Sunday Times 2
Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture: Speakers from Israeli-Palestinian org.The Parents Circle – Families Forum
View(s):The 20th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture ‘It Won’t Stop Until We Talk’ at the BMICH on July 28, 2019 at 6 p.m. will feature two speakers – Robi Damelin and Bassam Aramin, members of the Israeli-Palestinian organisation– The Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), comprising over 600 families who have all lost an immediate family member to the ongoing conflict.
Neelan Tiruchelvam
Robi Damelin’s son, David, was killed by a Palestinian sniper in 2002 while guarding a checkpoint near a settlement during his army reserve service. She speaks to Israeli and Palestinian audiences all over the world as the Israeli Spokesperson for the Parents Circle – Family Forum, to demand that reconciliation be a part of any peace agreement. She was named a 2015 Woman of Impact by Women in the World.
Bassam Aramin lives in Anata in East Jerusalem. In 1985 aged 17, he was incarcerated and spent seven years in Israeli jails between 1985 and 1992. He went on to study history and holds an MA in Holocaust studies from the University of Bradford, England.
Bassam became a member of the Parents Circle – Families Forum in 2007 after losing his 10-year-old daughter Abir, who was killed by an Israeli border policemen 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.
The Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture was initiated to celebrate the life and legacy of the lawyer, scholar and statesman Neelan Tiruchelvam who was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 1999.
Neelan is remembered today for his many roles, notably as a distinguished lawyer and constitutional scholar who was a senior partner at Tiruchelvam Associates, an institution builder who was a founder and director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and the Law and Trust Society and a visionary parliamentarian.
After his death, his wife Sithie established the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust in his memory. To date, the Trust is the only Sri Lankan grant-making organisation supporting work done by community organisations on issues of human rights, good governance and peace building.
The lecture is free and open to all. To find out more email: ntt.lectures@neelan.org