The lives of everyone connected to Israel and Palestine will never be the same since October 7th 2023. With tens of thousands of lives cut short, families torn apart, children traumatized, now more than ever we need to continue to show up for one another to mourn and remember. And, as we do every year, call for an end to the violence and demand a political solution that brings freedom, justice and safety for all. With all eyes of the international community on Israel and Palestine, now more than ever, we need to unite around our sorrow and stay strong in building hope that another way is not only possible but imperative.

This year the 19th annual Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day ceremony was organized by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle-Families Forum. It is the only one of its kind and it is the largest Israeli-Palestinian jointly organized peace event. Last year over 15,000 people were in attendance physically and around 200,000 virtually from all around the world. The event is held every year on “Yom HaZikaron” (Israeli Memorial Day), a national day of mourning for Israelis. Our ceremony is radically different from the typical ceremonies that promote a narrative that war and death are inevitable and necessary. Instead, the joint memorial event is a unique opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians to grieve together and stand united in demanding an end to the bloodshed. In mourning together, we seek not to equate experiences, but rather transform despair into hope and build compassion around our shared humanity. We remind ourselves and the world that occupation, oppression, and conflict are not inevitable.

This year, we centered the ceremony around the stories of children, whose only crime was being born Palestinian or Israeli. What will be the future of the next generation? How can we bring hope amidst so much tragedy?

This year we brought the ceremony into your living rooms with “Tekes Ba’Salon”. There were nearly a thousand screening events of the ceremony happening in both private homes and public spaces, in Israel/Palestine and around the world.