By Dorit Cypis and Heather Wellman

Abdessalam Najjar 1952-2012

Abdessalam Najjar was an important partner member of Mediators Beyond Borders ‘(MBB) Israel project. He was the co-founder and long time resident of Wahat al  Salaam Neve Shalom/NSWAS, the intentional village of Palestinians and Jewish Israelis in Israel that the MBB Middle East Initiative, now the Israel Project, has been in partnership with since 2008. Many members have visited the village and made deep connections with Abdessalam assisting him with defining a custom multi-cultural mediation curriculum for Palestinians and Jews. He was deeply visionary and lived his vision of co-existence between Palestinians and Jews.

Najjar passed away on March 22, 2012 after working for peace his entire life. Members of his community remember him as embodying the meaning of his Arabic name: A Servant of Peace. MBB members also remember him as a compassionate man who held the mission of peace in Israel near to his heart.

Dorit Cypis, MBB Project Israel Team Member said, “I was honored to have spent time with Abdessalam in 2009 at WASNS/NSWAS, as a member of Mediators Beyond Borders, assisting him and Yoni Naftali with their multi cultural mediation curriculum. After a week at the village I grew very fond of Abdessalam and his subtle and most generous ways. Never will I forget the book he showed me of the community and peace work his father accomplished in his village in  past times. Clearly, Abdessalam followed in his father’s footsteps, honorably. Many members of the MBB Middle East Initiative, now the Israel Project, have travelled and worked with Abdessalam since 2008. Each one has shared deep connection with Abdessalam and his vision of co-existance and peace. We mourn his passing.”

Her sentiments were echoed by Maureen Dabbagh. “Abdessalam’s work in peace building stands as a legacy to his compassion for others. I am privileged to have had the opportunity to learn from him. “ It is clear that Najjar will not be forgotten and his work has touched the lives and hearts of so many and made such a huge difference for the wellness of humanity.

Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI) continues to prepare for our 6th Annual
Congress in Istanbul in 2013. About 30 MBBI members are working on various ommittees,
and 60 people from 9 countries have said they are planning to attend. We have received a
commitment of involvement from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and are working
closely with William Ury’s Abraham’s Path organization.
Because of the complexities involved in holding our first Congress outside North America, the Congress Coordinating Committee, co-chaired by Steve Goldsmith and MBBI Board Member  Deniz Kite, recommended, and the MBBI Board of Directors has approved, moving the dates of the 2013 Congress from late April to September 26, 27, 28, 2013.

In June 2012, Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBB) moved to the Washington, D.C. area to share office space and staff with The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD), an organization that shares MBB’s vision of building a peace “able” world.

IMTD’s mission is to promote a system-based approach to
peacebuilding and to facilitate the transformation of deep-rooted social conflict through education, conflict resolution training and communication. You can find them on the web at http://www.imtd.org/

The move took MBB from New York City to IMTD’s office in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River, from the District of Columbia, two blocks from the Rosslyn Metro Station. 

MBB and IMTD will be sharing the services of Finance and Operations Director Tadios Tekeste. Tad has a Master’s degree in Accounting from Strayer University, Washington, D.C. and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Pune, India. 

We are very excited about this creative collaboration between two peacebuilding organizations and look forward to the opportunities that this new development will offer to advance MBB’s mission of building local skills for peace and promoting mediation worldwide.  

MBB’s new mailing address is:
1901 North Fort Myer Drive, Suite 405
Arlington, VA 22209, USA
Our new office phone number is 703-528-6552
Our new Fax is 703-528-5776.

Our general email address will remain the same: info@mediatorsbeyondborders.org

 

Steve Goldsmith is a leader among peacemakers. After 30 years in the field of conflict resolution, he was awarded the 2012 Ester Serriano Peacemaker of the Year Award by Los Angeles County. The award honored his work with Centinela Youth Services (CYS) where he served as the executive director for more than 14 years.

We at Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBB) know Steve to be the co-chair of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 congresses and the Los Angeles MBB Chapter organizer. But in addition to working tirelessly for MBB, he has also spent his life working on behalf of justice. He has been a civil rights activist, a union organizer at steel mills, and has worked to help youth heal from crime and violence in their communities.

During his time at CYS, he worked to establish their nationally recognized programs including programs for victim/offender restitution and family mediation to help impact risk factors that contribute to delinquency. He has been a long time restorative justice advocate and served on the Vice President’s Safe Cities Partnership in 1999, the Attorney General’s taskforce on safe schools, and as part of a research group on restorative justice organized by the US Department of Justice.

He has been described by his peers as being passionate and committed to saving the lives of children, one mediation at a time. And as he draws his inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King and the quotation on memorials which states, “The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Steve sees mediation as a tool that spans from the global down to the community and individuals. Knowing that conflict is an inevitable part of the human experience, Steve sees two solutions” solve conflicts with empathy or with punitive measures such as war and jail. He knows mediation works and works to advocate its use.

However, he also knows that no man is an island. He thanks the many people who helped him through the years work toward peace and justice. “I may have been the drum major, but they were the band,” he says of his work with thousands of volunteers over the years.

Steve plans to use this award to inspire the “current band” to continue to move forward with peacemaking efforts. “Steve is an inspiration to us all. He is always working in the interest of peace and trying to inspire and lead those around him to work toward that end as well. He inspires me every time I work with him,” said Heather Wellman who works with Steve on the MBB congress planning.