For those who may not know, the Joint Memorial Ceremony, organized by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle – Families Forum, takes place on Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. Across the country, families gather in cemeteries to remember those who have been killed in the conflict. Over time, the meaning of this day has become distorted and too often used to justify continued violence, reinforce fear, and sustain a reality with no political horizon. The pain and loss of a family should never be used to justify or normalize violence - whether carried out by a state or by individuals.

Our ceremony offers a different path. It brings Palestinian and Israeli bereaved families together in shared remembrance, not to erase difference, but to acknowledge it, and to insist that grief must not be used to prepare us for more loss. It is a call to recognize one another’s humanity and to confront the systems of occupation, inequality, and violence that continue to shape all of our lives.