-----Original Message-----
From: Danny Vidislavski
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 10:07 AM

Subject: THE BIGGEST WIN OF THE YEAR - Enjoy reading and LOOKING AT THE GRAPHS inside

 

 

 

Issue No 2

 

 

Hello,

 

Is it possible that a few people can change a whole country?

 

In the previous issue, we reviewed in how at the beginning of the second Intifada in October 2000 the violence in Israel made us, a group of citizens, rise up and do something that changed our personal lives. We acted without waiting for the government and the experts to do something about the violence in Israel.

 

Also with the violence and the killings all over Israel, we felt it was impossible to continue living our lives as usual. We got a recommendation from a friend, who told there was a booklet called The Way to Happiness^® which had been disseminated in places of conflict, violence and war around the world and which, according to reports, helped to calm the environment (by the common sense it communicates to the reader). We decided to try it.

 

We started with the immediate distribution of The Way to Happiness^® in Hebrew and in Arabic, on the Israeli and the Palestinian sides and we saw immediate improvement in various aspects of security, economics, personal relationships and more.

 

 

In the Palestinian Authority, we distributed booklets in 2 of the 3 major newspapers published there. In addition to the booklets, since 2001 we also advertised messages of peace and hope in the Palestinian Authority newspapers.

 

A student of Media and Public Relations from Elnajah university in Nablus (the same university attended by "The Engineer" Yahya Ayyash, a Hamas leader), contacted us in response to one of our advertisements. The student K. had opposing intentions to that “Engineer”. He wanted, just as we did, to stop the insanity, war and hate, and bring peace among the people. He decided to disseminate The Way to Happiness in Nablus!

 

As a member of the students’ commission, he gathered more activists every day, until a group of about 70 volunteers established the local branch of our Association in Nablus. His intention became a reality towards the end of 2001.

 

Because the military-blocks and the curfew were routine in those days, it was very difficult to deliver the booklets from Israel to the Palestinian Authority.

 

For that reason, we hired drivers in Israel who drove to the IDF blocks- and from there the booklets were loaded by hand on trucks, vans or other vehicles (Including a tractor) – somehow, we managed to deliver the booklets to K. and his group distributed them to the people of Nablus and to the residents of the refugee camp when possible.

 

On the right: a truck loaded with Arabic booklets leaving Israel. On the left: unloading the booklets in the Palestinian Authority.

 

 

 

below: The storage of the booklets in Nablus

 

 

The volunteers, because of the IDF blocks, walked kilometers by foot with heavy cartons full of booklets on their shoulders in order to reach the refugee camp, and knocked on peoples’ doors with a smile, handed out the booklets and got hugs in return. A distance of 2-3 kilometers (on both sides) could take them up to 3 or 4 hours.

 

Picture on the right: a volunteer in Nablus with a box on his shoulders, dressed in The Way to Happiness(R) tee-shirt. On the left: distributing in Nablus streets.

 

 

 

The distribution of booklets in both languages in Jaffa.

 

 

So on both sides of the barricades, we achieved the massive dissemination of peace, friendship and humanitarian values.

 

While we continued to distribute copies of The Way to Happiness^® in both languages in Israel, the Nablus branch persisted in the delivery and dissemination of The Way to Happiness beyond the blocks, despite personal danger.

 

On the right: booklets distributed in Nablus market. On the left: distributing in Hacarmel Market in Tel-Aviv.

 

 

There are many exciting stories about the activities of the Association in Nablus, Ramalla and the rest of the Western Bank settlements. Some of them consist of brave actions and even life-endangering situations.

 

At this stage we knew that the booklets we were disseminating could really help to create peace and fraternity between people and to calm the environment. We got exciting feedback both from Israel and from the Palestinian Authority area that showed unequivocally that we were not wasting our time or money.

 

But there was one problem!

 

The problem with The Way to Happiness^® is that it is so important and the data is so important it should be understood and followed. We knew that if enough people read, understood and assimilated the values, tools and knowledge hidden in the booklet, our lives would be easier!

 

And so, in 2003 we began another activity in 'The Association for Prosperity and Security in The Middle East'.  To help people to assimilate the values expressed in the booklet, we started to deliver workshops free of charge, based on the booklet. The workshops gave participants greater insight and many realized the power of the content, making them willing to read The Way to Happiness and apply it in their daily lives and to help others to apply it.

 

As related in issue No. 1 of this magazine, after a deep examination of the state of Israel, we found that as we increased our activities and production by disseminating the values found in The Way To Happiness book, things in Israel improved.

 

The evidence for that is seen in the parallel statistics between the Association's activities and various parameters in Israeli society and economy.

 

We would like to share the following data with you as illustrated in the graphs below.

 

The first graph is the number of places (settlements, cities, organizations and institutions) that the Association delivered workshops to since the first one in 2003.

 

The workshops were delivered in Hebrew and in Arabic, to all kinds of people (children, teachers, businesses, tax authorities, in homes, Arabs, Zionists, Druze, Yeshiva students, Bedouins, and so on) all over Israel, including to residents of East Jerusalem and even in settlements near Ramalla.  

 

 

 

 

Our Executive Director, Mr. Danny Vidislavski, discovered an interesting datum, after several years of activity:

"Happy people - don't like wars and violence!”

 

Therefore you can see that as we increase the level of happiness in Israel,

we rehabilitate values of peace and fraternity with each other, and as a result the unfavorable phenomena in society will weaken and reduce.

 

The following graph was published on the General Security Services website:

 

This graph shows the number of people killed in terrorist attacks

 

 

We can examine another graph that shows the number of suicide attacks in parallel to our workshops graph, and see that in 2003, exactly when we “geared up” the workshops and talked about positive values and through disseminating The Way to Happiness booklets in larger quantities than ever both to Arab and Jew, there was a parallel trend (in the opposite direction) of a marked decline in the number of terrorist attacks in Israel and an improvement in security.

 

 

In other words:

 

The more we deliver workshops, in more places, to more participants, to exactly the same degree, suicide attacks are reduced and the number of people killed in terrorist attacks falls.

 

No. of suicide attacks in 2000-2007

 

 

The graphs on the left, are taken from official Israeli websites.

They all show the same trend.

 

 

No. of Israelis killed in suicide attacks in 2000-2007

 

And prove that security in Israel has also improved year to year.

 

Distribution of Israelis killed by Palestinian terror, compared with citizens and the armed forces in 2000-2007

Citizens            Armed forces

 

We all know that success has many fathers while failure is an orphan.

 

We have a lot of respect for the armed forces who work day and night to ensure the security of the residents. There are also politicians on both sides and all over the political arena, with different ways and views who do brave deeds to forward a better, safer life for all, despite personal danger and risk, even if not always with complete and immediate success. There are additional bodies, associations and many people who contribute to the same effort – the list is long and worthy of respect.

 

There were always, and there will always be, historians and analysts arguing and quibbling about the reason for change -the factors and ramifications that influence the situation and the outcomes.

 

Such discussion is not within our knowledge or our work. We focus on our actions and results.

 

We realize that the reduction in terrorist attacks in recent years also has “many fathers.” From our personal viewpoint, those same fathers include the members of 'The Association for Prosperity and Security in the Middle East' of Israel, of Nablus and Ramalla, our sister Association - 'The Association for Peace and Understanding in the Middle East' (which operates in Los Angeles combining Jews, Israelis and Arabs), and of course, first and foremost, the millions of good people from both sides, who internalized the message of The Way to Happiness booklet, either by reading it or by taking part in our free workshops delivered to anyone who wished to have one.

 

 

However, the scene is still far from ideal. Israel has not been "quiet for 40 years" (a phrase from the Bible which means long period of peace) and yet we have not attained a state of serenity, a country filled with "milk and honey”.  We regret to say that there are still terrorist attacks; Kassam rockets are sent to Sderot and its environment and there are violent actions on both sides as well as much personal and social distress.

 

But with all the sorrow and pain for each person that is hurt, and for every injustice or trouble caused to the people of Israel, we are experiencing an improved trend. We could even say, based on official data, that we are in the best period that Israel has yet known, and these facts are in direct proportion to the activities that we do every day.

 

There is a lot of work in front of us. We would like to get your help.

 

As we, a handful of volunteers, decided not to wait, hoping things would get better, but to take responsibility for our environment, so can you and everyone else.

 

As the words of an Israeli song say, “Don't say one day it will come - bring that day" J

 

"One can influence the conduct of others around him…

Aside from personal benefit, one can take a hand, no matter how small, in beginning a new era for human relations.

The pebble, dropped in a pool, can make ripples to the furthest shore."

 

From Chapter 20, The Way to Happiness