2019

WOMEN OF THE CRACKS

In the terribly dramatic circumstances that have persisted in the Middle East, particularly since October 7, 2023, we are convinced that we must maintain dialogue between all populations and support actions for peace. THIS ATROCIOUS WAR MUST END!

Tamam Al Saadi came to Switzerland in August 2023 with the group Young Ambassadors for Peace. Tamam was killed in Jenin, February 1st 2025, by an Israeli airstrike. We have written a text in his memory in our News 46 (still to be translated).
American Friends of The Parents Circle Families Forum published on Facebook a small video we invite you to discover here.

PROJECTS 2025

More details in our news 46, to be translated soon

ROSSING CENTER PROJECT / EDUCATION FOR CHANGE
2-8 JULY

The Rossing Center (https://rossingcenter.org/) is a Jerusalem-based organization for education and interfaith dialogue. It has set up a new two-year training project for school principals and teachers to provide them with the tools they need to deliver education aimed at respect, equality and the pursuit of peace. In this context, from July 2 to 8, we will be hosting a group of school principals accompanied by two experienced facilitators, Hiba Gnadry and Reut Ben'Horin.

TOMORROW’S WOMEN / YOUNG LEADER PROGRAM
11-23 July

For 21 years, Tomorrow’s Women (TW) has been training young women (aged 15-30) from Israel, Palestine and the United States to become strong, compassionate leaders who join together to resolve conflict and inspire action that promotes equality, peace and justice for all.
In the 4 months leading up to their stay in Switzerland, the 14 young participants in the Young Leader Program, aged 15 to 17, will work together for some 40 hours over 4 weekends on key notions of identity, sex and gender, personal, family and community narratives, and the social, economic and political issues of different social groups.
In Switzerland, the group will spend 15 nights in a chalet in the Diablerets region, accompanied by two facilitators, an art therapist and a camp leader. Participants will explore issues of identity, the impact of conflict on their lives, their fears, needs and hopes, prepare for their return and formulate their dreams for the future, defining achievable milestones.

BEIT HA’GEFEN / EDUCATORS FOR SHARED SOCIETY
17-25 August

Beit Ha’Gefen, Haifa’s Arab-Jewish center, founded in 1963 and a pioneer in the field of intercultural dialogue, is a non-profit organization that strives to establish egalitarian, shared spaces in the diversity of Israel's identities and cultures.
Asaf Ron, director of the center, is offering a two-year training program to a group of educators and teachers in his region, committed to promoting sharing and interculturality. This program focuses on nature as a major element of cohesion, likely to amplify a sense of equality.
We will be hosting a group of around 12 people, staying in the mountains and with host families.

You are interested by our activities ? Contact us, we always welcome new members and families interested by an enriching and transformative experience.

WHAT do WE DO?

Coexistences hosts mixed groups of Palestinians and Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs and Arabs from the West Bank, that have been pursing dialogue for a while, for short stays in Switzerland. This allows them to continue the important dialogue initiated in Israel, away from the conflict. The association offers a welcoming place for groups of youth and adults from all walks of life.

Coexistences believes that listening to the other side makes it possible to change the perception of the other, and that coexistence will not emerge from big changes but instead from small evolutions. It is to this end that we wish to help develop the aptitudes of dialogue of women and men engaged in a process of encounter and mutual acknowledgement.

However small our action might be, we hope to contribute in a reciprocal understanding and to the coexistence of populations that have been deeply marked by tens of years of a violent conflict, which has erected a wall of misunderstanding.

To know more about us, a brochure, THREE movieS

Our presentation brochure (in French) « Soutenir le dialogue pour un avenir meilleur » presents the key points of the projects carried out since 2006, and the echo they have encountered in the written press or on the radio, in Switzerland and internationally.
Download the brochure

"The First Stay in Switzerland", by Beni Gassenbauer in 2006, describing a stay with Coexistences

Watch the movie (16')

« We can talk » by Uri Levi and Moriya Benavot produced in 2016, is a collection of interviews with six young Israeli-Palestinians engaged in dialogue.
Most of them were hosted in Switzerland by our organisation.

Watch the movie

"Where are the boarders ?", a movie by Beni Gassenbauer and Felix Sandri in 2010, about a group of university students from Haïfa reaching the peak of the Mont-Blanc.

Watch the movie (20')