Palestinian & Israeli activists share a vision of peace
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And my guests today have each paid a profound price on opposite sides of a conflict that has lasted more than a century with no signs of stopping.
What personal losses did the guests experience in the conflict?
One is Israeli. The other is Palestinian. They call themselves brothers. And what brought them together is grief and a decision each of them made about what to do with it. Ma'u Zinan's parents were murdered by Hamas on October 7, 2023, among the 1,200 Israelis killed that day and the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. In the war that followed, more than 75,000 Palestinians were killed. The U.S. helped arm and funded, and the violence has now spread into Lebanon and Iran. But within days of his parents' murder, Mahouz spoke. His family was not seeking revenge. Instead, they were seeking peace. Those words reached Palestinian peacemaker Aziz Abu Sarra. Years before, when Aziz was only nine, his own brother had been arrested and tortured in an Israeli military prison for allegedly throwing stones at soldiers.
He later died from his injuries, and Aziz says he recognized Mahouz's grief and decided to write him. What grew between them has become a brotherhood, a TED Talk seen by millions, and eventually a journey. Ten months into the war, the two of them got in a van together and drove for eight days across Israel and Palestine through checkpoints, holy cities, refugee camps, and separation walls. They wrote everything down in a book called The Future is Peace, A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land. Mahouz Inan and Aziz Abu Sarra. Welcome to Fresh Air.
Hi, Tanya. It's great to be here with you. Thank you for having us.
I first want to offer my condolences, Mahouz, on the death of your parents and Aziz, the loss of your brother. Thank you so much for sharing your stories with us and sharing your pain. Thank you. Thank you.
For us, sharing the pain is part of our personal healing process. And it's still been going on for Aziz for a few decades and for me nearly three years. And here we are today.
Well, let's spend a moment on what led you to each other. The overwhelming response on October 7th has been rage and retaliation. Israeli cabinet members called for the total destruction of Gaza. And so, Meos, the world would have accepted your rage. You'd lost your parents, and instead you called for peace. Why did you decide to send that as your first message out to the world?
Yes. First, it wasn't just my message. It was a family message agreed between my three sisters, my young brother and myself. And we took it only two days after losing my parents. Every morning of the Shiva, the Shiva is the seven day Jewish morning of the death of a loved one. And on the second morning, it was Monday morning, we were sitting, the five of us, early in the morning. And my young brother, again, asked us to make a decision, to take a family decision that we are rejecting revenge. And he explained to us that by revenging the death of our parents, we are not going to bring them back to life. That's it. They are dead. And by avenging their deaths, we're only going to escalate the cycle of bloodshed, of pain, of suffering that we, we Palestinians and Israelis, have been trapped within for a century.
And he told us that it is within our family mission and legacy to continue the legacy of our beloved parents, Pila and Jacobi, that we must break this cycle and we must continue take an alternative path, a path to peace and reconciliation. And we took this decision because we knew what's going to happen. We knew the state of Israel going to retaliate. And we knew the destruction that is going to come to Gaza. But we also knew that this destruction is not going to bring the hostages back.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:36
2
What personal losses did the guests experience in the conflict?
0:36–7:36
3
How did Mahouz and Aziz's paths cross after their losses?
7:36–8:18
4
What journey did Mahouz and Aziz undertake together?
8:18–10:46
5
What themes of grief and healing are explored in their conversation?
10:46–43:22
Speakers
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