The struggle of Israel's peace movement

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

wo years ago a group of Jewish and Palestinian peace activists stood almost alone in Israel in calling for a ceasefire, as Israel launched a massive offensive on Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of 7th October 2023. Emily Wither returns to hear how the lives of these activists have changed. She explores whether their message of peace and coexistence is breaking through at a time when societal divisions are deeper than ever.

The group Standing Together, known for their matching purple t-shirts, is a group of Jewish Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel (referred to by the state as Israeli Arabs, the country’s largest minority making up over 20% of the population).

It is unusual in either Israel or Palestine to find a mixed group working together for a shared cause and advocating for coexistence. Standing Together has received criticism from both sides of the conflict; with many Israelis calling them traitors and some Palestinian groups calling for a boycott of the movement. Despite all this the group say the only way to achieve a lasting peace is for the communities to work together.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:05.6	Thanks for choosing to listen to assignment on the documentary podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:11.5	I'm Emily Wither and two years ago in the wake of October 7th, I met a small group of Jewish and Palestinian peace activists who stood almost alone in Israel in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
0:23.6	I've returned to find out what's happened to this peace movement when communities are more
0:28.9	divided than ever.
0:31.9	We're deep in a valley now. We've descended from the hilltops the ground is very stony you have to watch your step
0:40.2	and we're just about to enter into the olive grove they're kind of climbing over a collapsed wall it looks like
0:50.1	and there's a long line of volunteers snaking across the fields.
0:58.5	It's 8am near Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank and we're joining a group of around 20 Israeli activists, rabbis and international volunteers.
1:04.3	They're here to help Palestinians harvest their olives in response to rising settler violence.
1:09.8	They feel if Israelis are present, Palestinians are less likely to be attacked by settlers.
1:15.3	She says that this is the settlement, right? You understand the situation.
1:19.5	This valley, it's the farmlands of the Palestinian village.
1:24.5	From the left, you can see the outskirts of the village, the houses. But here on the right, you can see the red roofs. This is the village. From the left you can see the outskirts of the village, the houses.
1:28.6	But here on the right, you can see the red roofs. This is the settlement, the Israeli-Jewish
1:33.1	settlement sitting on the land of the Palestinian villages. And Iphti San here, she's from the village
1:39.6	and she says they're too scared to or prevented a lot of times by the army
1:45.1	to actually pick up the olives or the grapes.
1:49.2	Yeah.
1:50.1	Alon Lee Green is a Jewish Israeli and the national co-director of standing together,
1:55.3	a mixed grassroots peace movement of both Israelis and Palestinians.
1:59.4	They've spent the last two years campaigning for a ceasefire
	...

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