The Jerusalem Hug: Rob Schrama presentation: Aug. 4; Amsterdam Zuid

Artist, peace activist and Amsterdammer Rob Schrama will be the guest speaker at the Universal Peace Federation Nederland (UPF-NL) ‘’Jerusalem Hug’’ Thursday, August 4 Dialoogavond at the UPF Nederland Dialoogcentrum in Amsterdam Zuid.

Rob Schrama is one of the initiators of the “Jerusalem Hug”, an annual event, in which Israelis and Palestinians as well as peace activists from all over the world walk hand in hand around the city walls, sharing their wish for peace and their love for Jerusalem. He will give a presentation about the last “Jerusalem Hug”, July 3, 2011, and about the progress he’s making for 2012, particularly with his ‘’Pyramids of Light’’ in Jerusalem and in other cities in the world, the most recent being Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, from where he has just returned. The Jerusalem Hug symbolizes another way to achieve peace. Everywhere, belief in a political solution to the Middle East conflict has dropped to zero. As Schrama and his colleagues assert, there ought another way, the way of the heart. When we find peace in ourselves & are able to forgive, world peace will come closer. Change begins on that basis. The Jerusalem Hug gives expression to this wish for change as a concrete statement. Jerusalem stands as a symbol for peace and forgiveness in the world.

The Jerusalem Hug was initiated in 2007 and is held each year. In 2011, it attracted up to 1,000 participants, from all over the world as well as Israel. Speakers included Dvora Pearlman – healer & grandmother, Sheik Ibrahim Abu el Hawa – ‘’the ambassador of goodwill from the Mount of Olives’’, and Rabbi Eliyahu McLean –born a Sikh in Hawaii, now a Chasid (Hasid) in Jerusalem.

The Hug is organized by three groups: the ‘Lovers of Jerusalem’ –people from several spiritual & peace movements in Israel; the ‘Jerusalem Peacemakers’ – passionate & committed Jewish & Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem; and a group of peace minded people from The Netherlands, who founded the Jerusalem Hug Foundation to help get international support for the Jerusalem Hug 2012.

Participation in previous UPF events

This is not the first time for Rob Schrama to participate in a UPF event. In December 2010, he was a featured speaker - together with former Netherlands Prime Minister Prof. Dr. Dries van Agt, currently President of ‘’The Rights Forum”, an organisation that strives for a just Dutch policy in the Middle East; Ian White, a former CEO of the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, in the Republic of Ireland, speaking on “Lessons Learned from the Northern Ireland Peace Process”; and Mrs. Manal Timraz, a British Palestinian, who founded the Million Candles for Peace campaign – at a UPF-Europe ‘’European Leadership Conference’’ at the UPF Nederland conference centre, Huize Glory, in Bergen aan Zee, Noord Holland.

Dutch conference participants who heard Schrama speak vigorously of his “Jerusalem Hug” and upcoming “Jerichon” campaigns - using his artistic talents to create events to unite, inspire and mobilize Israelis, Palestinians and foreign visitors to turn Jerusalem into a city of peace - included former government ministers and / or Ambassadors Dr. Willem van Eekelen, Jhr. Dr. Pieter Beelaerts van Blokland and Dr. Jan Willem Bertens. Schrama expressed the hope of eventually creating a “critical mass to bring change”, just as he had seen when he was a professor in East Germany at the time of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

In the Saturday ‘’cultural evening’’, he involved everyone in a ‘’Jerusalem peace song he’d written, reminiscent of the 1960s civil rights anthem ‘’We shall Overcome’’. In recognition of his ‘’peace making’’, he was awarded a UPF Ambassador for Peace certificate.

In February of this year, he attended a UPF Founders’ Celebratory Birthday Dinner at the Dialoogcentrum in Amsterdam Zuid, and he has also participated at UPF events in other countries, including Germany and Lithuania.

Universal Peace Federation Nederland Dialoogavond The ‘’Jerusalem Hug’’ – Rob Schrama Thursday, August 4, 2011, 20:00 uur; Amsterdam Zuid

Rob Schrama - artist and peace activist –and Amsterdammer – will give a presentation about the last“Jerusalem Hug”, July 3, 2011, and about the progress he’s making for 2012, particularly with his ‘Pyramids of Light’ in Jerusalem and in other cities in the world, the most recent being Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, from where he has just returned.

The Jerusalem Hug symbolizes another way to achieve peace. Everywhere, belief in a political solution to the Middle East conflict has dropped to zero. There ought another way, the way of the heart. When we find peace in ourselves & are able to forgive, world peace will come closer. Change begins on that basis. The Jerusalem Hug gives expression to this wish for change as a concrete statement. Jerusalem stands as a symbol for peace and forgiveness in the world.

The Jerusalem Hug was initiated in 2007 and is held each year. In 2011, it attracted up to 1,000 participants, from all over the world as well as Israel. Speakers included Dvora Pearlman – healer & grandmother, Sheik Ibrahim Abu el Hawa – ‘the ambassador of goodwill from the Mount of Olives’, and Rabbi Eliyahu McLean – born a Sikh in Hawaii, now a Chasid (Hasid) in Jerusalem. The Hug is organized by three groups: the ‘Lovers of Jerusalem’ –people from several spiritual & peace movements in Israel; the ‘Jerusalem Peacemakers’ – passionate & committed Jewish & Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem; and a group of peace minded people from The Netherlands, who founded the Jerusalem Hug Foundation to help get international support for the Jerusalem Hug 2012. See: jerusalemhug.org

Language: Rob speaks Dutch & English; whichever he speaks, there’ll be translation if necessary. Het programma bevat tevenseen introductie over de UPF, een toast op Wereldvrede, muziek en gelegenheid tot vragen stellen. Koffie, thee e.d. worden verzorgd. Deze avonden met sprekers zijn er in de regel elke laatste donderdag van de maand.

UPF-NL Dialoogcentrum, Argonautenstraat 1hs, 1076 KJ Amsterdam Zuid