Israeli Michal Halev lost her only son Laor in the Hamas terror attack on the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. The six-month-old son of Palestinian Laila Al-Sheikh died after an Israeli army operation because she was denied timely access to medical help at a checkpoint. Both women spoke about their suffering and their commitment to peace in the Middle East in a moving event organized by the Peace Academy at the Haus am Westbahnhof. They reacted to the painful loss of their sons not with a call for revenge, but with the determination to work together for an end to violence.

They found comrades-in-arms in the "Parents Circle - Families Forum", an Israeli-Palestinian non-governmental organization in which around 800 families from both sides of the conflict are committed to transforming personal grief into hope. They are not interested in forgiveness, but are united by the conviction that peace is only possible through mutual listening and recognition. The numerous listeners had the rare opportunity to hear the voices of two impressive women who consciously resist the spiral of violence and retaliation and work together for dialog, humanity and peace in their respective societies.

On a tour of Germany, organized by the German Friends of the Parents Circle, awarded the Nuremberg Human Rights Prize and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the two mothers campaigned for a peaceful solution to the conflict. It became clear that in these times characterized by hatred and war, it is far too rare to hear such voices, which, despite very different life circumstances, draw the strength for their joint commitment to peace from "the same pain and the same tears" over the loss of close relatives. As moderator of the event, Gregor Walter-Drop, Managing Director of the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate, emphasized the crucial importance of civil society engagement for a sustainable peace process and announced further events of the Peace Academy on the topic of "Reconciliation in the Middle East".

The event was organized by the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate together with CampusKultur at RPTU and the Protestant Church District of Landau.

Israeli Michal Halev lost her only son Laor in the Hamas terror attack on the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. The six-month-old son of Palestinian Laila Al-Sheikh died after an Israeli army operation because she was denied timely access to medical help at a checkpoint. Both women spoke about their suffering and their commitment to peace in the Middle East in a moving event organized by the Peace Academy at the Haus am Westbahnhof. They reacted to the painful loss of their sons not with a call for revenge, but with the determination to work together for an end to violence.

They found comrades-in-arms in the "Parents Circle - Families Forum", an Israeli-Palestinian non-governmental organization in which around 800 families from both sides of the conflict are committed to transforming personal grief into hope. They are not interested in forgiveness, but are united by the conviction that peace is only possible through mutual listening and recognition. The numerous listeners had the rare opportunity to hear the voices of two impressive women who consciously resist the spiral of violence and retaliation and work together for dialog, humanity and peace in their respective societies.

On a tour of Germany, organized by the German Friends of the Parents Circle, awarded the Nuremberg Human Rights Prize and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the two mothers campaigned for a peaceful solution to the conflict. It became clear that in these times characterized by hatred and war, it is far too rare to hear such voices, which, despite very different life circumstances, draw the strength for their joint commitment to peace from "the same pain and the same tears" over the loss of close relatives. As moderator of the event, Gregor Walter-Drop, Managing Director of the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate, emphasized the crucial importance of civil society engagement for a sustainable peace process and announced further events of the Peace Academy on the topic of "Reconciliation in the Middle East".

The event was organized by the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate together with CampusKultur at RPTU and the Protestant Church District of Landau.