[Peace] The Middle East: The Road Map to Peace

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The following is from Robert McKim <rmckim at uiuc.edu>.  --CGE]

---------- Forwarded message ----------

	WEDNESDAY FORUM
	The Middle East: The Road Map to Peace
	and Non-Violent Alternatives
	Professor Bert De Vries - Calvin College
	October 29 Noon - 12:50
	University YMCA - Wahl Room - 2nd fl.

Bert de Vries is Professor of History and Archaeology at Calvin College in
Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has worked on and directed several
archaeological projects in Jordan from 1968 to the present, and regularly
teaches and does research and development work "on the ground" with
Palestinians and Jordanians. Photographs taken on these trips, as recently
as October 2003, present eye-witness information not usually available
from the news media.

Professor DeVries will give an analysis of the prospects for peace between
Palestinians and Israelis. A major point will be that peace cannot simply
be imposed from the top and that construction of the "Wall" and other
violent measures obscure the "roadmap" and obstruct the road to peace. As
leaders fail and refuse to make peace through diplomacy, efforts at peace
are instead coming from the bottom up, through the mutual recognition of
one another's equal and dignified humanity and the mutual acceptance of
the responsibility to implement conditions enabling safe and meaningful
lives of all who live on the land, Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Nonviolent alternatives being posed and practiced by many groups, play a
vital role in these efforts. The presentation will include eyewitness
accounts and images from the speaker's frequent working visits to
Palestine, Israel and Jordan.

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