CEDAR RAPIDS -- The Iowa chapter of Friends of Sabeel will present a conference Oct.14-15 at Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

The conference will feature keynote speakers from universities and various churches as well as workshops including Interfaith Dialogue for Peace and Rebuilding Homes in Palestine.

Friends of Sabeel, an organization that gives voice to Christian Palestinians, was formed to support the Jerusalem-based Sabeel that works to bring understanding and promote peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The conferences are a sort of outreach and educational tool," said Tanis Diedrichs of Cedar Falls, a planning committee member with Iowa's Friends of Sabeel. "We hope it will make people aware of the conditions in the Middle East."

Those conditions include the current forced withdrawal of Israeli settlements in Gaza, something Diedrichs said has been unfairly covered by the media.

"We never see the heart-rendering pictures of Palestinian homes being bulldozed or blown up. So, while this is hard for these people to be taken out of their homes, we should be seeing the others too," she said.

To the people who say the Palestinians are terrorists and suicide bombers, Diedrichs maintained the complexity of the situation.

"Not all Palestinians are terrorists, and this is what we get from the media," she said. "What is different between the high-tech bombs and bulldozers that Israel uses to kill Palestinians, and the (Palestinian) suicide bombers? It's still killing, and killing is killing. Dead is dead."

So Friends of Sabeel doesn't point fingers. Instead, the group aims their focus at achieving equality among all people, and the conference especially will try to promote understanding.

"This is a complicated situation, and people don't seem to know the history," Diedrichs said.

The conference is open to the public. Registration is $75 before Oct. 1, and $85 after the date and at the door. Interested persons can visit www.fosna.org or e-mail Sabeeliowa@hotmail.com to register.

"A lot of people are supporting this and trying to get more education out there," Diedrichs said.

Contact Amie Steffen at (319) 291-1473 or amie@uni.edu.