ICCI

The mission of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI) is to harness the teachings and values of the three Abrahamic faiths and transform religion’s role from a force of division and extremism into a source of reconciliation, coexistence, and understanding.  To accomplish this, we work with youth, women, and religious leaders to promote Jewish-Arab coexistence and peace-building projects.

Our programs are based on core values that reflect profound humanitarian principles:

• Moving from Dialogue to Action: the programs combine facilitated dialogue, study, and action projects which demonstrate to the wider community the tangible benefits to be gained from working together towards common goals.
• Addressing the Conflict: all programs promote relationship-building, including frank and open exchanges of perspectives on subjects related to the local and regional conflict.
• Focus on Communities rather than Individuals: participants are carefully recruited based on their potential to impact their respective religious communities.
• Long-Term Programs and Relationships: all major programs are long-term so as to encourage the building of lasting relationships.
• Religion as part of the Solution: by utilizing interreligious textual study as an educational tool, ICCI promotes religion as a means of bringing people closer together.

We hope to use this blog–in Hebrew, English, and Arabic–to share the more personal dimension of our work.  Meet our program participants and staff members, and hear their stories.  Read first-hand accounts of our programs, and discover the challenges and rewards of interfaith dialogue in Israel.

We invite you to join the conversation.  For more information, check out our website: http://icci.org.il/, or our Facebook page.