The polling team began determining methods, and devising the polling questions through November and December 2008. The first round was put into the field at the end of December, and polling was conducted through early 2009. The results were then compiled in a joint study, which was released to the public in April 2009, and disseminated through the regional and international media, and used to reach out to the political leadership in Israel, Palestine, and internationally. The OneVoice polls are now unfolding into a prolonged series of town hall meetings. OneVoice has conducted several such town hall programs in the past. The structure of this “Breaking Taboo’s and Building Consensus” series relies heavily on the results of the 1st round of polls. As the overarching goal of both the polls and town hall meetings is to transfer ownership over the issues most germane to the conflict, OneVoice is now engaging a diverse cross section of civil society through intensive town hall meetings spanning an eight-month period between June 2009 – January 2010. Having begun with pilot uni-national meetings in Israel and the West Bank in May 2009, the full programme runs out over the following months, reaching the length and breadth of Israel and Palestine, and attracting as broad as possible a cross-section of both societies. Using the polling results as a jumping-off point, we will ask communities to discuss these ‘taboo’ issues within the context of peace, and incrementally build momentum toward compromise. The real strength of these meetings is in their parallel nature. Israeli and Palestinian communities will be discussing the same issues, with the same goal of building compromise, within the same time period. Progress in one community can facilitate compromise in the other; trust- between two societies who are prevented from interacting with each other in normal circumstances- can be gradually built, sustained and then capitalised upon. The programme is designed to re-visit communities, building upon initial progress, and culminating with a joint town hall meeting in Jerusalem. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to mobilise ordinary people to think about these difficult issues not within the polarising context of irreconcilable national narratives, nor within the narrow confines of 'defeat' or 'victory', but within the context of a final peace deal, in which both societies must- by definition- make compromises in order to gain something much greater, and much more elusive than the sum of these individual issues: peace. The entire project, running for 12 months, costs £275,000. This includes two full polls (one in Israel, one in Palestine) and a sustained year-long programme of meetings across both societies, reaching out to thousands of people with a message that will marginalise extremists and encourage compromise. Media coverage of OneVoice's first phase of polling: Financial Times http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/15fd5530-2f2b-11de-b52f-00144feabdc0.html The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/22/israel-palestine-poll Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710756487&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Middle East Online http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=31650 UPI http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/22/Poll-Most-want-Palestinian-state/UPI-75701240415398/ Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080267.html Turkish Weekly http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/73619/-most-israelis-palestinians-want-two-state-solution-poll-finds.html Earth Times http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/265400,most-israelis-palestinians-want-two-state-solution-poll-finds.html Monsters & Critics http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1472300.php/Most_Israelis_Palestinians_want_two-state_solution_poll_finds_ The Guardian – Comment is Free http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/22/israel-palestinian-survey-two-state-solution