Join Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) for a LIVE Webinar that will focus on the possibility of an International Fund for Palestine in the method of the “International Fund for Ireland.”

When: Thursday, August 24 at 11am EDT
RSVP: Please register to receive a link to the live webinar

Panel: 

Joel Braunold, Executive Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace
A contributor for Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post, his work has been published in numerous national and international publications including the New York Daily News, the Guardian, the Huffington Post, the Hill, and the Daily Beast. He has given lectures at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government,  National Defense University in Washington DC, Loyola Marymount University, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and at Bar Ilan University. He works regularly with the US State Department, USAID, the National Security Council and Congress on the needs of the peace building community.
Outside the US, Braunold has worked with national governments across Europe, multilateral institutions and parts of the Arab world. Braunold is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and holds a BA (Hons) in philosophy from Bristol University. He is the recipient of the Avi Schaefer Peace Innovation Prize, is a senior fellow for the Alliance for Youth Movements and holds Honorary Life Membership to the National Union of Students (UK) and the Union of Jewish Students (UK).

Fr. Josh Thomas, International Executive Director of Kids4Peace and a member of the Alliance for Middle East Peace Board of Directors                                                                                                                                                                  Thomas has over 15 years of experience leading interfaith education and peacebuilding programs for youth in the United States,     Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Jerusalem. During his seven years as Executive Director, Kids4Peace has grown rapidly to become the largest and most diverse interfaith youth movement in Jerusalem and the first national network of interfaith youth programs in the United States.

Today, Kids4Peace serves more than 500 families from East and West Jerusalem, and neighboring West Bank cities, through a unique model of long-term dialogue and social action programs, supported in part by an $800,000 grant from USAID. In 2015, Kids4Peace received an innovation grant from the US Institute of Peace to explore sources of resilience during times of violence and the links between dialogue and social action in its Jerusalem programs. This spring, Kids4Peace will launch a co-working space in East Jerusalem, as a hub of collaboration among Israeli and Palestinian grassroots peace leaders. Thomas is an ordained Episcopal priest and a graduate of Dartmouth College and Union Theological Seminary. He has taught religious education, interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding at Emory University and Boston University School of Theology and has served parishes and campus ministries across the United States.

Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, Director of Rethinking Conflict
Rev. Dr. Mason holds a PhD from the school of Psychology at the University of Ulster. He was also awarded an honorary Doctor in Divinity for his role in peace building in Ireland, from Florida Southern College. He completed his theological studies at Queens University and holds a Bachelor’s in Business Studies from the University of Ulster. Gary is a Senior Research Fellow at the Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention at Maynooth University in Ireland. He is also an adjunct Professor at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.

Gary has lectured in political, religious and academic forums throughout Europe, South Africa, the Middle East and the U.S.A. seeking to engage, mentor and share lessons from the Irish peace process. He has travelled widely in the USA and has spoken in Churches of all Christian denominations as well as other faith settings. Gary has also given lectures in a number of College, University and denominational settings across the United States from Harvard University, Boston College, Boston University, Tufts University, Emory University, Duke University, University of Alabama, Florida Southern College, Birmingham Southern College, Fairmont State University, Wesleyan WV, Rollins College, St. Cloud University, St. John’s University Minnesota and Hamline University.

Moderated by Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Executive Director of Churches for Middle East Peace
                                     
Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon is the Executive Director of Churches for iddle East Peace and is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). Cannon formerly served as the senior director of Advocacy and Outreach for World Vision U.S. in Washington, DC; as consultant to the Middle East for child advocacy issues for Compassion International in Jerusalem; as the executive pastor of Hillside Covenant Church in CA; and as director of developent and transformation for extension ministries at Willow Creek Community Church in IL. Cannon holds an MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary, an MBA from North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management, and an MA in bioethics from Trinity International University. She received her doctorate in American History with a minor in Middle Eastern studies at the University of California (Davis) focusing on the history of the American Protestant church in Israel and Palestine. Her work has been highlighted in CNN, Chicago Tribune, Christianity Today, Leadership Magazine, The Christian Post, Jerusalem Post, EU Parliament Magazine, Huffington Post and other international media outlets.