The mission of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI) is to harness the teachings and values of the 3 Abrahamic faiths and transform religion's role from a force of division and extremism into a source of reconciliation, coexistence, and understanding. To accomplish this, ICCI works with young people, women, and religious leaders to promote Jewish-Arab coexistence and peacebuilding projects.
As an umbrella organisation, it comprises 75 Christian, Palestinian/Muslim, and Jewish institutions, including Jewish-Arab coexistence organisations, museums, universities, and other inter-religious organisations. ICCI also serves as the Israel chapter of Religions for Peace (WCRP) and as a member of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ).
ICCI believes they have an innovative and unique approach to peacebuilding, ICCI's programs are based on core values that reflect humanitarian principles:
- Moving from dialogue to action: the programmes combine facilitated dialogue, study, and action projects which demonstrate to the wider community the tangible benefits to be gained from working together towards common goals.
- Addressing the Conflict: all programmes promote relationship-building, including frank and open exchanges of perspectives on subjects related to the local and regional conflict.
- Focus on communities rather than individuals: participants are carefully recruited based on their potential to impact their respective religious communities.
- Long-term programmes and relationships: all major programmes are long-term so as to encourage the building of lasting relationships.
- Religion as part of the solution: by utilizing interreligious textual study as an educational tool, ICCI promotes religion as a means of bringing people closer together.
The ICCI can also be contacted on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.icci
