The Things that Make for Peace

A Dialogue and Audience Discussion

Monday, Dec 16, 7pm     London Nelson Center
301 Center St, Santa Cruz

Dana G. Peleg is a bilingual (Hebrew/English) author, poet, translator, and peace and LGBTQ+ activist. She’s a daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who emigrated from Romania to Israel before she was born. Her father was influenced by a left political party that criticized Israel’s occupation of territories that began in 1967. He believed that an occupying nation can never be free. Dana began her political activism at age 16, marching against Israel’s war in Lebanon. At 35 Dana moved to the United States with her partner, a US citizen. The family returned to Israel in 2009 because they wanted to raise their son in Israel. However, they could not stand the violence and returned to live in Santa Cruz in 2015.

Dana envisions a peace based on a conviction that everyone in Israel/Palestine belongs and needs equal rights.

Rami Chahine is a Lebanese multidisciplinary artist and facilitator who designs experiences of connection and collective engagement through art as a social practice.
Rami was born during the Lebanese Civil War which raged from 1975-1990. His mother is Maronite Catholic, his father Roman Catholic. He grew up speaking Arabic and French and learned English at an early age in school. He attended the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese Academy of Arts. Rami brought his art to the streets and schools. He developed a deep appreciation for diversity and a sensibility towards chaos and the attitudes and multiple perspectives inherent to any conflict. He immigrated to the United States in April, 2024 with his wife who is a US citizen. He is in frequent contact with family and friends who have been suffering the violence.

He sees the path to peace as one to be crafted by the tools we develop today, and its form to be one we cannot yet imagine.