About Us

Stan Mendenhall is a life-long resident of Ann Arbor, having graduated from Milan High School, and having received multiple degrees from the University of Michigan. His contact with the Middle East began in 1955 when he attended St. George’s school. In 1969 he attended the American University of Beirut. For the past 40 years, he has worked in public accounting, started his own business, published a newsletter about orthopedics, and retired in 2021.

Laurie White is a film-maker, peace activist, and founder of the peace movement, Zeitouna, which is an organization of Israeli/Jewish and Palestinian/Arab women who have met regularly since 2002. Laurie produced the documentary on these efforts titled “Refusing to be Enemies” . Originally from Flint, Michigan, she has lived in Ann Arbor since 1984.

Lauren Zinn was born in Detroit, Michigan. She has a Ph.D. in educational planning from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She was ordained as an interfaith minister in 2002. She led a congregation and Sunday School for intermarried Jewish families. She is the author of Belong to the World Bring Your Tribe: A New Vision for Judaism and serves on various committees including sponsoring Afghan refugees, Jewish-Palestinian reparations, and Religion Education in public life.

Tahani Othman was born in Palestine in the 1960s and emigrated to Kentucky in 1973. She moved to Ann Arbor in 1987, and was a public school teacher in Ann Arbor and Allen Park for 34 years before retiring in 2024. Her two children went through and graduated from Ann Arbor public schools — Lakewood elementary, Forsythe middle school and Skyline and Community high schools.

Joe Summers was the pastor of Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Ann Arbor where he served for 36 years. As pastor of the congregation he worked on many Peace and Justice uses including criminal justice reform, homelessness, health care reform, LGBTQ human rights, & Latin American Human rights.  He has worked on issues of Palestinian Human Rights since 1989.  He first moved to Ann Arbor in 1972 and he and his wife have three grown children and a granddaughter.