Cohen's Corner

A word from Dr. Bruce Cohen, Founder - Interns For Peace

For almost 3 decades, IFP-INTERNS FOR PEACE, the trainer of the major prime movers in Mid East cooperation, has been the pioneer of the in -field training of community peace workers from ethnic communities in conflict to empower their people to unite in sustainable reform projects in economic, civil society, education & women empowerment.

In the past 29 years, Interns For Peace has learned that economic, political and educational empowerment, alone do not transform hatred into tolerance. There is also the need for culturally respectful tolerance training, which uses traditional religious texts. These lessons are transmitted to the youth and women from their fellow peers, who are the IFP Interns, recruited from the “street”. IFP recruits the self- made college graduate leaders from the poor/marginal, resistant and fundamentalist “street”. IFP gives these leaders from the “streets” the opportunity and social access necessary for training as entry- level staff for local and international Non-Governmental Organizations, schools and governmental ministries to unite their once conflicting communities in regional or inter-ethnic cooperation to advance reform projects in economic, civil society, education & women empowerment. Uniting people in common activity has been scientifically proven to create positive feelings in brain receptors of well-being and fosters greater understanding.

A new window of opportunity to revive the peace process is opening in the Middle East. A new Palestinian leadership has been elected and now seeks to end the violence of the past 4 years. Yet, 80% of Palestinian youth are hostages of the cult of terror. A new coalition of Israeli leaders, from the left and right, are now uniting to prepare Israelis for a withdrawal from Gaza, Yet, 50% of Israeli Jews do not grant Israeli Arabs equal rights. 

Both Israeli and Palestinian political leaderships now confront a general breakdown of civil society as evidenced by the fact that youth & women abuse and crime are increasing in both societies. Normalcy and turning terror to tolerance will not occur by diplomacy, alone. Youth and women need empowerment.

The window of peace will violently close shut, as in it did in September of 2000, if public diplomacy “focuses on elites and not the “streets”, to quote Ambassador Dennis Ross.  Sustainable reform in civil society, economic, education and women empowerment as well as turning terror to tolerance will not occur by diplomacy of elites in rarified retreats, alone. The peace process will fail again if it’s not linked to sustainable reform in democracy, human rights, economic, civil society, women and social (tolerance training) empowerment among the youth and women in the “streets” of Palestinian Gaza & the West Bank as well as Israel and the entire Middle East and North Africa.

IFP has been developing Youth and Women Corps to sustain reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation in the streets of the Middle East. The need to engage youth and women in their own empowerment through this To Build and Be Rebuilt Corps is substantiated by Dr. Fuad Adjami of USA and Yehudah Bin Nun of Israel. These two sociologists, one Arab and one Jewish, both confirm the same overriding reality that creating positive social change in the Middle East and Islamic world. Empowering Arab and Muslim women is the key to advancing reform in the Middle East, North Africa and the Muslim world. Muslim women ultimately determine family size, the education level of each child and the social values of each family.  Youth, as 60% of the population, are key to Mid East peace.

After 29 years, IFP is uniquely positioned to open the window of peace in the “streets” of the Mid-East with sustainable civil society, economic, education and women empowerment.  IFP Israel and IFP Palestine are independent from each other. In direct partnership with IFP, based in New York, each autonomous training branch evolved an approach, with full approval from regional and local governments in alliance with NGO, Business and University networking to train the leaders of the poor and resistant to unite their communities in cooperative communal / regional non-violent advocacy/action for civil society, economic, education and women empowerment, which reinforces building grassroots peace constituencies in both societies.

With the Greatest Repect,

Bruce Cohen