Indeed: what kind? The question comes naturally, as we prepare to witness with bated breath the final showdown on every possible front: with the announced ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, with the Palestinians (already exhausted by the aid blockade, famine, 18 months of war) now set – according to the plans – to be crowded to yet another huge refugee camp south of the Strip, at the mercy of aid provided by the IDF as well as by private contractors, only to be forcefully/voluntarily deported who knows where…
And so here we are, witnesses of an ethnic cleansing no longer denounced by the various international courts but clearly trumpeted through the media, hostages be damned: this is the security solution that Netanyahu is offering to the Israeli society for his own political survival, no matter what the price. Thousands of reservists called up for the final battle, negotiations broken off since nothing is left to negotiate, skies declared no-fly zones while waiting for the apocalypse… And all we can do is stand by and watch, our governments totally complicit in this live-action catastrophe that we have been witnessing for far too long, with appeals, solidarity initiatives, lights going out, signature collections, posts we incessantly exchange, trying to appease our anguish, give voice to our indignation, express our closeness to Gaza… measuring our impotence, the die is cast, the Greater Israel project that is happening, with the “interested” support of the Donald Trump’s administration, more than ever partner in business.
Against the backdrop of all this, today sees the inauguration of this People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem, which, planned months ago, seems almost surreal now. Peace: a word that has long been taboo, even ridiculed (as the three co-organizers Mika Almog, May Pundak, and Maya Savir pointed out in a recent interview that you can read here). So good to know that a peace option is gaining ground (at last!) within the Israeli society or so the polls are saying, (or so the polls say, for example this one by aChord Institute), but what about reconciliation? Who knows how long it will remain indigestible for that “other side” that we would like to imagine involved in so-called “reconciliation process”, in view of “the day after the end of the war”: those seven million Palestinians who should simply disappear…
But while I am writing these notes, a last post from Maoz Inon, the main promoter of this People’s Peace Summit, lands on my cell phone and reads: “…while Gaza is now completely deprived of food and humanitarian aid and the war rages on, the Israeli-Palestinian movement refuses to remain silent (…) Faced with this horror, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians are converging on Jerusalem at this very moment to say (in bold letters): It’s time! It’s time to stop the massacre. It’s time to end the siege. It is time to choose justice, equality, and peace—for all. (…) Today and tomorrow, Jerusalem will be the theatre of the greatest event against war and for peace. (…) Break your silence, join our action program, participate or tune in…”.
And so let’s not give up. Let’s keep going in our exploration of this incredible “peace camp” that we have tried to preview with the interviews already published going towards the dates of May 8 and 9, since it’s all happening right now, the show opens today as scheduled and has already had some decent previews in various cities around the world, as you can see in the slide show that we are publishing here.
San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Seattle, Boston, Baltimore: thanks to the formidable networking set in motion by the Israeli-Palestinian movement Standing Together (one of the most active members within the coalition of 60 promoting organizations), we have an excellent overview of the initiatives that have been mobilized starting from May 4th, in support of this so relevant and important Peace Summit, which has been mostly ignored by the mainstream media.
Moving on to the very rich program of debates, seminars, meetings, and recreational activities that will fill these two days in Jerusalem, we will limit ourselves to highlighting the most significant thematic focuses.
As for today, everything happens in the afternoon and the schedule is spread across several venues scattered throughout the city: (detailed list of events at this link: https://www.timeisnow.co.il/thursday-english ) Cinematheque Sam Spiegel, Willy Brandt Center, Smadar Project, FeelBeit, Muslala, Hamiffal, Mizkaka, YMCA, a number of locations that correspond to the network of partners that ‘reveals’ a Jerusalem that is on the move and receptive not only to hosting but also to getting involved—and accepting the risks, if we think of the increasingly frequent attacks on the peace front by fundamentalist squads, with the approval of law enforcement agencies, as demonstrated by this shocking footage, released yesterday by Assopace Palestina.
The detailed list of events can be found at the link https://www.timeisnow.co.il/thursday-english. Among them it is worth mentioning (6 p.m. at the Cinematheque) the screening of the film “Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs” by Eimhear O’Neill, which tells how the peace process in Northern Ireland happened above all thanks to that beautiful coalition of women, from the Catholic and Protestant fronts, reknown as Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition. Two of the protagonists, Monica McWilliams and Avila Kilmurray, will be present immediately after the film, in conversation with Yael Brouda-Bahat, founder (together with the late Vivien Silver, among the victims of October 7) and co-director of the Women Wage Peace, a movement with over 50,000 members in Israel, in partnership with the Palestinian Women of the Sun.
But before that, at 4 p.m. at the Mizkaka space, there will be Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah, whom we interviewed for Pressenza here and here. They will not only recall the story of their brotherly friendship on the peace front, but will also offer some simple ‘recipes’ for turning hope into action, which is the slogan of the entire project: hope is a verb, something to act and make …
We cannot give details here of the long list of short films and feature films, creative workshops (including many for children), performances (among them, the artist Idith Kishinovsky, who specializes in “affective and clown techniques” to transform situations of conflict), moments of prayer (for example with the Ensemble Eretz, featuring Israeli and Palestinian artists directed by Yonatan Konda), the Peace and Ecology Festival at Muslala’s Terrace, the exhibition on ‘Political Art’ at the Museum on the Seam (and the planned meeting with curator/artist/activist Chen Shapira, that will take place on the roof of the museum itself… and worth mentioning the exhibition at the YMCA entitled “Foundations,” which, through the works of Anisa Askar and Daphna Tal, explores the fundamental elements of Islam… and finally, at 8 p.m., the event “Seekers of Peace” at the Hadar Institute, which will try to “imagine a better future for all the inhabitants of this land, despite the painful reality in which we find ourselves.” Among the organisers/speakers we recognise the name of May Pundak, founder and co-director of A Land for All (whom we interviewed here), and various activists of the Rabbis for Human Rights movement.
And then there will be from 9 a.m. until sunset, the various “themed” Tours through the streets of Jerusalem, guided by the various organizations involved in the Summit, including Ir Amim, Zochrot, Peace Now, and Mejdi Tours, founded by Aziz Abu Sarah, as always characterized by the dual narrative of two different guides ”to discover not only the conflictual past, but also the opportunities for intersection and dialogue at each stage.” All this will end with a Silent Peace Walk: a moment of meditation ”inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and many others.”
And so we come to the main day, which will be May 9, from morning to evening at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, the same venue that a year and a half ago hosted that very threatening mega assembly of settlers and representatives of the worst kind of Zionist fundamentalism, which in some way inspired the urgency of this initiative, under the slogan of “Time is now, Let’s get moving!”
After the opening event https://www.youtube.com/live/DIs8F5iwN5w), which will present the main organizations involved and summarize the main events and themes of the two days, the day will continue with so many programs distributed across 14 rooms, that the list would be too long to reproduce here, so we refer you to the link https://www.timeisnow.co.il/friday-english
There will be debates, an information fair, musical performances, children’s programs, art installations: “The idea is to create something that speaks to the head, the heart, and also to the tummy” the co-producer Mika Almog explained in an interview published the other day by Haaretz.
In the meantime, let us enjoy the roundup of events that have already happened or are about to happen around the world, in support of this beautiful, compact, determined Israeli-Palestinian ‘peace camp’ that will be staged between today and tomorrow in Jerusalem.
List of articles previously published on Pressenza on the People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem:
Interview with Maoz Inon: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/04/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-8th-and-9th-may-interview-with-one-of-the-organisers-maoz-inon/
Interview with Aziz Abu Sarah: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/04/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-may-8-9-interview-with-aziz-abu-sarah/
Interview with Nivine Sandouka: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/04/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-may-8-9-our-full-support-to-the-civil-society-says-the-palestinian-activist-nivine-sandouka/
Interview with Mika Almog, May Pundak and Maya Savir: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/05/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-8-9-may-women-can-make-the-difference/
Translation from Italian by Gabriel Popham
