In response to the shocking inter-communal violence in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab cities, hundreds of Arabs and Jews gathered outside of Jerusalem’s Old City Walls last month to form a chain of peace.

Thousands of people held hands together in a gathering organized by NIF grantee Tag Meir – United against Racism and Women Wage Peace. The participants joined hands and called for peace, equality and hope and pledged to continue working for dignity and sisterhood between nations and religions. Their signs read “stop the war,” “we want to be together,” and “all of Israel together in peace, together in life.”

For years, Tag Meir has made itself a powerful voice for the recognition of humanity in others, those who we are often too quick to assume are enemies. In the past two weeks, they have organized a number of flower parades, where volunteers hand-delivered flowers to residents of Jerusalem’s Old City, and visited torched sites in Lod. They are planning another round of flower distribution, this time in five Arab and mixed cities: Taybe, Lod, Jaffa, Haifa, and Jish.

Jewish-Arab partnership is critical to Israel’s moral fabric, to its democratic future, and any hope of Israel fulfilling its founding vision — one based on equality for all Israelis and Palestinians. That has been a focus of our work for decades. But this moment of crisis demands more of us.
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