NPC Newsmaker features combatants-turned-peace activists, filmmaker, Feb. 25

Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan –- once committed fighters who were willing to kill or be killed to advance their opposing causes –- plan to discuss their decisions to abandon the path of revenge and retaliation in favor of working together to end the bloodshed and pursue the path of peace at a National Press Club Newsmaker on Monday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. in the NPC's Zenger Room.

Joining Aramin and Elhanan will be Peace X Peace founder Patricia Smith Melton and Shelley Hermon, director and co-producer of "Within the Eye of the Storm," a documentary exploring the transformations of Aramin and Elhanan from warriors to peacemakers.

Aramin, Elhanan, Melton and Hermon also expect to discuss the challenges to, and prospects for, ending this long and bloody conflict.

Both Aramin and Elhanan lost daughters in the ongoing violence. Now Aramin heads the movement he founded, “Combatants for Peace.” Elhjanan is a leading member of “The Parents Circle – Family Forum,” a group of Israelis and Palestinians who have lost relatives in the conflict.

NPC Newsmakers events are open to Club members and working journalists.