October 14, 2009

When President Lincoln responded to an irate woman who wanted him to destroy Yankee enemies in the South, he responded with, "Madam, do I not destroy my enemy when he becomes my friend!?" In this spirit of reconciliation, NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change co-directors Aziza Hasan and Malka Fenyvesi led a workshop on conflict resolution at the University of Southern California (USC).

Part of a 4-part lecture series called Vision and Voices, the session title was "Can We Talk? An Exercise in Conflict Resolution." The series aimed to offer deeper insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and empower individuals with tools to reframe and process tensions arising from the Middle East.

During the training, we led participants through interactive exercises on the roles of our identities in how we relate or contribute to conflict as well as the different views on a conflict spectrum. We ended with a skill-building piece and application component. The focus was to empower the audience with skills and perspectives on how to break-down difficult situations so that active and effective problem-solving could take place.

NewGround is jointly sponsored by MPAC and the Progressive Jewish Alliance.

-- Aziza Hasan (aziza@mpac.org)
NewGround Co-Director & MPAC Southern California Government Relations Director