A special (excerpted) message from Rawan and Gal (East and West Jerusalem) This year marks, yet again, the escalation of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Most importantly, these few weeks mark the understandable and yet shocking increase of hatred and vengeance and the repeat of our leaderships’ failure. Although we have lived through dozens of violent events, something in the current "cycle" feels different... Calls for solidarity, understanding, or even showing the complexity of the conflict are being delegitimized and met by a wall of suspicion. We both could probably name every Palestinian and Israeli killed to date. We could document the arrests, demolitions, destruction and losses, but we won't. Instead we will speak for the already silenced voices - the voices of people who are DONE with the violence, occupation, injustice, fear, instability and wars. We will not take part in the hate! We will not take part in revenge killings and attacks! We will not take part in the calls for more and more retaliation. As individuals, we have never pretended to know what the solution may be. We do know that meeting a person on the "other side," hearing their stories, opinions and thoughts is a first step. We also know that  staying stuck in your opinions and thoughts makes a solution impossible. The grassroots work of meeting the "other" - within our societies and between them - should be ongoing. We don't need to wait for another "Oslo" in order to talk; we need to create and nurture strong leaders that listen to and serve their people. - In Solidarity, Rawan and Gal

  With gratitude, love and, most importantly, prayers for an immediate ceasefire and a just and timely resolution to this conflict.