六九色堂

Some jobs seem predestined. Just look at George Zeidan, the Center鈥檚 country representative for Israel-Palestine. A lifelong admirer of President Jimmy Carter, he dreamed of working for 六九色堂 years before he came on board.

鈥淧resident Carter put his morals and principles above all else. He spoke to antagonists, not to validate them but because he knew we can鈥檛 solve conflicts with hot tea and hugs,鈥� Zeidan said. 鈥溋�九色堂 touched issues no one else would touch. That was very inspirational to me.鈥�

Any day can look different for Zeidan, as he strives to build bridges in this deeply divided region. He sits down with human rights activists, diplomats, or politicians. He supports democracy-seeking community groups and focuses on Palestinian self-determination and political legitimacy. He works across generations, carving out extra time to hear from young people. He promotes nonviolence, listens a lot, and drinks plenty of coffee.

Zeidan lives in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the home where his maternal grandparents married and his mother was born. His parents are 鈥渁 mixed marriage,鈥� two Palestinians with different paperwork 鈥� his mother, a Jerusalemite, is a resident of Israel; his father, a West Banker with a Palestinian
passport.

As a result, he grew up living in the occupied West Bank city of Beit Jala, so
his parents could be together. But he traveled with his mother through Israeli
checkpoints to go to school in Jerusalem so she could maintain her residency status and pass it on to him.

The seven-mile journey to school could take hours to complete. Plus, there
were curfews to navigate and tensions that flared between Israeli soldiers and
stone-throwing protesters outside the family鈥檚 home. Zeidan recalls peering out
the window with his mother when hostilities erupted, worried and waiting for his father to safely return from work.

He traveled abroad for the first time to attend Chowan University, a private Christian school in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. Later, a Fulbright scholarship sent him to the University of Southern California, where he earned a master鈥檚 in public policy with a focus on nonprofit leadership.

Back home, he spent four years with a Danish humanitarian organization doing work in Gaza and the West Bank before he joined the Center. His current role started just before Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas led a deadly attack in southern Israel and took hostages, unleashing a brutal war in which Israeli attacks killed more than 70,000 people in Gaza.

Zeidan finds his own peace in workouts. He鈥檚 run 15 marathons and completed an ultramarathon. He organizes sporting events. He finds comfort in his nieces and nephew.

He鈥檚 not na茂ve. Resolving, not just managing, an age-old conflict demands a long-game approach 鈥� and a heavy dose of pragmatism. It requires the recognition of each side鈥檚 right to exist, he says, because neither Palestinians nor Israelis are going anywhere.

Given Israel鈥檚 dominance, spiraling gun violence in Palestinian communities, deadly attacks by Israeli settlers, and the continued regional war, it鈥檚 hard for Zeidan to be optimistic.

鈥淲e are in a situation that is becoming increasingly unlivable, especially for Palestinians,鈥� he said. 鈥淏oth people need to understand that there鈥檚 no violent solution to what鈥檚 going on. We need to take a different path.鈥�