Peace offerings: Hadani Ditmars records the voices of courageous Israeli and Palestinian civilians reaching out to each other for peace, can they move things on when big politics is stuck in a violent mire?

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Peace offerings: Hadani Ditmars records the voices of courageous Israeli and Palestinian civilians reaching out to each other for peace, can they move things on when big politics is stuck in a violent mire?

When the first Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombs began to rain down on Gaza last December, Nirmeen Kharma was terrified. 'I felt so afraid for my kids,' relates the mother of three from her Gaza City neighbourhood, which is still reeling from the 22-day assault that left 1,600 dead, 900 wounded and devastated infrastructure.

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But she received comfort via text messages from a friend. It was a friend she'd never met, someone she'd only spoken to on the phone--a man living a few kilometres away.

'How are you doing? Are you safe? How is the family? he asked.

Nirmeen responded as best she could, keeping him updated as the terrible days of bombing continued. That friend was Eric Yellin, an Israeli living in Sderot who had started various dialogue initiatives a year earlier--ranging from a shared blog with a Gazan man to meetings with a group of peace-minded Israeli neighbours...

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