Amal Elsana Alhjooj says she’s seen first hand how tensions have increased in Montreal since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“How can you walk in the City of Montreal feeling that you can cut the air with a knife,” she said.
That tension is why she started Solidarity Dialogues through her organization, Promoting Leadership for Empowerment, Development and Justice (PLEDJ). Alhjooh’s goal is to get people from different communities to understand each other through honest, straightforward discussion of differences. She is Palestinian and says she has lost relatives in Gaza.
“For me, it has always been the question of whether I’m going to sink into the pain, or I need to transform that pain into hope,” she told Global News.
The initiative is a one-year pilot project, the first part of which involved training 20 front-line community leaders from a variety of backgrounds in conflict resolution and dialogue.
“They will be equipped to facilitate difficult conversations and to create a space, a safe space, for brave conversations,” Alhjooj said.
Wednesday was the last day of the four-day training given by conflict resolution experts. Alhjooj said she hopes others will be inspired, partly because she has partnered with Peace Network for Social Harmony, an organization headed by long-time friend, Brian Bronfman, who is Jewish.
Bronfman admits it might not be possible to change what’s happening in the Middle East from here in this city.
“But it seemed that there was something that we could do to directly impact what happened here,” he said.
The next step for the 20 leaders is for them to set up discussion sessions, regardless of the topic, in their communities, and that, “we will be doing what we can to help them set up spaces for those conversations, for those dialogue sessions,” Bronfman continued.
According to Alhjooj, the selection process wasn’t easy especially since the conflict is ongoing.
“There were people saying ‘I don’t feel ready. There’s a lot of divisions, a lot of tensions, and I don’t feel ready to start the process,’ ” she said.
Some in the group, such as Lisa Grushcow, Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, admitted that some of the discussions in the training were really hard.
“There’s a lot we don’t agree on,” she noted. “I wouldn’t expect to and there’s no point in just talking to the people you agree with.”
Grushcow also said that though members of her community feel anxious and afraid, these conversations are important to build bridges.
Rev. Arlen Bonnar of St. James United Church said he agrees that some of the exchange was hard, but he said he also believes the conversations are needed given the number of challenges facing many in the city.
“I think we’re all called upon to address those conditions and try to make the changes to make the world a better place,” he said.
Solidarity Dialogues project organizers say their aim is to eventually extend the project across the country. Next year, on the first anniversary of the project in May, they hope launch
an annual Montreal Solidarity Day.