HISTORY
Nearly twenty years ago, Palestinian-American Aziz Abu Sarah and Jewish-American Scott Cooper, began their partnership as co-directors of a center on peacebuilding practice at the oldest conflict resolution school in the world at George Mason University.
After successfully creating social change programs all over the world, they co-founded MEJDI Tours, a social enterprise B Corp that exists to create a more peaceful and interconnected world through travel. They pioneered the category of socially conscious (responsive) travel and were the first to create dual and multi-narrative tours all over the world. Their work has been recognized and featured by the United Nations, The New York Times, The Smithsonian, CNN and National Geographic, Travel Weekly, AFAR, and countless other national and international media outlets.
In 2018, Aziz and Scott co-founded InterAct, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in order to expand their impact beyond travel. InterAct exists to create empathy, understanding, and collective action across divides. InterAct creates social change through dual narrative education, art and museum exhibits, storytelling, public relations campaigns, and technology. InterAct also provides conflict resolution, anti-semitism, islamophobia and intercultural workshops and trainings for faith organizations, educational institutions, businesses and nonprofits.
In 2023, Aziz and Scott were delighted to partner with Israeli peace entrepreneur Maoz Inon and bring him into the leadership of InterAct in order to scale our impact together.
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A non-profit InterActive Education Center, where we can bring the multi-narratives of conflict to the wider world, building empathy and understanding on a much larger scale.
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OUR VISION
To generate critical understanding and deep empathy among war torn parties in conflict, and in the general public, that might lead to innovative solutions, and also notably, to combat the rising tide of hatred and extremism.
OUR MISSION
The InterAct Education Center uses story-telling, art and technology to help people connect across war-torn divides: whether those divides be political, cultural, ethnic, religious, geographic, or socio-economic.
OUR GOALS
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Challenge our communities to come together to collaboratively tackle hatred, violence, oppression, and war.
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Increase understanding of alternative narratives in conflict zones, overcoming hatred and fear by building empathy and understanding.
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Combat the rise in both Antisemitism and Islamophobia, by humanizing both Jews and Palestinians through personal storytelling.
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Amplify the voices of existing peacemakers and their work, through all forms of traditional and social media.
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Provide support (aid & scholarships) to families brutalized by conflict.
STAFF
Kim Passy Yoseph
Director of Operations
Emili Ghraiyib
Project Manager
Dindy Weinstein
Development Manager
Kobi Skolnick
VP of Strategic Initiatives and Learning
Michal Amir
Communication Manager
Anas Maraqa
Tech Manager
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
AZIZ ABU SARAH
Co. President
Katie Davis
Maoz Inon
Co. President
Fadwa Barzinji​
SCOTT COOPER
Co-founder
Jeff Waxman
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mark Bauman, Emmy Award winner, Former Director of the Smithsonian’s commercial media division, former CEO of Virtual Wonders, Former war correspondent (ABC News)
Sulaiman Al Khatib, Two-time Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, founder of Combatants for Peace & The People’s Peace Fund, co-Author of In This Place Together: A Palestinian’s Guide to Collective Liberation.