamam in June 2023, when the Young Ambassadors for Peace came to Switzerland for a dialogue program by the Lausanne-based partner association Coexistences. Our deepest condolences and profound empathy go out to his family in Jenin, his second family at Parents Circle – Families Forum, and his YAP brothers and sisters. We grieve with you.💔

✨✨ We are incredibly proud to share that two of B8 of Hope’s grantees, the Israeli movement Women Wage Peace, the Palestinian movement Women of the Sun, and the French movement Guerrières de la Paix (Warriors for Peace) have been nominated together for the 2025 The Nobel Peace Prize! ✨✨ 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 mobilizes thousands of Israeli women from diverse backgrounds, advocating through large-scale events and rallies, highlighting UN Resolution 1325 and amplifying women's voices in the call for a return to a negotiated resolution of the conflict that ensures a sustainable and just peace agreement. 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒏 amplifies the voices of Palestinian women from all walks of life, fostering empowerment, leadership, and social change. They work to build a just and inclusive society where women play a central role in peacebuilding and reconciliation. 𝑮𝒖𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆̀𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒆 𝒍𝒂 𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒙, founded by documentary filmmaker and peace activist Hanna Assouline, unites women from all different origins in the fight for peace, justice, and equality. B8 of Hope is proud to have supported and screened Hanna’s insightful and impactful film "Les Guerrières De La Paix" (Warriors for Peace) in 2018, and "Résister pour la Paix" (Resisting for Peace), co-directed with Sonia Terrab, in 2024. These three women-led organizations have been working tirelessly to create lasting change, ensuring that women's voices are heard on the long and challenging path to peace. They have collaborated on multiple projects, offering mutual support and strengthening each other’s efforts in the pursuit of peace, dignity, and equality. This nomination is a powerful recognition of the crucial role women play in shaping a future of peace. We stand with them and celebrate this incredible milestone! #WomenForPeace #UN1325

✨ We’re excited to announce the launch of our Synergies Lab 2025! ✨ Since 2019, our Synergies Lab has encouraged B8 of Hope’s grantee organizations to collaborate, share resources, and best practices to tackle common challenges and amplify their collective impact through co-created projects, empowering grassroots movements for peace. This year, we proudly support 5 innovative projects involving a total of 9 outstanding organizations—some of which we’ve supported for years, while others are new initiatives we’ve closely monitored. These five promising projects have been selected, focusing on themes such as education, healing trauma, Hebrew and Arabic language learning as tools for humanization and cultural understanding, and campaigns emphasizing unity, inclusivity, and the demand for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Meet our 2025 Synergies Lab collaborations: Teacher's Lounge & Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue Combining their strengths to enhance the ability of teachers from Jewish and Palestinian communities in Israel's formal education system to incorporate shared society values. Lissan & Roots Judur/Shorashim Partnering to reduce social, cultural, and ideological gaps through language learning and cultural exchange, fostering mutual understanding. Women Wage Peace & עומדים ביחד نقف معًا Standing Together Joining forces to organize high-visibility rallies and protests throughout Israel in 2025, emphasizing unity, inclusivity, and the demand for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Palestinian Internship Program (PIP) & Blend.Ar Collaborating to promote mutual understanding between PIP’s Palestinian graduates and their Israeli career coaches through cross-cultural exchanges and language learning to further meaningful contact and development of cross-border professional relationships. EMDR 4 Peace & Palestinian Internship Program - PIP Partnering to provide Palestinian graduates with professional skills and trauma-informed resilience training. We can’t wait to share more about these incredible projects in the coming months; for now, we wish these inspiring initiatives every success in 2025! #sharedfuture #TogetherForChange #UnityInDiversity

Let’s continue to hope and discuss 2025 from a #healing perspective. Healing is deeply connected to how we communicate with one another. This is why our grantee organization, Combatants for Peace(CFP), integrates Nonviolent Communication (NVC) into their programs. NVC is a powerful tool providing a pathway to bridge the gap between opposing perspectives and, in a nutshell, consists of - Observing without judgment, creating a foundation for honest conversations. - Sharing feelings without blame, cultivating mutual understanding. - Focusing on universal needs, paving the way for meaningful solutions. Nonviolent Communication is about connection instead of polarization. It is about healing instead of harming. To quote CFP : “By creating a safe space to express feelings, understand needs, and make requests, we provide the opportunity for activists to build trust, foster empathy, and build strong relationships for joint co-resistance.” It is exactly what is needed during these dark times.

Let’s kick off the first post of the year by highlighting an inspiring new grassroots initiative: EMDR 4 PEACE. EMDR 4 PEACE is dedicated to addressing trauma and fostering recovery, rehabilitation, and post-traumatic growth among communities impacted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This initiative not only helps individuals heal but also trains EMDR therapists to become agents of change. As the founders of EMDR 4 PEACE put it: "The therapists learn together and treat people in their communities. They pass on post-traumatic growth, so that healing and reconciliation ripple out into the broader community." We’re excited to see the incredible potential of this initiative and the impact it can have. #GrassrootsInitiatives #TraumaHealing

Let’s kick off the first post of the year by highlighting an inspiring new grassroots initiative: EMDR 4 PEACE. EMDR 4 PEACE is dedicated to addressing trauma and fostering recovery, rehabilitation, and post-traumatic growth among communities impacted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This initiative not only helps individuals heal but also trains EMDR therapists to become agents of change. As the founders of EMDR 4 PEACE put it: "The therapists learn together and treat people in their communities. They pass on post-traumatic growth, so that healing and reconciliation ripple out into the broader community." We’re excited to see the incredible potential of this initiative and the impact it can have. #GrassrootsInitiatives #TraumaHealing

Our Executive Director, Mehra Rimer, has been invited as a speaker by Combatants for Peace and American Friends of Combatants for Peace to join their end-of-year webinar alongside sulaiman khatib and Avner Wishnitzer. Combatants for Peace is one of B8 of Hope's grantees, and we have been partnering with them since 2017, always comparing notes with their American Friends to join forces in reinforcing their message and work from outside. There is indeed "another way," a way forward from the current darkness, for a shared future inspired by mutual acknowledgment, equality, security and safety, the right to self-determination, healing, and prosperity for all the people of this wounded land. Join this meaningful discussion by registering through the link below: 👉 https://lnkd.in/ermdgfVc #RightToSelfDetermination #PeaceBuilding

We are deeply grateful to our volunteers from all backgrounds who come together during our events and throughout the year to support us in various tasks. As a token of our appreciation, we hosted a get-together last night over refreshments and snacks at the B8 of Hope workspace in Geneva. We were thrilled to welcome some members of our B8 of Hope Next Gen youth group to the gathering as well. It was a wonderful, multi-ethnic, and intergenerational event. One of the pieces of art in our workspace bears the phrase: Beit Wahad, Beit Ehad—"one home" in Arabic and Hebrew. Indeed, B8 of Hope serves as one home for all those who believe in a pro-solution, third-narrative approach. Another piece of art in our space poses the question: Why is something so universal so lonely? This sentiment reflects how we often feel in the peace-building world. And yet, gatherings like this remind us that we are not so lonely after all.

This week, B8 of Hope had the opportunity to speak to 60 high-schoolers at L'Institut Sainte-Marcelline Lycée français de Lausanne, formerly known as École et Pensionnat Valmont. Our Executive Director, Mehra Rimer, and one of our Advisory Board members, Fiuna Seylan Ongen, discussed the importance of the work of Palestinian and Israeli peace activists and the challenges they face. The discussion was followed by the screening of "Résister pour la Paix" (Resisting for Peace), a film by Hanna Assouline and Sonia Terrab — a Jewish French Moroccan film director and a Moroccan film director of Arab Muslim culture. The film features the stories of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists and highlights a third narrative focused on depolarization and a joint voice for peace. For those who missed our screenings in mid-November, the film will be broadcast on TV5 Monde on December 12th The feedback from the students was very positive. The discussion was also an opportunity for our Advisory Board member, Fiuna, to talk with her other main hat — the one of an active member of our partner organization, Coexistences, in Lausanne. She engaged the students and their families in the inspiring work of this remarkable Swiss association. At B8 of Hope, we believe in fostering synergies between peace-building organizations, whether on the ground, here in Switzerland, or more broadly outside the conflict zone. #StorytellingForChange #ResistingForPeace #Depolarization #BridgeBuilding

Last week, B8 of Hope organized several screenings of the documentary Résister pour la Paix/ Resisting for Peace by Hanna Assouline and Sonia Terrab, respectively, French Jewish film director and Moroccan film director of Arab-Muslim culture. The documentary takes us on the road, through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, West Bank checkpoints, and the Gaza border kibbutzim. The film follows men and women who, despite their difficult personal stories and the harsh realities they endure, continue to forge bonds of understanding and empathy. The enthusiasm for the film was overwhelming : a total of 600 guests joined us across the two evenings at the Arts Center of the International School of Geneva and at Ciné 17 as well as the morning session for the school's students to watch the film and participate in thought-provoking Q&A panels. Each discussion brought its unique perspective: some delved into the #humanization and the remarkable work of B8 of Hope’s grantees featured in the film, while others explored more political and complex conversations. We are proud that B8 of Hope provides a safe space in Geneva for these crucial dialogues, rooted in peace and mutual respect. Our mission—fostering human connection and people-to-people understanding—will continue for as long as those on the ground persevere. Together, we will continue to change hearts, one at a time. We remain committed to spreading the film's message: “be #prosolution”. For those with no “skin in the game,” this means standing for a fair resolution. For those with “skin in the game,” this means being pro-your side but not anti the other—because being pro-solution is the only path forward. The diversity in our audience was awe-inspiring—representing a variety of nationalities, religions, and ethnicities. It also touched us deeply to see volunteers from across the region, including Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, and Iranians. This, indeed, is what peace in the Middle East should look like. Thank you again for standing with us, for supporting peace, and for being part of the journey for a brighter shared future based on mutual recognition, #Equality, #dignity, #security, #SelfDetermination, #prosperity and #healing for all the people living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.