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Peace Begins Here

Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other

Authors: Thích Nhất Hạnh

Published: August 9, 2001

In this Buddhist perspective on resolving conflict, global spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh demonstrates how a real peace process is based on spiritual, not political strength. Inspired by an ongoing Buddhist retreat project for Palestinians and Israelis, Peace Begins Here offers practical ways to handle our strong emotions and misperceptions and provides a possible way out of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Peace Begins Here features stories from individual Palestinians and Israelis, as well as examples from Thích Nhất Hạnh’s life, including his experience with nonviolent action during the war in Vietnam and its aftermath. Highlights include personal stories from participants in the peace retreats and Thích Nhất Hạnh’s collected practices for peace, including deep listening, deep relaxation, mindful walking, mindful eating, and loving speech.

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