When I joined the European Union Visitors Programme, I arrived in Brussels at a moment of deep uncertainty in my own region. What I did not expect was that this visit would sharpen, rather than suspend, the questions I carry in my work, about cooperation, identity, and the role of young people in shaping a different future.
The Women Champions for Change (WCC), a partner organization of WeAreMENA (WRM), recently hosted a regional webinar on Women, Voice & Narrative in partnership with FNF Jerusalem, bringing together diverse voices from across the MENA region. We are proud that Wisam Ziadeh, CEO of Takadumת a WRM member organization and Miryam Younne, the WRM communications team participated in this meaningful discussion, which highlighted the role of women’s storytelling in promoting empathy, dialogue, and cross-cultural cooperation.
As part of our network spotlight, we are pleased to highlight a recent interview on Abramundi (in French) featuring Simon Suleymani — a Kurdish human rights activist, journalist, and filmmaker, and the learder of a member organization in the WeAreMENA network. In this conversation, Simon shares his personal journey from political persecution and imprisonment, and share about his work advocating for Kurdish rights and cultural preservation through journalism and cinema. The discussion explores themes of exile, resistance, and the future of peace in the MENA region, including the role of regional cooperation and what Simon describes as an “Abrahamic” framework for coexistence.
The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation highlights its Peres Center Knights initiative — a global network of leaders and changemakers advancing regional cooperation and innovation. We are proud to see Einat Levi, lead researcher at WeAreMENA and head of Strategic & Partnership Development, among those contributing to this growing ecosystem of regional leadership and collaboration.
Founder and Executive Director of WeAreMENA, Tom Vizel, was recently featured in Fox News Partners in an in-depth interview titled “Beyond the Handshake,” together with Abdou Ladino, a leading partner from the Mimouna Association in Morocco and a member organization of the WRM network. In the conversation, they highlight the transformative role of young leaders and civil society networks in building meaningful, sustainable cooperation across the Middle East and North Africa — moving beyond surface-level diplomacy toward people-to-people engagement grounded in trust, partnership, and shared action.
In the latest episode of AbraTalks by Abramundi, Einat Levi — WRM’s Strategic & Partnership Development lead and the research lead on youth organizations in the MENA region — shares reflections on identity, multicultural belonging, and the role of cities and youth-led partnerships in shaping a more collaborative regional future. Drawing from her personal background and professional work, Einat highlights the importance of trust, cultural solidarity, and long-term cooperation as foundations for peacebuilding across MENA. We thank Abramundi for the meaningful interview and ongoing partnership.
That assumption failed, not because peace is impossible, but because it cannot be built on frameworks that ignore the deeper undercurrents of the region. The Abraham Accords were an attempt to recalibrate. They reimagined regional alignment not through military compacts or ideological conformity, but through pragmatic engagement. Yet even they, as transformative as they are, remain incomplete.
