After the interview a few days ago with the Israeli pacifist Maoz Inon, we continue our “behind the scenes” tour of the IT’S NOW initiative, which promises to be the largest peace event ever attempted so far in the Middle East, with this telephone conversation with the Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah, co-organizer of the Peace Summit, brother “in the heart” of Maoz and many other things
Born 45 years ago in Al-Eizariya in the West Bank not far from East Jerusalem, Aziz has recounted in various interviews his adolescence during the years of the first intifada
“Like everyone else, I threw stones, one accidentally hit a neighbor’s vehicle. We did it to react to frustration; the only Jews we knew were the soldiers in uniform who blocked us at the checkpoints, and of course the settlers who were already quite a few at the time… ” Aziz was nine years old when his older brother Tayseer was arrested by the IDF and taken to prison. The detention lasted a year, but a few weeks after his release Tayseer died from what were diagnosed as “internal injuries” , as a result of the beatings he suffered behind bars. A wound that has never healed, despite the passing of many years, some of which within the Parent Circle Families Forum, the Israeli-Palestinian organization that since 1995 has helped families like that of Aziz, Maoz and many others who like them have lost their loved ones in the conflict, to ease the trauma of the loss through self-awareness paths of admirable courage and greatness
But it is in a recent post on Facebook that pain reappears with a double photo: one of him next to his brother Tayseer, both children, and one of the 17-year-old Palestinian Walid, the 63rd to die in an Israeli prison after the events of October 7. And just a few accompanying lines, “some news is particularly striking… since my brother Tayseer died 34 years ago, from torture suffered in an Israeli prison, every death in detention affects me deeply. As in the case of this boy, Walid, whose death we learned was due to the usual reasons: routine torture, zero investigations, bodies returned to their families with difficulty, crimes that are repeated with impunity..
Aziz and his brother Tayseer
And it was precisely in the wake of this loss that Aziz felt the need to write that touching message of condolence to Maoz Inon, immediately after the death of both [Maoz’] parents in the massacre of October 7 [2023]. And so this beautiful partnership of pacifist activism was set in motion in the very spirit of brotherhood, most of the time together in front of important audiences such as the various Ted Talks or the Arena di Pace in Verona hosted by Pope Francis a year ago, sometimes alone as will be the case for Maoz’s trip to Paris in a few days, but always united in the urgency “to promote whatever is possible to change the situation” , and in the broadest possible alliance with many other organizations that have long been active on the same front
Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah
These two pacifists also have a background in common as entrepreneurs in the so-called “peace” tourism that Aziz Abu Sarah pursued after a training course at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, founding Mejdi Tours about fifteen years ago, specialized in “socially aware” trips to areas characterized by a “double narrative” (i.e. a former conflict that was later resolved) and always accompanied by two voices/guides
And so not only the Middle East, but also Colombia, Afghanistan, upcoming departures in the Balkans and then Ireland. A passion more than a job, which has often seen Aziz in the role of journalist (for National Geographic, various radio programs, + 972 and other newspapers) and book writer
And in short, a truly rich and interesting professional-personal profile that of Aziz Abu Sarah. We reached him for a few days in his residence in South Carolina, which he alternates with his first home in Palestine
When did the idea of organizing this Peace Summit with so many organizations involved arise?
There was a moment, after October 7th and when the bombings had been underway for some time, when a gathering of settlers was held in Jerusalem: they had already begun to raid the food and aid directed to Gaza, but on that occasion the message was clear: “We are here and we intend to settle in Gaza too” . It was on that occasion that someone among us launched the idea of doing something, precisely in the terms that then suggested the title of that first big event at the Menorah Stadium in Tel Aviv, IT’S TIME,It’s time to… react, to respond in some way. At the very least to say that we exist, that not everyone is in favor of the bombings and killings. It’s time to break the silence, to make people understand that what they say is not true, it’s time to count ourselves, to show that we are not few. In fact, there were so many of us on July 1st, which was the first stage of this journey
And yet here we are, 18 months after October 7 and less than a month before your peace summit in Jerusalem, contemplating the extermination well beyond the worst predictions of the beginning, after Trump and Netanyahu met in the Oval Office to confirm business as usual. The co-presence of these two realities so diametrically opposed is impressive…
This is why we are doing everything we can to ensure that the Peace Summit has the success it deserves, if nothing else in terms of participation, hopefully also minimal visibility, with your help too. Because no acceptable perspective can come to us from the leadership we have. So it is up to us to take action and do something to counteract this drift totally devoid of alternatives
This is why it is important to unite and reiterate what we believe in, to indicate a hypothesis for the future, to offer ourselves as an example… because what they have always been selling to us is that Palestinians and Israelis will never be able to live together, work together, co-exist together, it is too dangerous, an unimaginable madness… And instead we continue to say: it is not true, look at us, we are dozens of Israeli-Palestinian organizations, we are demonstrating that there are various possibilities of living together, working together, achieving results together and that only on these bases can there be a future for both our communities
Lately you have highlighted the decreasing support for the conflict on both sides, especially in Israel, where only a minority now supports the war in Gaza. But also in the Palestinian camp, where protests against Hamas have recently taken place, variously interpreted…
There have been polls recently in Gaza, which support a sharp drop in popularity towards Hamas, even below 10%, which would be incredible but not surprising, in the now desperate circumstances in which the population of Gaza finds itself forced after October 7 [ 2023]
Beyond the polls, I often have occasion to speak with acquaintances who live there and I understand that the discontent is real. Beyond the aversion towards the army and Israel, many hold Hamas responsible for the conditions in which they find themselves living, without any protection, without food, water, or shelter, with no other prospect than to disappear from the face of the earth. They have lost everything, they have lost their homes, they have lost their families, every hospital has been bombed… and yet it would be foolish to claim that Hamas is finished
Because it is precisely in these circumstances of desperate siege that its ability to recruit reasserts itself, as it has always done in the past: when you have lost everything, your home, your loved ones, any hypothesis of a future, all that remains is the illusion of defending yourself by fighting, at least for some
This is why we maintain that Israel will never be able to destroy Hamas, because more and more people will join their brigades in such an extreme reality and in fact according to a recent estimate the number of active militants currently is the same as a year and a half ago, despite the losses. It is time to think seriously about an alternative: we must give people the certainty of a political solution, above all we must end the occupation as soon as possible, give people back their freedom, the ability to self-determination. Without these minimum conditions of coexistence, equality, justice, nothing will be able to end Hamas
Will there be Palestinian voices representing this particular complexity in your Peace Summit? I know that it will be difficult for many to participate in person…
Some Palestinians will also be there in person, certainly me too, others will be there via connection. We have not yet decided what kind of message we will share, and whether we will go into the details of political evaluations. As you know, there are dozens of organizations that have joined this Peace Summit proposal and each has its own agenda
I can only tell you what we, Maoz and I, will do with our organization Interact International: we will continue to work in training, communication, public mobilization, as we have always done and in ever closer collaboration with other organizations such as Standing Together, Parents Circle and Combatants for Peace. We hope that all of this will be able to materialize in a political proposal, a need that had already matured before October 7, because as you know the protests against the current government were very frequent. But having already managed to put together such a coalition of acronyms and energies means a lot
Is there a pacifist movement in Palestine? In Italy one gets the impression that this is an orientation that is mostly present in Israel…
First of all, we understand that the word peace cannot have the same meaning for both sides of the conflict. When Palestinians talk about peace, they talk about liberation, equality, the end of apartheid and occupation, as is obvious, as Gandhi himself pursued in the project of liberation from colonialism: the method was nonviolence, but the objectives were very clear and without a shadow of compromise
Another thing to remember is the power structure that reaffirms itself in every circumstance: what Israelis can do and what Palestinians can do is very different, even in terms of pacifism. I remember the first big demonstrations that the Combatants for Peace, of which I am a member, organized in 2006 or 2007, in Hebron, in the West Bank, and then in Jerusalem: thousands of Palestinians, I think it was 3,000 people, came to Hebron and even though it was a peaceful demonstration the Israeli army attacked them with tear gas. The welcome in Tel Aviv is very different, which shows the institutionalized and structural violence that interferes in the dynamics of our movement and that from the outside cannot be perceived, not to mention the media that limit themselves to recording, but rarely cover the news coming from Palestine with the same attention reserved for Israelis. This is true for pacifists, as well as for prisoners, hostages, victims of attacks; the game is always against us. All this confirms the tendency to dehumanize Palestine, even when it would be worth highlighting positive aspects or personalities. Even the protests of the past few weeks against Hamas in Gaza, the way in which the news was treated had nothing to do with peace: it was just a way to affirm the unpopularity of Hamas, creating further polarization
Reading your biographical notes I discovered that a few years ago you ran for mayor of Jerusalem… but it didn’t go very well
I can tell you that it was the experience that more than any other made me understand how international institutions only apparently encourage us to do something, but then they don’t support us. When I ran for mayor of Jerusalem I contacted all the representatives I managed to reach at European level, asking them to contribute to the feasibility of the electoral consultations, because in Jerusalem there are very few people who go to vote, for a series of reasons. Many don’t even know they have the right to vote, and the government has no interest in telling them that they do. Not to mention the logistical difficulties: until a few years ago, to reach those few polling stations in the West Bank it was necessary to pass I don’t know how many checkpoints, along routes that required two or three buses. You can imagine who wants to put themselves through this hell. In the last consultations something has changed, but to return to my story, aware of the amount of funds that the European Union spends in Palestine for so-called democratization processes, I turned to the European institutions not for help with my campaign, but to improve at least a little the situation on the ground, with awareness campaigns, facilitation interventions on the logistical level… Several ambassadors seemed interested, but nothing happened. When they tried to follow up their words with concrete measures, the response from their ministries was: why change… You see, that’s the problem: nobody wants to change the status quo until it breaks. Now that everything is in a thousand pieces, nobody knows what to do. But when an opportunity presents itself, nobody takes it into consideration, except in rare cases. We read in the newspapers about “the need for Palestinian leaders who are up to the task, ” but then nobody will do anything to help these Palestinian leaders. Everyone is wondering where the Nelson Mandela of Palestine is, and that is the most offensive question, because there are many Nelson Mandelas of Palestine, but they are all in jail. This is the hypocrisy I often find around the world
And what Maoz and I are trying to do in our visits to the highest levels we can reach around the world, is to push European, American, Arab and global leaders to at least listen and if possible encourage these young leaders, and give legitimacy, support, recognition to these voices. This is the task of politics, and it was what I would have pursued if I had become mayor of Jerusalem. I withdrew when I saw the people who were supporting me threatened and attacked and when I realized that my own life was in danger. But it was an accident along the way, which did not stop me from continuing to do the things I had always done before, in the knowledge that another way is possible. As Maon often says, Hope is an Action. And it depends on each of us, on all of us and on each of us, to take action for change
To learn more about the Jerusalem Peace Summit: https://www.timeisnow.co.il/new1-2 For more information or details on how to support the initiative: info@timeisnow.co.il
