"The grassroots approach is challenging and circuitous, and peace is slow to come. Dialogue groups are fighting fire with water, but every Palestinian home that gets demolished, every missile that comes over from Gaza, is like a shot of gasoline. As an American, I believe in the power of the popular will, and that every person who can come to see the other side for all their humanity helps build a coalition for peace" Kelly Payne

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/0719/Finding-peace-for-Israelis-and-Palestinians-among-people-not-policies

Finding peace for Israelis and Palestinians among people – not policies

John Kerry or the Arab League may prod a peace deal into place, but nothing can last unless ordinary people living under the policy see that every Israeli is not a settler and every Palestinian does not begrudge Israel a right to exist. I've seen the groundwork of that dialogue at work.

By Kelly Payne, Op-ed contributor / July 19, 2013 

Secretary of State John Kerry meets with members of the Arab League Peace Initiative in Amman, Jordan, July 17. Mr. Kerry is on his sixth visit to the region, seeking to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct negotiations, frozen for almost three years. Op-ed contributor Kelly Payne writes: 'Politics make issues impersonal. To create or loosen personal convictions...people have to share their real-life narratives.'

Mandel Ngan/AP

T el Aviv, Israel

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a perennial feature of the Middle Eastern political scene. Students of international relations like me find it intriguing, but also tiring – and static. Issues that can change, developments that are fluid, trends that are dynamic – that’s where I see students’ interests pulled instead. I myself almost began to forget how much this conflict mattered until a very personal association forced me to confront its intractable reality. I began to date a student at Yale from the Palestinian territories. Even to me, that sounds like a really silly way to find your political conscience...READ MORE