Breaking the silence

What are everyday Israelis and Palestinians doing to get on with living respectfully alongside one another considering the long-term political stalemate?

What are the effects of the ongoing occupation and conscription in Israeli society?

These questions and more will be raised by Israelis Micha Kurz and Sahar Vardi at Balmain Uniting Church on Wednesday August 15.

Micha Kurz is 31. A former soldier turned peace activist, he helped found Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers that collects hundreds of testimonies describing the realities of controlling the Palestinian civilian population under military rule.

He now works on Grassroots Jerusalem an organisation that seeks to identify Palestinian and Jewish groups working for peace.

Sahar Vardi is 23. She is a conscientious objector and has spent time in prison on multiple occasions for taking a stand against serving in the Israeli armed forces while it continues to occupy Palestinian lands.

Sahar, like Micha, has worked with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and has guided hundreds of international NGO, religious and government missions to Jerusalem.

In 2010 she launched a human rights and non-violence education program at universities across Israel and this year became Israeli Program Director for the American Friends Service Committee.

Sahar and Micha co-host a weekly radio program in Jerusalem discussing current affairs and community action in Jerusalem.

The visit of Micha Kurz and Sahar Vardi to Australia has been organised by the Australasian Jewish Democratic Society.

See them at Balmain Uniting Church (Circle Café) Wednesday August 15, 7 for 7.30 pm.

For further details  contact Stewart Mills.