Executive Director of U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East to speak at Fairfield University

Executive Director of U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East to speak at Fairfield University

Ron Young, Executive Director of the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, a national organization of 2,500 American Jews, Christians and Muslims, will be speaking at Fairfield University on Thursday, Feb. 6 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Room 200 of the Barone Campus Center. The talk on "The Israeli-Palestinian Crisis: New Perspectives," is free and open to the public.

The Interreligious Committee includes prominent leaders from the American Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. These leaders work together for peace in the Middle East based on the deepest values in the three traditions. The Committee carries on programs of dialogue, education and advocacy across the United States in support of active U.S. policies to encourage comprehensive and lasting peace between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states.

The Founder and Director of the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East since 1987, Ron Young has arranged high level meetings with U.S. officials and with Israeli and Arab delegations to the Peace Talks and led Interreligious Leadership Trips to the Middle East. He and other leaders of the U.S. Interreligious Committee were invited by the White House to witness the signing of the historic Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles in 1993.

He has spoken and written widely on the Middle East and interfaith cooperation; taught a course on the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Haverford College; arranged Interfaith Convocations and Prayer Services for Peace; and produced resources on religion in the search for peace.

Working with a nationwide network, Mr. Young provides action alerts to generate inter-religious support for U.S. efforts to help the parties halt the cycle of violence and restart peace negotiations. He is the author of "Missed Opportunities for Peace: U.S. Middle East Policy, 1981-86," a book praised by Jewish and Palestinian American leaders, and by prominent U.S. policy analysts.

From 1982 to 1985 he served as the Middle East Representative for American Friends Service Committee, visiting Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon to explore Arab and Israeli views about possibilities for peace and what the United States could do to help.

Mr. Young's talk is being sponsored by the Department of History. For more information, please contact Dr. David McFadden, chair of history, (203) 254-4000 ext. 2871. Media inquiries may be addressed to Dr. McFadden or Nancy Habetz, director of media relations, (203) 254-4000, ext. 2647.

Posted On: 01-31-2003 09:01 AM

Volume: 35 Number: 187