INT'L CENTER FOR CONCILIATION INC

ICFC IS MANAGING ONE OF THE ONLY CROSS BORDER PROJECTS IN THE REGION. DEADSEANET IS THE PROJECT NAME BASED ON A WELL-FUNCTIONING PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN EMINENT SEISMOLOGISTS, SEISMIC ENGINEERS, AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS IN JORDAN, PALESTINE, AND ISRAEL, TO BE EXTENDED ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST, AS POLITICAL CONDITIONS ALLOW. WE UTILIZE COMMUNITY BASED DISASTER PREPAREDNESS TO ENCOURGE CROSS BORDER COOPERATION IN THE DEAD SEA REGION, WHERE NATURAL DISASTERS ARE NOT LIMITED TO EARTHQUAKES. THE ICFC HAS HAD OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT YEARS SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT AS AN 501 (C)3. AFTER FOUR YEARS OF TRAINING IN JORDAN WITH JORDANIAN, ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS, IT AGAIN TOOK THE INITIATIVE TO MOVE THE PROJECT FOR DISASTER RISK PREPAREDNESS TO JERICHO. IN ADDITION TO THE TRAINEES THAT WE BROUGHT TOGETHER, WE CAME TO AN UNDERSTANDING WITH THE MAYOR OF THAT CITY TO TRAIN HIS PROFESSIONAL STAFF AS A QUID PRO QUO, WE INVOLVED AT LEAST 20 OUTSTANDING LEADERS FROM THE JERICHO REFUGEE CAMP, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE UN SINCE 1949. THE MUNICIPALITY DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ANY CONNECTION WITH THE CAMP AND THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST SEVEN DECADES THAT THERE WERE SHARED INITIATIVES. AFTER THE ELECTIONS IN THE US WE DEVELOPED AN "ANTI-INCITEMENT TRAINING WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TERRITORIES. THROUGH TRAINING THE TRAINERS WE EXTENDED THE TRAINING TO APPROXIMATELY 1,000 PALESTINIANS OF ALL AGES AND BACKGROUND, REGIONS AND RELIGIONS. WE ARE NOW WORKING ON A TWO-YEAR LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM THAT WILL INCLUDE THE BEST PREPARED EMERGING LEADERS AND WILL BE BASED AT AN-NAJAH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN COOPERATION WITH ITS VICE PRESIDENT AND OUR MEMBER FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS, PROF. JALLAL DABBEEK. IN YEAR 2018, THE ICFC CONTINUES ITS MORE THAN FIVE YEARS OF TRAINING IN PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES INVOLVING ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS. ITS INNOVATIVE METHODS USE DISASTER RISK PREPAREDNESS AND COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AS A MEANS TO DEVELOP NEW PEACE PLATFORMS IN AREAS PRONE TO VIOLENCE AND WHERE DISASTERS CAN WEAKEN, RATHER THAN STRENGTHEN SOCIAL BONDS WITHIN A COMMUNITY AND BETWEEN COMMUNITIES AS WE NOTE IN PLACES LIKE HAITI AND INDONESIA FOLLOWING SEISMIC EVENTS. YEAR 2019 ACHIVEMENTS: IN THE SUMMER OF 2019 THE BOARD AND STAFF SPOTTED NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN WORKING ON THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS. FORMAL TALKS WERE NOT GOING ANYWHERE BUT A NEW GENERATION OF PALESTINIANS WAS COMING OF AGE, DETERMINED THAT THEIR CHILDREN WOULD NOT LIVE WITH TERROR AND HOPELESSNESS AS THEY HAD LIVED. GLOBAL EFFORTS INVOLVING PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS AS WELL AS EMIGRATION FOSTERED NEW INITIATIVES OF WHICH THE ICFC PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE. WE NOTED THAT THERE WAS A HIGH LEVEL OF AUTISM AMONG PALESTINIAN CHILDREN AS THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT TRAINING AMONG PSYCHOLOGISTS IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE AND A MEASURE OF COOPERATION. IN NOVEMBER 2019, THE ICFC JOINED WITH COLLEAGUES FROM YALE UNIVERSITY AND WE HELPED SPONSOR A CONFERENCE IN AN NAJAH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY WITH WHICH THE ICFC HAD COOPERATED FOR FIVE YEARS ON WORK IN JERICHO. THE FOUR-DAY CONFERENCE WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL AND DREW THE ATTENTION OF SCHOOLS IN HEBRON AS WELL AS NABLUS. BACK IN AMERICA WE ENTERED INTO AGREEMENTS WITH TOP AUTISM EXPERTS FROM ATLANTA AND JOHANNESBURG. ON SEPT.,10, 2020, SEVERAL OF THESE EXPERTS VOLUNTEERED THEIR SERVICES AND A NATIONAL SURVEY OF AUTISM IN PALESTINE WAS TO BE UNDERTAKEN. THE COVID19 HAS AFFLICTED MUCH OF THE WORLD SINCE MARCH 2020. IT WOULD BE PRETTY UNDERSTANDABLE TO REPORT THAT THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNOUNCED THAT EVEN AN NGO ESTABLISHED TO PROTECT PEOPLE FROM "NATURAL DISASTERS" WAS HALTING ITS GLOBAL OPERATIONS. WE WERE MAINLY IN SECLUSION, COMFORTING THE AFFLICTED AND MOURNING OUR LOSSES. BUT WE SOON DISCOVERED ZOOM. WE SOON MADE DAILY VISITS WITH OUR STAFF AND PARTNERS ON FIVE CONTINENTS FROM WASHINGTON, DC TO QATAR TO LITHUANIA. AT THIS TIME, WE ARE PLANNING FOR THE TRANSITION BACK FROM THE VIRTUAL TO THE REAL, STRENGTHEN OUR WORK IN PLACES LIKE INDIA, MALAYSIA, AMONG ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS. BY SPRING 2022, WE EXPECT TO BE BACK TO THE ENTIRE OPERATION.