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Israeli/Palestinian School Dedicated to Peace

An administrator from a Palestinian-founded school in Israel, where Muslim and Christian children learn side by side, will speak tonight, September 27, at 8 pm in Harlen Adams Theatre. Gene Sandretto’s address, “Seeking Peace and Facing Evil,” is free and open to the public.

Sandretto is an administrator and teacher at the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem. He is a social worker and mediator from the Bay Area who has lived in Israel since 1992, working on projects of cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Hope Flowers School was founded in 1984 by Hussein Ibrahim Issa, a Palestinian who had a vision of peace for Jews and Palestinians. He died in 2000, but the school continues under the direction of his widow, daughter, and many volunteers.

Issa lived in a refugee camp for 30 years after the 1948 war. According to an obituary on the school’s Web page, “Despite all the circumstances of privation that he faced, Hussein did not engage in bitterness toward those around him, nor toward those whom others saw as the evil villains, the occupying Israelis.

Sandretto will speak on how the increasing violence in the Middle East has affected the school’s mission.

Sandretto’s address is sponsored by Building Bridges, CSU, Chico’s program promoting acceptance and respect for all people regardless of individual differences. }