We are now in the final countdown and here I am on the phone with these three formidable women, among the main organizers of the peace convention titled “The Time Has Come,” which filled the Menorah Stadium in Tel Aviv on July 1, 2024, with the support of fifty Arab-Israeli peace organizations. And here they are again in the same role of ‘producers’ for the upcoming Peace Summit in Jerusalem that will be the result of an even larger alliance of movements.
Their names are Mika Almog, May Pundak and Maya Savir, and all three have been somehow “witnessed” the process that led to the Oslo Agreement from very close: the first, Mika, is in fact the granddaughter of Shimon Peres and is well known in Israel as a journalist, actress and media personality; the second is a lawyer, at the helm (together with the Palestinian Rula Hardal) of the organization A Land for All, and is the daughter of Ron Pundak, who died in 2014 and is considered among the “architects” of the above mentioned Agreement; and the third, Maya Savir is daughter of the pacifist and writer Uri Savir and as co-director of the bi-national organization Search for Common’s Ground has been working in development projects in South Africa, and about the reconciliation process in South Africa and Rwanda has published a wonderful book titled On Reconciliation.
And here they are today in the role of “artistic directors” of this upcoming two-day event in Jerusalem, which with even greater urgency — and in even more difficult circumstances — calls for an immediate ceasefire, for the return of the hostages, for the end of the massacre of so many innocent lives, and for an agreement that will enable both peoples to envision ‘the day after the end of the conflict’: huge task indeed.
How did it all start, what was the triggering moment for you along this path?
Maya Savir – A few months into the war everything was as horrible as you may remember, and at some point a small group of women, I think we were not more then ten, gathered in order to see what could be done: it was winter, it was dark, it was cold, but we felt the urge. Various meetings were held in Tel Aviv and the simple conclusion was: something needs to be done. We understood that in order to overcome the discouragement, our mission was to create a ‘peace camp’, for women and for men, to remind ourselves that we are more than we think: the gravity of the situation after October 7th was such that we named this idea ‘It’s time’, that was the urgency we wanted to convey …
We immediately worked on the idea of a coalition that is indeed unique, because as you can imagine it is not easy to come together for so many organizations, each of them with its own distinct background of critical thinking. But the situation was so bad that we managed to go beyond our differences and converge on the basics: immediate ceasefire, end of occupation, a peace agreement between two equal states, this is something we could all come around,
May Pundak – The urgency of our response was triggered by a huge conference that the settlers’ movement organized in Jerusalem around the end of January 2024, with the participation of several representatives of the Government, all very right-wing: it was a powerful gathering, impressive…
Mika Almog – … what basically moved us, was an unprecedented response to an unprecedented situation and I am referring only in part to what happened on October 7 in Gaza. Everything that led up to that moment, everything that has happened in Israel for 30 years, the endangerment of our democracy: it is no coincidence that we cannot even talk about peace, the concept itself has been ridiculed! The process of removing all kind of issues on the table by our government had become increasingly extreme, and this had caused this feeling of total powerlessness for anyone who wanted to reignite the debate. After October 7th you had the impression that everything was moving to the right, also because the left had so little to offer… And regarding that conference by the settlers mentioned by May I would like to remember the comment of one among our group, her name is Tami Yakira, who works for the New Israel Fund: “We position ourselves in opposition towards them, but they are so good at projecting their vision for the future” and this realization was probably the starting point for us: the desire to reignite people’s ability to consider that a response was possible, and that it had to be big, and in order to be big we needed a strong organization… And as you know there may be all kind of differences within movements, but the priority to agree to something so important overcame the privilege to disagree on secondary issues.
Were these ten women representing some specific organizations?
Maya – Only a few of them, it was indeed a spontaneous gathering and then each one reached out to other women, and also men of course, and by the July 1st event we were over 50 organizations, and for this next event we’ll be 60 and so: we are growing! Within the steering committee all these organizations are represented, organized in working groups. What I like is that each individual or each of these organizations is contributing with their own perspective and vision and this makes us stronger.
May – The difficulty to come up with one coherent narrative has always been the problem with the left around the world. As Mika and Maya were saying there is a lot of critical thinking, that sometimes generates division, and this is not what we see on the other side of the political arena: what we see in the opposite front is unity, the ability to galvanize for what they consider the “greater good”. But it seems to me that now, people who have been more or less active in the past at the political level, are really waking up, all eager to create a new narrative together, everyone willing to contribute for a new vision, for political imagination, for bringing the people from bottom up, bringing the masses, bringing creativity, scholarship, expertise: we are in this incredible moment of bringing everyone together and all this variety of events, for people of very different places and sectors and beliefs, united by the urge to come together and reach something that is relevant for all and each of them. And peace is really for everyone, whether you are religious or secular, old or young, music lover… peace is for everyone, this is the strength of what we are doing.
Mika – A very important feature of this alliance is that is made of Jewish and Arab organizations, within Israel and also cross border: this is the case of the organization of which May is co-director called A land for All, and also of the organization I direct. All these movements, in their structure and leadership, have a joint Israeli and Palestinian participation at all levels, from top to bottom. And all the panels, debates, meetings at the Peace Summit have been conceived within this framework of bi-national representation.
Since July 1st the situation has changed a lot and for the worse, we are witnessing in real time a catastrophe never seen before… Even so, you are telling us that this peace movement is growing, with a participation from the civil society that was unimaginable a few months ago…
Mika – Sometimes you need to reach a certain point of emergency in order to change path. Learning from conflicts that have been solved in other parts of the world will be in fact among the topics that will be addressed at the Peace Summit …
Maya – … we will have experts talking about how peace was reached in Northern Ireland and Bosnia, and researchers that have been studying and comparing the common “thread” that caracterizes these processes, and what they all have in common: that breaking point that brings people to the realization that those promises, that were made again and again towards victory are just… not happening. Here as well, the general acceptance of the war-option has changed so much, from when we started talking about having a peace conference months ago: the situation is so catastrophic, as you said, that it is now possible to talk about peace as never before. More and more people realize that there is no other option.
Just a few days ago we witnessed that incredible square filled with people in Tel Aviv, in protest not only for the hostages but also for the 18.000 children killed in Gaza…
Mika – … and then the Joint Memorial Ceremony organized by Combatants for Peace and The Parents Circle Families Forum, attended in streaming by thousands of people around the world! Both events were organized by members of our alliance, the one in Tel Aviv by a movement called Standing Together, that contributed to the Joint Memorial Ceremony as well: this is how this coalition “works”, as a movement of movements, indeed a great achievement.
Maya – Going back on the difficulty to talk about peace: before October 7th the majority of Israeli Jews probably considered the conflict “controllable” or somehow distant but that has changed. Although too many Israeli keep entertaining disturbing and I would say immoral solutions, we are now discussing the conflict, at last there is a debate. There is a growing realization that October 7th happened for a number of reasons… and that peace is the only way to prevent another one. This is what we need to debate for the Israeli audiences, if we want to counter the mindset of the right wing.
Mika – A proof that things are changing is that letter that was released by hundreds of pilots a few weeks ago: that started a tremendous debate, thousands of people expressed solidariety, with their names and standing up… We hope to have some of them on stage at the opening event, it would be fantastic! So on one hand things are getting worse, an unprecedented catastrophe as you said; on the other hand we are coming up with these platforms of open, anti-war declarations: the public is open to listen, at last…
Maya – For a very long time a large majority of Israeli Jews did not want to know what was happening in Gaza but now it’s different: more and more atrocities that the Israelis are committing are now reaching Israeli Jews and we are seeing a response, perhaps not strong enough, but it is a beginning.
May – As Maya already pointed out, before the October 7th events, the biggest challenge was to convince Israeli and the International community about the need to end this war: the challenge was the acceptance of the status quo. What is clear now, is that those tragic events have created what I consider a very important opportunity of understanding that this can not continue, by a growing number of people: the urgency of ending with all this has never been so clear. The fact that Israelis are supporting whatever we want to call the atrocities going on in Gaza right now, may suggest that people within Israeli society are more than ever racists and extremists… but at the same time you see the same Israelis becoming gradually more pragmatic, and realizing that solving the conflict is actually the only way towards safety and security, as several polls are telling us. And so it is true that Israel society is in its darkest moment right now and at the same time more and more people are understanding that to end the conflict we need a political agreement, with a Palestinian Independent sovereign state. It is important to consider both these trends in their complexity: the fact that they are not mutually exclusive, as it clearly emerges from the polls.
Maya – The understanding that you cannot survive relying on military force, which is what the right wing keeps offering, is a sign of maturity. What we are witnessing among so many Israeli Jews, in response to this exclusive military option, is a sense of being betrayed: the hostages have been betrayed, the soldiers we sent to fight feel betrayed for being involved in war crimes, and people are tired in seeing absolutely no reason for all this, beside the legal problems of our prime minister, who is a very dangerous man.
May – What we are fighting for, is values: for the safety and security of our people, for the return of the hostages, for the children of Gaza, in all these instances we are choosing life, we are prioritizing future and we understand that we will never be safe if the Palestinians won’t be safe. This renewed understanding is very important and very clear within our peace camp: the fact that we have to do this together, Israeli with Palestinian, because there is a total interdependency at this point between our two people and states. This is what we are doing: we are working for a new narrative.
Mika – And this is something that really needs to be amplified: we have Palestinian partners in the West Bank and in Gaza as well, who amid this catastrophe and the unbearable oppression are choosing peace, and who are ready to speak up, some of them will be present at the summit. Not in person of course, they will send video testimonies…
May – We must remember though that the situation between Israel and Palestine if far from equal… Maya and I are both directing cross borders organization and we work in Palestine all the time and it is so natural for us to share these ideas with our partners in Palestine, and it is amazing to see the growing favour for our movement in Palestine as well, since the beginning of the war! But it is also fair to say that for Palestinians talking about peace is difficult right now. Ending the genocide comes first, their concern is safety, their children’s safety, food on the table. Of course many of them want peace, but more important then everything else is stopping the genocide. And although this Peace Summit has been conceived as a joint event, it is fair to consider it mainly an Israeli initiative, with Israelis taking responsibility and this is very important. It is our responsibility to stage this event now: the Palestinians are not in the position to end this war, Israelis… should!
Maya – (…) I can’t tell you how hard it is to be peace activist in Israel and Palestine at present: increasingly hard and we need your support. We need the international community to support this peace camp that is slowly gaining ground between Israel and Palestine. We need support as civil society, we are keeping this space alive in difficult circumstances, no one else is doing it.
May – You know what the secret ingredient really is? Women leadership … (laughs). Mika, Maya, Tami, I could name so many others… no doubt this is what is enabling this process to happen…
What are you envisaging after this summit?
Mika – This is a wonderful question that we are very much debating, and we don’t have a full answer to that yet, but certainly what we need to do with this great energy that we are going to create, is to find a way to translate all this at a political level. We need to be prepared for the upcoming election, not necessarily by creating a new party, more on the side of influencing: something like “watch us, learn from what we are doing, listen to what we are saying…”
Maya – We need to be very light and flexible, things change so rapidly … The immediate priority is a cease fire, we will need to devote much of our energy to this, to put an end to this catastrophe. Then our focus will be a comprehensive end to the conflict and we are very ambitious: we want peace, nothing less. And we need to consider this present terrible crisis in Israel in all its aspects, including the judicial coup, as the direct results of the occupation. And if we want to restore our democracy, the very imperfect democracy of Israel, we need to emphasize all these aspects again and again to a wider audience, and never get tired…
May – I agree with everything that Maya just said and I just want to add: every conflict ultimately ends with an end to the conflict and no more war, and that’s what is called “peace agreement”, which is never linear. Things happen so fast for the better and also for the worst. What we are trying to do at the moment is taking responsibility from within Israeli society, in order to build the biggest and strongest constituency to support peace, which is the obvious way to a better future and it is something elementary for us, as Israelis who care about themselves and about their lives, and for Palestinians who care about themselves and for their lives. But just to clarify: the Jerusalem event will not be a Peace & Love Festival, but a collective affirmation in terms of choosing life, choosing a better future and with a very pragmatic approach.
This is what we are doing now, because we think this is what is needed: to cry out loud, with as many people, as many partners and as strong as we can, to say that we are taking responsibility and we are in the process of creating a different future.
