Dear Friends, 

It is hard to believe that five months have passed since the Hamas attack on October 7th and the Israel-Gaza war began. It is heartbreaking that we are yet to see a permanent ceasefire or any kind of political solution. As the violence rages around us, our community of Combatants for Peace feels even more important in the struggle for a better future.

At the start of the month, we organised a seminar day in Tel Aviv on the topic of “Active Hope for the Day After”, where alumni of the “Land Beyond the Mountains” met with Dr. Yael Barda, a social and political activist, jurist and lecturer in sociology at the Hebrew University. Dr. Barda provided a political analysis of the current reality in Gaza and a discussion on tools that can help change the current reality. 

Combatants for Peace staff members met for a two day seminar to learn about trauma and building resilience in our activist work. We met in our Beit Jala office, as our Palestinian staff are not allowed to come to Tel Aviv without a permit. Despite everything happening around us, it was important for us to meet, share and continue strategizing together. The seminar was full of laughs, tears, meaningful conversations and productive group work.

Our Palestinian Co-Director, Rana Salman and Israeli CFP activist Yair Bunzel left their homes and travelled to Switzerland to spread our message of peace. They shared that it wasn’t easy to travel at this time of crisis but they felt it was important to raise their voices and share about our activism. They were hosted by "Ina autra senda - Swiss Friends of Combatants for Peace". If you are interested in joining or creating a local group of CFP in your country, please get in touch with us. At the end of the day, we know how much power the international community has - politically, financially and culturally, in what happens to us Israelis and Palestinians and we need activists abroad to stand with us in advocating for another way.