Building peace, then, means more than a ceasefire or a treaty. It means Israelis and Palestinians choosing new leaders who will reject the politics of fear and revenge.
Women Wage Peace supporters carry a sign in Arabic and Hebrew that reads: “From now on, no one decides anything without women.”
Building peace means changing the way we teach our history in Israeli and Palestinian schools, so that the next generation is taught that there are two nations with deep ties to this land, neither of which is made up or invented, with each having deep cultural and religious connections to this land that is their only home.
Building peace means actively learning each other’s language, Arabic for Israelis and Hebrew for Palestinians, which will make it harder to hold on to the false notion that the other has no place here.
Building peace means 50-50 representation for women and men in all leadership positions. Women’s participation increases the probability of a peace agreement lasting at least two years by 20 per cent, and by 35 per cent the probability of a peace agreement lasting 15 years.
Building peace means embracing a new kind of journalism, one that not only reports on violence and tension but also seeks out stories of co-operation, empathy and practical solutions that help societies heal and move forward.
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And finally, building peace is about reclaiming our holy traditions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity from all those here and abroad who have abused our religious traditions to become blueprints for war. We must reassert that the purpose of our sacred texts is to realise the golden rule of all our traditions: love your neighbour as yourself, always remembering that what is hateful to you, you must not do to others.
The choice, as ever, rests with us. When the guns finally fall silent, the real work of healing and reconciliation must commence, not through a distant, grand negotiation, but through the immediate, daily decisions of Israelis and Palestinians.
History shows this path, though steep, is not impossible, from the land-for-peace agreement with Egypt to the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Hope is not a passive wish, it is an action. It is found in rerouting a single dollar from buying another weapon, to a youth program that challenges dehumanisation, or in the simple, defiant act of correcting a single line in a history book. If all the immense effort that went into fighting this war is now directed toward creating a reality where it can never happen again, anything is possible. For the sake of all our children, let this vital grassroots process flourish and plant the seeds of peace in all our hearts.
Ittay Flescher is a Jewish-Australian journalist and peace educator living in Jerusalem. His book, The Holy and the Broken: A Cry for Israeli-Palestinian Peace from a Land that Must Be Shared, was published by HarperCollins Australia and long listed for the 2025 Walkley Book Awards. He wrote this piece for New Israel Fund of Australia & Friends events held in Melbourne and Sydney last Sunday to mark October 7 and its aftermath.
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