Stories of Hope

Bassam from Palestine and Rimi from Israe both lost a child in the conflict. They will share their stories of grief, hope, brotherhood, and peace.

Bassam Aramin lives in Jericho in the West Bank. In 1985 at the age of 17, he was incarcerated and spent seven years in Israeli jails. He went on to study history and holds an MA in Holocaust studies from the University of Bradford, England. In 2005 Bassam was one of the cofounders of Combatants for Peace alongside Rami’s son Elik. He became a member of the Parents Circle in 2007 after losing his 10-year-old daughter Abir, who was killed by an Israeli border policemen in front of her school.

Bassam devotes his time and energies to his conviction for a peaceful, non-violent end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.

Bassam was the Palestinian co-director if the Parents Circle – Family Forum until August 2020.

Rami Elhanan is a seventh-generation Jerusalemite on his mother’s side. His father was an Auschwitz survivor. He is a retired IDF soldier of three wars. He identifies himself as a Jew, an Israeli, and before everything else a human being. On the first day of the school year in 1997, Rami’s daughter, Smadar, was killed by two Palestinian suicide bombers in the centre of Jerusalem. A year later, Rami joined the Parents Circle, and now speaks before Israeli, Palestinian and International audiences.

Rami was the Israeli co-director of the Parents Circle – Family Forum until August 2020.

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