CJME - Dr. Mubarak Awad

NEWS RELEASE
Citizens For Justice In The Middle East
6100 W. 52nd Street
Kansas City, Missouri

For Immediate Release

Palestinian-American to address Gaza pullout, West Bank settlements and Mideast peace prospects
Dr. Mubarak Awad will be speaking in the Kansas City area on October 16-17.

Kansas City, MO – A leading proponent of nonviolent conflict resolution, Dr. Mubarak Awad, will be speaking in the Kansas City area on October 16-17. Dr. Awad, a Palestinian-American and founder of the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Jerusalem and Nonviolence International in Washington, DC, will be speaking about prospects for peace in the Mideast, including his view of the Gaza disengagement. He will speak Monday, October 17, 7:00 p.m. at UMKC, University Center, Room 106, 5100 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, Missouri. During his talk titled “Up Against the Wall: Can Gandhi’s Principles Work in Palestine?” Dr. Awad will also address recent nonviolent efforts by Palestinians to resist the building of the Wall in the West Bank.

Born in Palestine in 1943, Dr. Mubarak E. Awad was educated in the United States and is a licensed child psychologist. His extensive interest in counseling youth with psychological and emotional problems led to his founding of the Palestinian Counseling Center, in East Jerusalem in 1983.

Soon thereafter, Awad opened the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence, in East Jerusalem, to educate communities on nonviolent solutions to conflict in the Middle East. In June 1988, he was deported by the Israeli government, despite strong support from the U.S. Administration and Secretary of State, which advocated Dr. Awad's right to stay in Palestine and petitioned the Israeli government to reverse the deportation order. Despite their efforts, he was forcibly expelled.

He founded Nonviolence International (NI) in Washington, D.C., to continue his efforts on behalf of nonviolent transformation of conflict in the Middle East, as well as to promote the global educational process on nonviolent methods for the resolution of conflict. NI is a nonprofit organization' that has offices in Russia, Thailand, and Palestine.

Dr. Awad is Adjunct Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution, School of International Service, The American University, Washington, D.C. He is also Resident Researcher with the American University Center for Global Peace, in Washington.

For troubled U.S. children, Dr. Awad established the National Youth Advocate Program (NY AP) and serves as its President. With subsidiaries in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, and an international affiliate (Y API), NY AP is a private, nonprofit organization designed to support, guide and facilitate the development and operation of community-based residential and non-residential services for needy youth.

Dr. Awad has played a substantial role, at different levels, in bringing Palestinians and Israelis together to discuss peace and reconciliation and has recently been allowed to return to Palestine for short periods of time. Since the signing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993, Dr. Awad has actively supported the grass-roots organization of Palestinians for democracy and elections. Dr. Awad holds U.S. citizenship.

His talk at UMKC is sponsored by Citizens for Justice in the Middle East (Kansas City) and Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center (national sponsor)

Information about Citizens for Justice in the Middle East (http://www.cjme.org ):
Kansas City-based Citizens for Justice in the Middle East (CJME) seeks to educate the American public about the issues involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to end U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. CJME believes U.S. policy should recognize the rights and aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians, only by respecting the need to provide both parties in the conflict with security and self-determination can a viable and just peace be assured.