THE FIRST SUPPER

by Northern Irish Artist Rebecca Lively

Northern Irish Artist Rebecca Lively created a powerful new mural named ‘The First Supper’ with portraits and parallel life stories of peace and community activists from Northern Ireland, Palestine and Israel - including the voices of women and youth who are often missing from the table at peace-building talks.  There’s one place left at the table posing the question; “Who’s voice needs to be heard?” This time the art inspires the real future event and the activists are invited to meet together for the First Supper.

NORTHERN IRISH PARTICIPANTS

Eileen Weir, grew up during the Troubles and joined the UDA as a teenager believing it was ‘helping the older people behind the barricades.’ She told Herstory that she had no time for discos on a Saturday night because she was busy making petrol bombs. She left when she began questioning their objectives and at twenty-five, she started working in a factory and became a passionate trade unionist which allowed her ‘to look at the issue and not the people.’ In the 1990s she began volunteering with the Shankill Women’s Centre, and all these years later, she’s still there dedicated to cross-community work. Eileen pioneered a programme rehabilitating women from prisons that was so effective not one woman re-convicted. Her full biography can be found on the Herstory website here.

Niamh Mallaghan was a member of the Elephant in the Room subgroup (Mental Health Campaign in Northern Ireland Youth Forum) before becoming the Youth Democracy Representative on the Northern Ireland Youth Forum when she was 17. She's passionate about 'mental health, poverty, policing and the overall voice of young people.' She is currently a student at QUB.

Bronagh Hinds was elected the first female President of Queen’s Students’ Union in 1974. She was a co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and through this she was a participant in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations. As the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland she oversaw some of the Agreement’s implementation.  In the years that followed, Bronagh worked with international agencies and countries emerging from conflict as well as founding DemocraShe through which she focused on the ‘right of women to full and equal political participation’ and ‘the advancement of women in public life’. More recently, she has worked with UN Women and assisted in the development of the Syrian Women’s Initiative for Peace and Democracy. Her full biography can be found on the Herstory website here.

David Holloway, Director of Community Dialogue since 2010 (an organisation ‘committed to a dialogue process, developed over the years, to help transform understanding and build trust amongst people who often hold opposing political, social and religious views’). David has been involved with Community Dialogue since its formation in 1997 serving in various roles. He has been involved in peace building work for 30 years. He completed a PhD in Social Anthropology in 1992 and was subsequently awarded a series of Research Fellowships on conflict and identity in Northern Ireland. For more see here.

Clive Corry, Director of Action Trauma which he founded in 2016. 'As a businessman, trained in Sales and Marketing, he realised that he could deploy these skills to promote a greater awareness of psychological trauma, its causes, effects and treatment, to improve the lives of others. He built Action Trauma on the foundations of love, understanding and compassion. He believes that the lessons learned from Belfast, as one of the world’s ‘trauma cities’, can be used to help others. He likes to think that out of all tragedies and sadness can come recovery, healing and improved quality of life.'

PALESTINIAN PARTICIPANTS

Bassam Aramin lives in Jericho in the West Bank. At the age of 17, he was incarcerated and spent 7 years in an Israeli jail. He went on to study history and holds an MA in Holocaust studies from the University of Bradford, England. Bassam is one of the founders of Combatants for Peace. 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 policeman 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 of the Parents Circle – Families Forum until Aug 2020. 

Hiba Husseini is the managing Partner in the Law Firm of Husseini and Husseini. The Firm serves a large domestic and international client base on a wide range of legal matters.  She practiced law in Washington, DC.  Ms. Husseini chairs the Legal Committee to Final Status Negotiations 1994.  She serves on the boards of various educational, professional, cultural, business, and non-profit organizations. Ms. Husseini holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University (1992), MA in Political Science from the George Washington University (1986), MSc in Corporate Finance from the University of Sorbonne (2002), BA in Political Science from the University of Tennessee (1982).  She speaks three languages.

Nivine Sandouka is leading change in peacebuilding and gender issues. Currently, she works with the German Association for Development Cooperation – Agiamondo. As a volunteer, she runs a grassroots initiative called ‘Judi- from me to you’ that aims to connect women together, and volunteers in several civil society organizations. She is the Executive Director of a newly established NGO called ‘Our Rights- Hoqoqona’ in Jerusalem, focusing on civic and political rights of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, especially women. She’s board member of ‘The Jerusalem Center for Women’, Alliance for Middle East Peace - ALLMEP, and member of the International Reference Group for the ‘World Council of Churches’. Nivine has an MA in democracy and Human Rights from Birzeit University.

Wajeeh Tomeezi is from Idhna, age: 62, married, a father of 5 children. He is a businessman and has a company for poultry systems. He is an active member in PCFF.

ISRAELI PARTICIPANTS

Rami Elhanan is a 7th generation Jerusalemite on his mother's side. His father was an Auschwitz survivor. 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 who murdered 5 people that day. Soon after, Rami joined the Parents Circle, and speaks before Israeli, Palestinian and International audiences. Rami was the Israeli Co-director of the Parents Circle – Families Forum until Aug 2020.

Orna Ashkenazi is 64, married and a mother of 5 sons and grandmother of 2 girls. She was a medical clown and actor and an activist in Women Wage Peace for 6.5 years. She says she will continue until peace is reached. She believes in women's power and knows they can bring the change.

Nurith Haghagh is the CEO of Diversity in Action where she develops and moderates diversity-sensitive programs. She is a Mizrahi feminist activist, fighting for justice at the intersection of gender and the rights of the Mizrahi population in Israel (Jews from the middle-east and North Africa). Haghagh is a board member and former CEO of the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow Coalition (HaKeshet HaDemocratit HaMizrahit). Haghagh has been a peace activist for the last three decades, part of the International Women’s Commission for Peace (2005-2010) and currently active in Women Wage Peace, as a board member at Itach-Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice, and in various social initiatives promoting equality and justice.