Support a Participant

More than one hundred participants came to the Finnish Center in Jerusalem: men and women; young and old; religious and secular. Many of them are members in the various groups of Interfaith Encounter Association, or supporters who came to see what IEA is about. They all came to participate in the celebration of the growing movement of building peaceful relations among individuals and communities in the Holy Land through interfaith encounter. 

The first part of the evening we spent in informal meetings between the friends, while enjoying the pastries, drinks and pleasant music prepared for us by the good people of the Finnish Center.  

Later we sat in circles as Dr. Yehuda welcomed us, summarized the achievements of IEA so far and described the plan of the evening. He also thanked the young members who initiated and carried out this wonderful festive evening.  

Then spoke Natan, who lost his wife Daphne six months ago in a terrorist attack. He talked about his belief in the possibility and inevitability of peace, and the importance of the Interfaith Encounter Association work in this regard. He was followed by Sheikh Abu Khalil who spoke on the religious obligation in Islam to strive for peace. 

After that we focused on conversations within the circles. Participants in each of the circle introduced themselves to each other, shared experiences of positive encounter with the "Other" and described the special nature of their groups or how otherwise they relate to IEA. 

We ended with light supper, and fare welled already looking forward to the next time.

Links:

• IEA website
• IEA videos
• IEA annual reports