Meta Peace Team
As of 2001, MPT began sending teams there regularly for three to twelve weeks at a time and has maintained an active presence in Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
[8] During a 2004 trip to Palestine, MPT peace team members attended the Sabeel Conference on the Threat of Christian Zionism held in Jerusalem.
In addition, they supported the release of Israeli peace activist Mordechai Vanunu, who was imprisoned for 18 years for publicly exposing Israel's nuclear weapons program.
[10] In 2008, a four-member team of MPT traveled to the West Bank to promote nonviolent conflict intervention by accompanying Palestinian children to school and shepherds to their fields and acting as international observers at military checkpoints; they also participated in a demonstration against the separation wall that Israel was building on Palestinian-claimed land.
[12] MPT representatives returned to the West Bank in 2010 to oversee the annual olive harvest that was allegedly disrupted by Israelis and to protect against the demolition of Palestinian homes.
In 2004, the Global Nonviolent Peaceforce invited MPT to present at their North American Conference and provide trainings for domestic peace teams, and in July 2005, MPT was selected to represent the United States at the conference for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, located at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
[21] In May 2007, MPT received the Certificate of Appreciation from the Palestinian National Authority at the Second Bil'in International Conference on Popular Resistance held in the West Bank.
[25] 2012's speakers featured Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor, Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney and legal advocate for the US campaign to end the Israeli occupation, and Ann Wright, a former United States Army colonel who resigned in protest of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Grounded in values taught by civil resistance activists such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., the EtE Committee uses presentations, events, newsletters, articles, and research to demonstrate the power and effectiveness behind nonviolent conflict resolution.
[33] MPT also offers an internship program in the hope that younger demographics will become involved and gain knowledge and practical skills in nonviolent peacemaking; TPNI; the work being done in the larger, worldwide peace community; and the operations of nonprofit, grassroots organizations.
[35] Trainings and workshops offered by MPT utilize role-plays, common-ground-building, and evaluative discussions in order to provide participants with experience responding to various conflict scenarios and understanding and correcting counterproductive behavioral patterns.
Visibly carrying cameras and notebooks can minimize violence by reminding people that the whole world is watching their actions, and documentation is helpful in reporting human rights violations.
[37] MPT has a history working with both domestic and international peace teams, all of which undergo rigorous training prior to deployment and practice TPNI in the field.
[36] Its peace teams have been requested to help with threats from hate groups, during riots at sporting events, and with conflicts on Native American reservations and along the Mexico–United States border.
MPT also actively works in many countries abroad and sends frequent teams to the Middle East to reduce violence amidst the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
[3] It is also a founding member of the Shanti Sena Network, a coalition of nonviolence skills trainers from across North America working to establish a standardized training curriculum and place peace teams to respond to conflicts in lieu of police or military forces.
