Ambassadors for Peace

Ambassadors for Peace are private citizens who are committed to making a difference in the lives of the people in the Middle East. Alarmed by the consistent failure of traditional diplomacy to negotiate peace, these ordinary citizens became citizen diplomats committed to foster healthy and peaceful relations across the great divide between Arabs and Israelis and between Jews and Muslims. Though recognizing that foreign affairs are the traditional province of governments, these courageous and resourceful citizens are convinced that political leaders alone are incapable of resolving long-standing intractable conflicts. They believe that their combined little efforts can make a big difference. They believe it can be done one handshake at a time.

Unlike the traditional diplomats who serve as conduits between governments, citizen diplomats serve as conduits between peoples; they can build bridges of understanding and communication that no governments can do.

Specifically, an Ambassador for Peace in is a member of Middle East Peace Network, who initiates a peace project directed at Arab-Israeli or Jewish-Muslim relations and manages it from A to Z, bringing it to a successful closure or continuing to oversee it as it creates a life of its own.

An Ambassador may not necessarily runs the project on his/her own, but partners with others, who run it together as a team. Ideally, a peace project is locally owned and run as a partnership between a supportive peacemaker, who lives outside the region, and a local peacebuilder, who resides in the region.

You are invited to be an Ambassador for Peace if you are willing to . . .

• align with the core values of MEPN.
• learn the art, science, and practice of peace while cultivating peace within yourself.
• help transform both inner and outer barriers to peace.
• stay impartial and take no sides in the conflict.
• transcend political advocacy and partisanship.
• stand in the fire of opposing views and help extinguish it.
• show concern for and caring about both sides.
• affirm the human and social values of both sides.
• gain trust and credence from both sides
• guide both sides beyond blame and accusation.
• address the issues that caused the conflict in the first place.
• promote cooperation beyond the boundaries of religion, ethnicity, and nationality.
• choose to believe that peace is possible when almost everyone else does not.
• recognize and seize every opportunity for peace.
• assist in reaching a mutually acceptable settlement between the two sides.
• aim for and lead to a win–win outcome.

If you meet those criteria, you become yourself ambassador for peace by completing your Online Commitment. Find something you care about where you can make a difference with whatever time, skills or money you have.