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Middle East Eye
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Why the Israeli left's 'peace summit' is in denial about the Gaza genocide
On 8 and 9 May, a so-called "People's Peace Summit", titled "The Time Has Come", took place at Binyanei HaUma convention centre in Jerusalem. Sixty Israeli organisations gathered under the banner of peace, claiming to prepare the ground for a political resolution to the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict". The summit featured tours, workshops, film screenings, performances, and - on the second day - keynote speeches promoting what organisers described as a "peace-based worldview". According to its website, the summit aimed to promote "dialogue" between Palestinians and Israelis, in hopes of sparking societal change and inspiring belief that after each war, a political process would follow. "The time has come," the organisers declared. "Now, when it burns and hurts, after long years of fear and violence, of struggle, of occupation and terror. The war that erupted on 7 October must and can be the last war - the one after which peace will come." New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters But this vision relies on a dangerous abstraction - one that ignores the reality of what is happening in Gaza. The language of peace and dialogue is being used to mask complicity, deflect accountability, and delay action. Peace performance Despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza, this marked the second consecutive year the "People's Peace Summit" took place under the same slogans and with the same speakers. Aside from minor adjustments to the schedule, little had changed. What is happening in Gaza demands explicit political statements and mass mobilisation - not vague appeals centred on Israeli captives If one wonders how the Israeli public can remain silent in the face of what is unfolding in Gaza, the answer lies in a basic, grim truth: a significant portion of the population embraces extreme right-wing, messianic ideologies. These beliefs, rooted in a religious-nationalist vision, have increasingly shaped Israeli politics, particularly through parties like Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit. A March 2025 poll conducted by Israel's Direct Polls Institute found that nearly 60 percent of Israelis supported resuming military attacks on Gaza - despite mounting international condemnation and the catastrophic humanitarian toll. At the same time, many of those who consider themselves liberal or humanitarian continue to avoid making an unequivocal call to end the genocide in Gaza. Their silence reflects not just hesitation, but complicity. Israeli peace organisations continue to do everything but confront the elephant in the room. This is not a war - it is a genocide. And calling simply for an end to "the war" is not only useless, but evasive. What is happening in Gaza demands explicit political statements and mass mobilisation - not vague appeals centred on Israeli captives or Jewish national security, but because infants and children are dying as the world watches. Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war While artists stand on stage to sing, dozens more will likely be starved or killed. On Wednesday alone, Israeli air strikes killed more than 100 Palestinians across Gaza, including in a crowded marketplace and a restaurant in Nuseirat refugee camp. Among the dead were women, children, and two journalists, as Israel escalated its assault in a genocidal war now entering its 20th month. There is no time - and no purpose - for abstract conversations about future peace processes while genocide is ongoing. By the time the so-called "day after" arrives, the damage will be so vast, with consequences spanning generations, that the very notion of a political resolution or peace will be rendered meaningless. Genocide denial What is happening in Gaza has been visible from the start. No person with internet access and a functioning conscience can deny it. The only thing missing is the will to name it. Viewed in this light, the summit's refusal to use the word "genocide" - despite the affirmation of international genocide scholars - speaks volumes. I once lived next to a Holocaust survivor. What would he make of Israel's starvation of Gaza? Read More » So too does its silence on Israel's use of starvation as a weapon of war, and its failure to address the Jewish-Israeli public about what is being done in their name and with their participation. The absence of any serious critique of the military's actions raises a fundamental question about the summit's motives: do the organisers truly believe that any means are justified if the alleged goal is to topple Hamas? Even more surreal is the map the summit organisers published: "The Map of Peace and Love - Israel/Palestine 2040". At first glance, it looked like satire, but it wasn't. In this imagined landscape between the river and the sea, nearly every place name is Jewish or a slogan. The only Arab reference is a central spot named after Lebanese writer Elias Khoury. Arab identities appear only in the context of coexistence with Jews in Jordan and Egypt. This is not a vision of shared life - it is a colonial fantasy that imagines Israeli expansion beyond the river and the sea, into neighbouring territories. Privileged distractions Journalist Orly Noy, chair of B'Tselem, criticised the peace summit for offering what she described as "privileged distractions" - dialogue workshops, interfaith prayers, and future-oriented panels - while Gaza burns. She noted that not a single panel was dedicated to the ongoing genocide, and argued that the summit was designed to "make Israelis feel better about themselves" without demanding they confront what is being done in their name. One of the organisers, Raluca Ganea, responded in Haaretz by accusing Noy of aiding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's agenda through divisiveness. She insisted that political institutions emerge after wars to build diplomatic solutions, and that energy should be directed toward shaping what comes next. But framing critique as sabotage is not only evasive, it reinforces the very silence Noy was condemning. At a time when there has been no large-scale public call for draft refusal or an end to the genocide, dismissing internal criticism further serves to protect national consensus rather than challenge it. What's more, Ganea is wrong on the facts: genocide typically does not conclude with diplomacy but erasure - just like the Palestinians in Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, and elsewhere, who were ethnically cleansed in 1948. To this day, Israel refuses to allow them to return, and both the Israeli right and left continue to oppose the right of return. Beyond 'dialogue' There is no space to discuss the "day after". No place for talk about peace or a political solution. The catastrophe in Gaza will be remembered as one of the darkest chapters in modern history. The Israeli left will be remembered as those who stood by and did the bare minimum to acknowledge the horrors taking place For their role, the Israeli left will be remembered as those who stood by and did the bare minimum to acknowledge the horrors taking place. When challenged, they adopted right-wing rhetoric and aligned themselves with the national consensus, thereby enabling the continued starvation of children. The summit makes clear why there is no room left for dialogue with the Israeli left. After 20 months of genocide, something fundamental has shifted in what it means to be Palestinian. Any cooperation now serves only to reassure the Israeli left - to sustain the comforting illusion that, despite everything, there are still Palestinians willing to talk, negotiate, and feed hope. But while children, women, and men are being starved and bombed in refugee camps, there is no place for shallow hope-talk. The only legitimate political discourse now is a demand to end the genocide, grounded in the belief that justice can still prevail. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Egypt Independent
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
Israeli police raid renowned Palestinian bookstores in occupied East Jerusalem
CNN — Israeli police raided two Palestinian bookstores in occupied east Jerusalem on Sunday, confiscating books and arresting one of the owners and his nephew, according to their family members. CCTV footage shared by the owners, four brothers from the Muna family, shows police officers putting books in trash bags at one of the branches of the Educational Bookshop, a decades-old respected institution with Arabic- and English-language branches. 'They did throw some books on the ground but the Arabic (language) store is where the material damage was,' store owner Iyad Muna told CNN. Photos shared by Muna of the Arabic-language store show books, notebooks and writing materials scattered on the ground. The owner and his nephew were held overnight and will face a court hearing on Monday, one of the owners told CNN. Representatives of diplomatic missions from the European Union, several EU member states, the United Kingdom and Brazil were present in court on Monday ahead of the hearing, according to a CNN journalist present. Israeli police said in a statement Monday that two people were arrested on suspicion of 'selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism.' 'The suspects who allegedly sold the books were taken into custody by police detectives,' the police spokesperson's unit said. Images from the aftermath of the raid show items scattered on the floor. Iyad Muna Different areas of the stores were raided, including the children's book section. Iyad Muna Israeli police said that 'detectives encountered numerous books containing inciteful material with nationalist Palestinian themes' in the stores. Among them was a children's coloring book titled 'From the River to the Sea.' The expression is politically controversial in Israel. Some Palestinians use the phrase in support of a homeland between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, but many Jews regard it as a call for Israel's destruction. The Educational Bookshop was established in 1984 on the central Salah el Dein street in East Jerusalem. The original branch sells Arabic books, while the English-language store opened years later is frequented by Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners alike. The group 'The Time Has Come', which lobbies for peace between Jews and Palestinians, said the bookstore and its people 'are an important part of the shared future we envision for Jerusalem. The arrest and confiscation not only harm the right to free expression and the freedom of information but also place the city's future on the brink.' Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Territories, said she was 'shocked by the raid' on the bookstores, which she called 'an intellectual lighthouse and family-run gem resisting Palestinian erasure under apartheid.' Albanese also urged the international community in Jerusalem to 'show up, stand with the Muna family, and protect this vital hub.' Correction: This article previously referred to 'The Time Has Come' group as 'Ad Kan.' The two groups are separate entities, and the comments in this article are those of 'The Time Has Come.'
CNN
10-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Israeli police raid renowned Palestinian bookstores in occupied East Jerusalem
Israeli police raided two Palestinian bookstores in occupied east Jerusalem on Sunday, confiscating books and arresting one of the owners and his nephew, according to their family members. CCTV footage shared by the owners, four brothers from the Muna family, shows police officers putting books in trash bags at one of the branches of the Educational Bookshop, a decades-old respected institution with Arabic- and English-language branches. 'They did throw some books on the ground but the Arabic (language) store is where the material damage was,' store owner Iyad Muna told CNN. Photos shared by Muna of the Arabic-language store show books, notebooks and writing materials scattered on the ground. An Israeli court on Monday extended the detention of the two men – Mahmoud and Ahmed Muna – by 24 hours, to be followed by five days of house arrest. Police had originally asked for their detention to be extended for eight days while the investigation continued. Representatives of diplomatic missions from the European Union, several EU member states, the United Kingdom and Brazil were present in court ahead of the hearing, according to a CNN journalist present. Israeli police said in a statement Monday that two people were arrested on suspicion of 'selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism.' 'The suspects who allegedly sold the books were taken into custody by police detectives,' the police spokesperson's unit said. Israeli police said that 'detectives encountered numerous books containing inciteful material with nationalist Palestinian themes' in the stores. Among them was a children's coloring book titled 'From the River to the Sea.' The expression is politically controversial in Israel. Some Palestinians use the phrase in support of a homeland between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, but many Jews regard it as a call for Israel's destruction. The Educational Bookshop was established in 1984 on the central Salah el Dein street in East Jerusalem. The original branch sells Arabic books, while the English-language store opened years later is frequented by Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners alike. The group 'The Time Has Come', which lobbies for peace between Jews and Palestinians, said the bookstore and its people 'are an important part of the shared future we envision for Jerusalem. The arrest and confiscation not only harm the right to free expression and the freedom of information but also place the city's future on the brink.' Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Territories, said she was 'shocked by the raid' on the bookstores, which she called 'an intellectual lighthouse and family-run gem resisting Palestinian erasure under apartheid.' Albanese also urged the international community in Jerusalem to 'show up, stand with the Muna family, and protect this vital hub.' This has been updated with additional developments. Correction: This article previously referred to 'The Time Has Come' group as 'Ad Kan.' The two groups are separate entities, and the comments in this article are those of 'The Time Has Come.' CNN's Michael Schwartz contributed to this reporting.
CNN
10-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Israeli police raid renowned Palestinian bookstores in occupied East Jerusalem
Israeli police raided two Palestinian bookstores in occupied east Jerusalem on Sunday, confiscating books and arresting one of the owners and his nephew, according to their family members. CCTV footage shared by the owners, four brothers from the Muna family, shows police officers putting books in trash bags at one of the branches of the Educational Bookshop, a decades-old respected institution with Arabic- and English-language branches. 'They did throw some books on the ground but the Arabic (language) store is where the material damage was,' store owner Iyad Muna told CNN. Photos shared by Muna of the Arabic-language store show books, notebooks and writing materials scattered on the ground. The owner and his nephew were held overnight and will face a court hearing on Monday, one of the owners told CNN. Representatives of diplomatic missions from the European Union, several EU member states, the United Kingdom and Brazil were present in court on Monday ahead of the hearing, according to a CNN journalist present. Israeli police said in a statement Monday that two people were arrested on suspicion of 'selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism.' 'The suspects who allegedly sold the books were taken into custody by police detectives,' the police spokesperson's unit said. Israeli police said that 'detectives encountered numerous books containing inciteful material with nationalist Palestinian themes' in the stores. Among them was a children's coloring book titled 'From the River to the Sea.' The expression is politically controversial in Israel. Some Palestinians use the phrase in support of a homeland between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, but many Jews regard it as a call for Israel's destruction. The Educational Bookshop was established in 1984 on the central Salah el Dein street in East Jerusalem. The original branch sells Arabic books, while the English-language store opened years later is frequented by Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners alike. The group 'The Time Has Come', which lobbies for peace between Jews and Palestinians, said the bookstore and its people 'are an important part of the shared future we envision for Jerusalem. The arrest and confiscation not only harm the right to free expression and the freedom of information but also place the city's future on the brink.' Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Territories, said she was 'shocked by the raid' on the bookstores, which she called 'an intellectual lighthouse and family-run gem resisting Palestinian erasure under apartheid.' Albanese also urged the international community in Jerusalem to 'show up, stand with the Muna family, and protect this vital hub.' Correction: This article previously referred to 'The Time Has Come' group as 'Ad Kan.' The two groups are separate entities, and the comments in this article are those of 'The Time Has Come.' CNN's Michael Schwartz contributed to this reporting.
