A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflicts

Harold H. Saunders, International Institute for Sustained Dialogue. St. Martin's Press, 1999.

Harold Saunders, former Assistant Secretary of State and negotiator of the Camp David Accords and now Director of International Programs at the Kettering Foundation, distills over 35 years of experience working with conflicts across the globe. This book describes how sustained dialogue can help conflicting groups of citizens move toward resolution.

Building a Common Future: Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue

Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group of San Mateo County, 2001.

An 11-page how-to brochure of principles, rationale, guidelines, and answers to often-asked questions about Sustained Dialogue. This freely downloadable PDF document was prepared by the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group of San Mateo, California, which has been going strong for over a dozen years and has inspired many other Jewish-Palestinian living room dialogues to launch across the country.

Resource Link: http://traubman.igc.org/dialoguehow.pdf

D&D Success Stories

Compiled by the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD), 2005.

Below are dozens of links to dialogue and deliberation success stories and case studies that are available online. Approaches covered include Deliberative Polling, Citizens Juries, Future Search, National Issues Forums, Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue, AmericaSpeaks, Study Circles, the Public Conversations Project, and Wisdom Councils. NCDD has been compiling these resources for the D&D community for several years, but we could really use your help keeping this page updated. Email us at [email protected] with your additions and changes.

Five Stages of the Public Peace Process

Harold Saunders. Conflict Resolution Center International Newsletter, January 1998, pp 20, 23., 1998.

A two-page essay outlining Harold Saunders' five stages of a public peace process which leads to reconciliation and collaboration. The stages are: deciding to engage, mapping the relationship together, probing the dynamics of the relationship together, experiencing the relationship by thinking together, and acting together.

International Institute for Sustained Dialogue

Directed by Harold Saunders and formed in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation, IISD promotes the process of sustained dialogue for transforming racial and ethnic conflicts around the world. Sustained dialogue (SD) is a systematic, interactive, open-ended political process to transform conflictual relationships over time. SD focuses on the dynamics of the relationships that underlie conflict and block its resolution.

Resource Link: http://www.sustaineddialogue.org

Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue E-Newsletter

The Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group.

Len and Libby Traubman keep hundreds of people inspired and updated on Jewish-Palestinian dialogue efforts around the world through their e-newsletter and website.

Resource Link: http://traubman.igc.org/global.htm

Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group of San Mateo, CA

Len and Libby Traubman have been organizing Jewish-Palestinian dialogue in the San Francisco Bay area for over a decade. Their website features a 'how to' page on initiating Jewish-Palestinian dialogue groups, as well as many great articles and links. The Traubmans have spawned many similar, yet diverse groups in the Bay area, and their ideas have spread into new cities and campuses.

Resource Link: http://traubman.igc.org/global.htm

MSNBC Coverage of the Jewish/Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group

MSNBC, 2002.

Inspiring 10-minute VHS or PAL format video of MSNBC coverage of the long-running and much-duplicated Jewish/Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group convened by Libby and Len Traubman in San Mateo, California.

Resource Link: http://traubman.igc.org/global.htm

Palestinian and Jewish Recipes for Peace

Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group, 2004.

This unique 100-page, illustrated cookbook celebrates 12 years of sustained relationship building and community outreach by the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group of San Mateo County, California. In addition to 71 wonderful recipes, the book includes dialogue participants' narratives about childhood memories of family and food. The book provides windows into the two cultures about how food is vital to celebrations, holidays, and identity for both peoples. The book also contains guidelines for how to begin a Sustained Dialogue and ideas for events, ceremonies, and outreach to the public.

Sustained Dialogue

Sustained Dialogue is a process for transforming and building the relationships that are essential to democratic political and economic practice. SD is not a problem-solving workshop; it is a sustained interaction to transform and build relationships among members of deeply conflicted groups so that they may effectively deal with practical problems. As a process that develops over time through a sequence of meetings, SD seems to move through a series of recognizable phases including a deliberative "scenario-building" stage and an "acting together" stage.

Sustained Dialogue Campus Network

The Sustained Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN) is a project of The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue (IISD). In 1999, students began using a unique process called Sustained Dialogue (SD) to proactively improve race relations on college campuses. A network of Sustained Dialogue practitioners has since formed, connecting students at over a dozen colleges, universities, and high schools across the country. This network, called the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, represents a budding social movement of passionate students deeply engaged in changing the dynamics of their campus climate.

Resource Link: http://sdcampusnetwork.org

Talking Peace

Mark Freeman, Producer, Writer, Director and Editor.

The cycle of violence in the Middle East may seem to have no end, but in San Diego Jews and Palestinians have united despite the odds. The documentary film ?“Talking Peace?” takes viewers inside the Jewish Palestinian Living Room Dialogue and tells a compelling story of two sides coming together through the simple act of listening. In the living room of Jim Rauch, a Jew, and his wife Doris Bittar, an Arab, the stage has been set to create an alternative to living with hatred. In their home, Jews and Palestinians share their stories and their pain governed by only one rule: to truly listen to each other.

Resource Link: http://www.cinemaguild.com