Yuval Rahamim was born in 1959 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Both his parents migrated to Israel as children and took part in establishing the state of Israel. The family moved in the 1960s to a small village in the Sharon area where they become farmers, specializing in growing strawberries and exporting the produce to Europe.
In spring 1967, Abraham, Yuval’s father was called for his reserve military unit due to the tension that was building up along the Israeli borders. Shortly after, on June 6th, the war broke. The war was over after only six days, thus its name “The Six Day War”. During the war Israel occupied the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Jordanian West Bank of the Jordan River and the Syrian Golan Heights. The swift victory put the young Israel in a state of euphoria but for Yuval’s family there was no joy since the father Abraham was killed on the second day of the war.
Yuval’s mother was not able to handle the disaster- taking care of the three kids, her expected new baby, the farm and her own grief was just too much. So at the age of eight Yuval was sent to a boarding school. As a teenager he decided a military career will be the best outlet for his feelings of revenge so he joined the military academy and became an officer in the Israel Defense Forces [IDF]. After six years in service Yuval left the army, got married, had three kids and pursued a career in communications and High Tech. Over time his views and motivation regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict transformed from his personal tragedy and rage, to a firm determination that the tragedies, killings and hate on both sides must stop. He needed to take on an active role in this process.
With this determination, Yuval set up a group of Israelis, both Arab and Jews that wanted to create together a new vision of peace for the Middle East. That year was 2009. At the same time, Yuval joined The Parents Circle - Families Forum [PC-FF] where Palestinian and Israeli bereaved families join forces for reconciliation, understanding and promoting peace on both sides of the conflict. Members of PC-FF act together to spread the message of reconciliation to many groups on both sides of the conflict with remarkable results.
“When my kids reached the age when they needed to take part in defending their country through a military service, I felt it was the time for me to step forward. I was no longer comfortable with letting our official leaders make the change. Changing the course of our bloody history is too important to leave it in the hands of the politicians. It is us, ordinary people who paid and continue to pay the price of the conflict, who must enroll ourselves and act within our communities to create the grounds and movement towards a sustainable peace among our nations.”
Dr. Omar Alalool
General Director, Health Unit , Ministers Council of the Palestinian Authority
Board member and Head of the International Relations Committee, Palestinian Parents Circle – Families Forum
Omar Al-Alool was born in a small village named Nuba, west of the city of Hebron on the West Bank of Palestine. His family was resettled to Nuba as refugees from the ancient village of Ein-Karem southwest of Jerusalem.
His personal tragedy began when he was 10 years old in September 1972 when his father Abdul Kader Alalool, a Fatah freedom fighter, was killed by Israeli soldiers in Jericho. A few days later, the family’s home was demolished and three months later his oldest brother Amer Alalool, who was also a Fatah freedom fighter, was killed by Israeli soldiers in Jericho.
Eight years later, in 1980 he entered the Birzeit University in pre-medical studies and became active in the youth Fatah movement. This political association caused him to be imprisoned by the Israelis authorities for 11 days. Fearing that his political activities would prevent him from getting a secure education, Omar’s mother went to Jordan to speak with her older sons about Omar’s future. They decided it would be best for him to leave Palestine and go to Rumania to continue his study of medicine with no interference.
In Rumania Omar was a Fatah representative in the Palestinian student movement from 1981-1987. In 1987 he returned as a young physician to Palestine just as the first Intifada began. He was imprisoned again, on and off because of his political activities. In total, he served two years in the Israeli prison and another two years under house arrest until 1993.
In January 2004, Omar, invited by good friends who are members in the Parents Circle-Families Forum (PC-FF), attended a weekend seminar of Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families in Jerusalem. There he met Israeli’s and Palestinians who believe in peace, nonviolence and reconciliation and who were working together to stop the blood shed and violence between their people. That weekend, recognizing that he believed in the same peaceful values and nonviolent approach, Omar decided to become a member.
The decision to become a member of PC-FF led to a new activism for Omar. After a few years of his involvement with PC-FF promoting peace and nonviolence, he and a few Palestinian members of the PC-FF joined local leaders in the West Bank and founded the Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGO) “The Way” Al-Tariq” an institution working for democracy, development and nonviolence in Palestine.
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