“There can be no justice without peace and there can be no peace without justice.”
   Martin Luther King

“True peace can only begin to blossom through tough conversations—communicating with people holding a divergent viewpoint and aiming to find some middle ground. I am aware that things are far too complex to be solved just by talking about them, and it will take much more than playing devil’s advocate to bridge the gap between opposing parties. I certainly don’t mean to reduce serious war crimes, for instance, to mere miscommunication.
However, I do think that communication on a micro level could pave the way for broader changes.”
  Noor Musawi, Montreal Serai

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
  C.S. Lewis
 

RATIONALE

The Occupation, the attacks of October 7, and the ongoing war in the Middle East comprise a cauldron of hatred, persecution and murder. Hamas killed 1200 people in the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and took around 250 hostages; Israel’s response to date has killed over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including women and children, aid workers, medical personnel and journalists.

In what the International Court of Justice, many countries, and protestors worldwide are calling a genocide (a word contested by many other groups), Israel is now said to be vowing to eliminate the population of Gaza, and entrench settlers throughout the West Bank. Their stated aim is to retake the entire territory of Gaza and the West Bank.

Some supporters of Israel claim that criticism of Israel is antisemitic, and most Jews everywhere say they no longer feel safe. Indeed, incidents of attacks on Jewish institutions and Jewish people have risen dramatically, and frighteningly. A not insignificant number of Palestinians, and their global supporters, not to mention the mullahs of Iran, question the right of Israel to exist.

At the same time, Islamophobic attacks on Muslims in Canada and elsewhere are on an equally on disturbing and frightening rise. By laws restricting pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and the cancelling of post secondary faculty and others for expressing pro-Palestinian views
are insidious and challenge free speech.

It has been said that the conflict in the Middle East is the crucible of humanity. How do we, all of us, as humans, come through the fire?

In The Wall Between, What Jews and Palestinians Don’t Want to Know About Each Other, authors Raja G. Khouri and Jeffrey Wilkinson compellingly outline two intractable and mutually exclusive narratives. They and many others are calling for a third narrative, a path to reconciliation, justice and peace.

There are thousands of individuals and groups, both in Israel and Palestine, and here in Canada, “waging peace”. It behooves us all to listen.

Against all odds, and even against all evidence, we must wage peace. We must find ways of talking to each other, ways to stop the hate, ways to stop the endless cycle of revenge. Perhaps through telling stories and listening, we might find honest and creative ways to honour our common humanity.

When despair rises up like gorge in our throats, as we try and digest the horrific news every day, when there seems to be no political solution, no hope—perhaps the only antidote is in the acts of the human imagination. Many artists here, in the Middle East, and around the world, believe in and practice art as another narrative, as a way to
communicate, a language of the heart as well as the intellect, a way to speak to our deep, shared longing for peace and justice.

PURPOSE

1. To centre the arts in a variety of disciplines as discourse which can speak to the heart as well as the intellect.

2. To amplify existing groups working for peace both here and abroad.

3. To create a space where people with opposing views can tell their stories, air their views, and hopefully, listen to each other.

When: June 12 and 13, 2026

Where: Trinity St. Pauls, 427 Bloor St. W., Toronto

Who: Robin Pacific and sponsored by St. Thomas Anglican Church, Canadian Voice of Women, Trinity St. Paul’s United Church Middle Eastern Working Group, Bloor St. United Church, Bathurst St. United Church. Still to come: Shir Libenyy Synagogue, A Different Booklist book store, and others.

How: Budget and funding sources to come.

Gathering to take place over 2 days and evenings, including talks, panels, breakout groups, workshops, film screenings, two participatory community art projects, poetry and prose readings, and music performances.

The event will be free but participants must register separately for Day One morning and afternoon, and Day Two morning and afternoon.

The Day One meal and Day Two concert will be ticketed.

1. CENTRE THE ARTS

Two Community Artists

– Linda Duvall is a Saskatoon based artist whose community projects often focus on traumaand healing. Linda will lead participants in a hummus face-off and dialogue.
–Suzanne Thompson, a ceramic artist and ordained Buddhist priest, will lead clay making events throughout the day.

Jewish and Palestinian poets, storytellers, filmmakers, musicians and performers – Confirmed: Danila Bothen, Ronna Bloom, Roula Said, Maryem Toller, David Wall. Others to come.

Combatants for Peace have made an excellent documentary set in the West Bank, called There is Another Way.

We will share a meal on the evening of the first day, and listen to outstanding Palestinian and Jewish musicians on the evening of the second day.

2. GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS WORKING FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

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–The Parents Circle/Family Forum is a group of 800 families founded in 1995. Half are Israeli and half are Palestinian. Each member has had a child or other family member killed by the other side, and they advocate around the globe for peace and reconciliation. They have a self-administered tool kit. Lior Ben Zvi, who is the Development Officer for American Friends of the Parents Circle (and who lives in Toronto), will lead a workshop.

​

–Raja Khouri and Jeffrey Wilkinson, Palestinian and Jewish authors of Beyond the Wall, What Jews and Palestinians Don’t Want to Know About Each other. Raja and Jeffrey have been very active speaking, consulting and leading workshops in various cities.
They will give the keynote speech on Day Two and lead breakout groups.

​

–Toronto Friends of Standing Together, an Israeli/Palestinian peace and social justice group in Israel. They held a very successful and inspiring one day Peace Summit in Toronto in April, with 200 attendees. The chair of the Toronto Friends of Standing Together, Yafa Sakkejha, will give the keynote speech on Day One.

 

–Jon Allen, former Canadian Ambassador to Israel, currently Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, founder of Rozema, a non profit health initiative in Gaza, currently raising funds for a mobile health unit.

 

3. CREATE A SPACE FOR DIALOGUE

-Lior Ben Zvi, North American Devolopment Officer of The Parents Circle/Family Forum will facilitate a llve interactive webinar with Jewish and Palestinian members in Israel.

-keynote speakers Yafa Sakkejha (June 12) and Jeffrey Wilkinson and Raja Khouri (June 13) will facilitate discussions.

–Robbie Cohen is a Jewish Toronto lawyer who has thoughtful and original ideas about how peace could look in Israel/Palestine in a one state solution. He will give a talk which is sure to engender lively discussion.

“I lost them [my parents] on October 7th. I lost so many of my childhood friends, their parents, their children. Many were kidnapped to Gaza. I was drowning in an ocean of sorrow and pain. I was broken into pieces. A few nights after losing them, I had a dream. I was sleeping at night, crying. My entire body was in pain. And through my tears, I could see everyone crying. The entire humanity was crying with me. Our tears went down on our faces to our bodies. Our bodies were wounded, damaged from the war. And then our tears washed our bodies and healed it. Making it whole, whole again. And then our tears went down to the ground, and the ground was red from blood. Our tears washed the blood from the ground, purifying the ground. And then the ground was beautiful and shining. And on that ground I could see the path, the path to peace. I woke up shaking, and immediately I knew that this is the path I must choose. The path of not taking revenge. The path of reconciliation.”

 

Maoz Inon, in a TED talk with his Palestinian friend Aziz Abu Sarah, A Palestinian and an Israeli, Face to Face TED TALK, April 2024. Transcribed.
https://youtu.be/0juLRi90kRg?si=_Q_9_KXdm4SuwMqZ

 

Robin Pacific
December 2025