Arab Aramin, Robi Damelin, Liora Eilon, Mohamed Abu Jafar — Turning Unbearable Loss Into Ground of Shared Life

25 snips

Mar 12, 2026

Guest

Mohamed Abu Jafar, a Jenin-born nurse and peacebuilder. Liora Eilon, Kibbutz Kfar Aza educator who survived Oct 7 and lost her son. Arab Aramin, East Jerusalem facilitator who turns family loss into dialogue. Robi Damelin, long-time reconciliation storyteller. They speak about grief transformed into shared witness, rebuilding trust across divides, dialogue practices that rehumanize, and sustaining hope amid ongoing violence.

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ANECDOTE

Robi Found Purpose After Losing Her Son

Robi made the Parents Circle her life’s work after losing her son David and seeing Palestinian parents' pain mirrored her own.
She travels internationally since October 7 to speak and galvanize support, treating activism as her survival and duty.

ANECDOTE

Arab's Journey From Rage To Dialogue

Arab Aramin was 13 when his sister Abir was shot, and his first impulse was rage and a desire for revenge.
Over years, influenced by his father and meeting Israelis, he shifted from hate to dialogue and helped bring friends into peace work.

ANECDOTE

Liora Chose Dialogue Immediately After October 7

Liora survived the October 7 attack in Kfar Aza locked in a safe room for 35 hours while her son Tal, a first-response commander, was killed.
She immediately chose to join the Parents Circle and continue decades-long peace work, saying she won't let the world change her values.

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From Krista:

A few months ago, I was invited to sit with four people sharing a very different Israeli-Palestinian story than that which comes to us in headlines. They are members of the Parents Circle - Bereaved Families Forum, a very special community. It's composed of hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli families, who despite having paid the highest price of the conflict between their peoples, choose to metabolize their loss as ground of shared suffering and possible reconciliation.

I’m so grateful to share that conversation with you now. You will hear their various stories of a transformation of perspective and path. You will hear me invoke a notion of "deep truth" from physics that is vividly with me in this time. Terrible ruptures and escalating violence are part of the truth of what we see ourselves capable. But they are not the whole truth, not the inevitable future. Courageous experiments in healing and transformation are also a reality of our time. In a packed room in New York City, I think we all felt like we were witnessing something unimaginable if you only judge the potentials of humanity from the extreme actions that shape what we call the news. The Bereaved Families Forum is extremism in a life-giving, heart-opening key. We left that room — and may you leave this listening — feeling a little bit healed ourselves, with a hopefulness become more magnetic and more reasonable.

This event was hosted by the American Friends of the Parents Circle – Bereaved Israelis and Palestinians for Peace. My conversation partners were Robi Damelin, Arab Aramin, Mohamed Abu Jafar, and Liora Eilon. Liora, who lost her son in their kibbutz on October 7, 2023, is one of the newest members of this group.

Listen to Krista’s original conversation with Robi Damelin and Ali Abu Awaad in the On Being podcast feed; the episode is called “No More Taking Sides”. And learn much more about this beautiful community at theparentscircle.org. The American Friends community website is parentscirclefriends.org.

Find an excellent transcript of this show, edited by humans, on our show page.

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