Forums on the Palestinian-Israeli Water Rights Negotiations

There will be two opportunities prior to the Water Issues Dialogue to hear and ask more about the details in public forums.

• Sunday August 3 at the William Penn House--at a 6:30 PM potluck dinner, Phil Caroom and Barbara Thomas will present the journey the Annapolis Friends Peace and Justice Center has taken to come to this point and the task that is before us in the Water Dialogue. (If you don't want to join in the potluck, then the program begins about 7:15.)
• Sunday August 10 at 7 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis: an educational program on a local and creative initiative to address water rights issues in the Middle East.

At both events, Friends Peace and Justice Center representatives, Phil Caroom and Barbara Thomas, will share their thoughts on the upcoming Water Negotiation/Dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli Geneva Initiative (GI) organizers and their teams of water experts coming to Annapolis in mid-August. In addition to a slide presentation on the current situation with water needs and allocations, we will explore:

• Why we think there is a chance for success for this international peace effort?
• How we have succeeded in setting up this initiative with so many international contacts in just a few short months? and
• What implications the lessons learned from this effort have for " citizen-to-citizen" international outreach, i.e., "Track II Diplomacy"?

Simply, we have found an opportunity to help the Palestinian and Israeli GI to explore further the long-standing and unresolved water issues that become increasingly critical with the recent Mid-East drought. We look forward to briefing Annapolis peace-makers on the issues prior to the Dialogue and, we hope again afterwards, on its results.

We encourage interested parties to read more about the negotiations and see the links and articles available on this page.
 

How can you help?

Annapolis Friends Meeting (Quakers) Peace and Justice Center needs to raise the funds to fly these negotiators, advisors, and mediators to Annapolis to do the work they have spent years preparing for. Round trip airfares from the Middle East will average about $2,300 per participant. Others are flying from Canada, France, and various U.S. states. Our conference site for four days will be approximately $10,000. The low estimate for the conference is $40,000.

To help, you can donate on this website by clicking the donate button below. Alternatively, you can make a check to Annapolis Friends Meeting with the notation, "Water Rights Conference," and mail it to Annapolis Friends Meeting, 351 Dubois Road, Annapolis, MD 21401.