American Friends of Combatants for Peace

Dr. James J. Zogby co-founded the Arab American Institute in 1985 and continues to serve as its president. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee and was twice appointed by President Obama to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2013.

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Stephen Apkon (Director and Producer) is a filmmaker and social entrepreneur. He is the Founder and former Executive Director of the Jacob Burns Film Center, a non-profit film and education center located in Pleasantville, NY. Marcina Hale (Co-Producer) is co-founder of Reconsider.

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A highly respected scholar and public intellectual, the  Rev. Dr. Serene Jones is the 16th President of the historic Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. The first woman to head the 180-year-old institution, Jones occupies the Johnston Family Chair for Religion and Democracy.

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Galia Golan, PhD, has also been a leading Israeli peace activist for many decades, having co-founded and served in the leadership of Peace Now and a number of women’s local and international peace groups. Currently she a leading member of Combatants for Peace.

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Letty Cottin Pogrebin is an author, activist, and national lecturer.
 A founding editor and writer for Ms. Magazine, Pogrebin is also the author of eleven books, including her latest novel, Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate, published in 2015, and the acclaimed 2013 guidebook, How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick.

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Aziz Abu Sarah is an entrepreneur, speaker, peace builder and author. He is a National Geographic Explorer and a TED Fellow. In 2009, Aziz co-founded MEJDI Tours, a cultural exploration vehicle for an ever-changing travel market.

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Dr. Mubarak Awad is a Palestinian-American psychologist and an advocate of nonviolent resistance. He has been named by Newsweek, and other publications as “The Palestinian Gandhi.” Awad is an Adjunct Professorial Lecturer at the School of International Service, American University. Dr. Awad has since formed Nonviolence International, which works with various movements and organizations across the globe.

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Kathleen Peratis is co-chair of the Middle East North Africa division of Human Rights Watch; an emerita member of HRW’s board of directors; founding chair of HRW’s Women’s Rights division. She helped create and implement HRW’s policy on officially tolerated violence against women and reproductive freedom under international human rights law. She is one of the founders of J Street and a member of the board of directors of The Jewish Daily Forward.

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Maya Berry is Executive Director of the Arab American Institute, steering the Institute’s policy agenda. In 1996 she established AAI’s first Government Relations department, which she led for 5 years before becoming Legislative Director for House Minority Whip David Bonior, where she developed policies on international relations, human rights, trade, and immigration.

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Don Raphael has used his considerable talents towards building a financially stable, and fiscally reliable American Friends of Combatants for Peace. He is a member of J Street’s San Francisco Bay Area Executive chapter, and has been actively involved in political advocacy in the U.S. for a pro-peace and two-state solution.  He is also a member of the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue group in San Francisco.

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Sidney Topol was born in 1924 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His parents were Yiddish speaking immigrants from Poland. Topol enlisted in the Army Air Corp during WWII, where he was trained as a radar officer. In the Boston area, Topol has served on the board of the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Community Relations, Council of Greater Boston, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.

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