Mission

The mission of Friendship Across Borders is a heartfelt misson for all those, who contribute to the FAB peace process between Palestinians, Jewish Israelis and Germans/Europeans, promoting mutual understanding, trust and reconciliation, across borders, walls and fences.

“In October 2003, a young female Palestinian attorney carried out s suicide attack at a restaurant in Haifa that was run jointly by Jewish and Arabic Israelis. She intended to avenge the death of her brother who had been killed in front of her eyes by Israelis soldiers. Parents and children, Jewish and Arabic Israelis died and many people were injured. The day after the attack, Israeli soldiers destroyed the house of the Palestinian woman’s family and the entire area of the West Bank was sealed off.

This incident was neither the beginning nor the end of the spiral of violence and revenge in the Middle East. Yet, it was the impuls needed for Brigitta Mahr to found an organisation called “Friendship Across Borders – FAB”

Brigitta Mahr says: This act of violence shook me up and shocked me, just as every similar act has done since then, in a very profoud way. Whether it happens in Israel or the Palestinian areas, Gaza or the West Bank, or in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, or Turkey - or here with us in Europe, Russia, the US, Asia, Africa, or Latin America. With the increase of violence across the earth, with poverty turning many people into refugees, with the numerous signs of our human values and dignity being violated, one question has become increasingly urgent, even vitally necessary for each of us:
 

What can I contribute as an individual to halt the spiral of violence? How can I help to create a new spiral of non-violence and compassion for the suffering and fate of people who live in conflict and war? The Middle East conflict directly touches us in Germany, Europe, and the US. We all know how critical and vital it is to have a peaceful solution, a hopeful perspective for the people in this region and for all of us.

Friendship Across Borders provides with its projects of understanding and reconciliation an opportunity, to contribute creating a spiral of empathy, integrity and deep understanding between people and nations, across walls, fences and borders.