Kessler said, the last few weeks, following Hamas’s attack and Israel’s subsequent military operations, have been one of the most difficult, challenging periods of his life: 'We’re all trying to get our bearings.'…

In times such as these, characterized by heightened fear and distrust, inspiring examples of solidarity and cooperation have emerged. This has been a beacon of hope in these dark days.

I see our many human societies as living on a metaphorical sphere that is half in light and half in dark. The best goal of human striving is to live in the light and to help one’s own society and other societies to live in the light.

“We saw that there was enormous chaos and realized we must do something.”

We are broken, anguished, disheartened, enraged… but we will not be deterred from our mission of nurturing the next generation of Israeli, Palestinian, and American change-makers.

Van Gogh's last words were,

"The sadness will last forever."

He, who knew the dark. He, who nonetheless

painted stars within it.

Nearly three years after establishing diplomatic ties, representatives from a group of Arab countries and Israel met in Bahrain to brainstorm ideas about forming a regional free-trade alliance.

In recent years, U.S. public opinion has become modestly more positive toward both sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, according to a new Pew Research Center survey…

There’s a major new initiative brewing in Israel, which some hope might help the country back away from looming disaster.

For those lucky enough to be traveling to Israel this year, an upcoming visit can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engage and encourage, not only those protecting Israel’s population centers, but those defending Israel’s democratic institutions as well.

Over the past several months, Heart of a Nation has held a series of roundtable conversations with diverse thought leaders selected from a variety of constituencies on their respective red lines regarding conversation and dialogue. We wanted to know how these individuals determined with whom they would and wouldn’t engage.

For this year’s Arab Youth Survey, the 15th to date, researchers conducted 3,600 interviews with individuals ages 18-24 between March 27 and April 12 in 18 countries and 53 cities across the Middle East and North Africa, to gauge the overall attitude of the 'Arab world’s largest demographic.

The fight over judicial reform in Israel could, potentially, bring about progress in a positive direction — if the battle over the role and powers of Israel’s branches of government were to finally bring about a long-delayed pillar of democracy: a written constitution…

Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans... Majorities of adults say U.S. laws and policies do a poor job of representing what most Americans want on issues ranging from the economy and government spending to gun policy, immigration and abortion.

A threat to democracy anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere…

Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, has called for a “’Marshall Plan’ for the Middle East”, expressing hope that a global economic development plan directed at young Palestinians, young Egyptians and young Jordanians – that provides international investments for new businesses where few exist today – could ultimately lead to a peaceful solution in the region.

UnXeptable is the first Israeli-American movement to emerge since the Israeli-American Council, and it has developed on a wholly organic, ground-up basis…

The reason the Israeli protests have been so effective is that even in a society rent by so many divisions, Israelis have gone into the streets because they believe deeply that their very way of life—the character of their society, and the image they have of Israel as an open, tolerant, and democratic polity with all its weaknesses, including the Israeli occupation—is fundamentally threatened.

’It’s all about how do we engage in conversations about controversial issues, how do we facilitate those dialogues, how do we train educators to be the best educators possible to deal with these complex and controversial issues.’

Four score minus five years ago, this country was established “for the benefit of all its inhabitants,” according to its Declaration of Independence.