ENTERPRISE — The Rotary Club of Wallowa County will host what it’s billing as an “international peace weekend” March 8-9 with a focus on the Middle East conflict.

Palestinian peace activist Reem Ghunaim, a Rotary peace fellow and executive director of Fields of Peace, will be the keynote speaker at a dinner featuring Middle Eastern cuisine at 6 p.m. march 8 at the Hurricane Creek Grange, 82930 Airport Lane in Joseph.

Adel Nash will cater the meal. A limit of 50 tickets are available from Rotary Club members at $25 each.

Ghunaim did her fellowship at the Duke-University of North Carolina Rotary Peace Center, where she earned her master’s degree in city and regional planning and a certificate in International Peace and Conflict Resolution. She is especially interested in working with students, connecting students in areas of conflict with others enjoying more stable lives. 

On Sunday, March 9, at 12:30 p.m. at the Tomas Conference Room at 309 S. River St. in Enterprise, Ghunaim will meet with Interactors, members of student Rotary clubs in Enterprise, Joseph, Wallowa and the county’s alternative school, to talk about and introduce them to peers in the Middle East. Other students interested in history, the Middle East and service are welcome to attend.

On Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Tomas room, a peace and justice forum will feature Ghunaim; local peace fellow Seth Kinzie, who studied at a Rotary Peace Center in Uganda and is working with people in five African countries on conflict resolution; Pastor Steve Kliewer of the Lostine Presbyterian Church, who visited Jordan and the West Bank in December; and Dr. Steve Rubin, who has served in several conflict zones around the world with Doctors Without Borders. This program is free and open to the public. 

For more information, contact Rich Wandschneider at 541-263-0930 or rich.wandschneider@gmail.com.