This is one of the speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference.

Dr. Mustafa Kamel Barghouthi is a member of the Palestinian parliament; 2005 presidential candidate; physician; social, political, human rights and peace activist; one of the most active grassroots leader in Palestine; campaigner for the development of Palestinian civil society and grassroots democracy; outspoken advocate of internal reform; international spokesperson for the Palestinian cause; leading figure in the non-violent, peaceful struggle against the Occupation; and organizer of international solidarity presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Mustafa Barghouthi has made an extraordinary contribution to initiatives to peacefully challenge the ongoing Israeli Occupation of Palestine and bring it to end, as well as efforts to build the institutional framework of Palestinian civil society and promote the principles of internal democracy and good governance. He writes extensively for local and international audiences on civil society, democracy issues and the political situation in Palestine, as well as on health development policy in Palestine.

This is one of speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference. Go Here To see the main Peace Works Conference page.

Arun Gandhi is the fifth grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, a social-political activist, and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence in Memphis, Tennessee.Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and “black” South Africans for being too white; so, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering.

Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger.

This is one of the speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference. Go Here To see the main Peace Works Conference page.

Amira Hass is an Israeli author and journalist for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz who has lived in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She was born in Jerusalem in 1956, the daughter of Yugoslavian-Jewish refugees. A journalist for the Hebrew daily Ha’aretz, she covers Gaza and the West Bank. She received the UPI’s International Award and the Sokolow Prize, Israel’s highest honor for journalists. For her work in Gaza, Hass was been nominated for the Robert F. Kennedy Award.

From 1993 to 1997, Amira Hass lived in Gaza and was the first Israeli journalist to stay the enclave so feared and despised by most Israelis that, in the Israeli idiom, “Go to Gaza” is another way to say “Go to hell.”

This is one of the speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference.

Diana Buttu is a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer. In 2000, she left North America to move to Palestine in order to assist with the then “peace” negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel as one of the PLO’s legal advisors. With the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Israel’s occupation (and the breakdown of negotiations) Diana decided to remain in Palestine.

She gained prominence during Israel’s invasion of the West Bank, serving as spokesperson for the PLO. Ms Buttu assisted in the litigation of Israel’s wall before the Hague in 2004 – a resounding victory for the Palestinians, and indictment of Israel’s wall. In 2005 she was appointed President Abbas’s communications director. She has since left her official posts. She now resides in Gaza where she is writing a book on the Israeli occupation.