Combatants for Peace

Combatants for Peace is an Israeli-Palestinian nongovernmental organization and grassroots movement that promotes nonviolent action, dialogue, reconciliation and social change. Its members include former Israeli soldiers and conscientious objectors as well as former Palestinian fighters, alongside Israelis and Palestinians who did not themselves participate in violence. The movement presents itself as a practical example of people from both sides of an active conflict taking responsibility for their roles in the conflict and choosing cooperation over armed struggle. The organization began in 2005, when twelve Israeli soldiers who had refused to serve in the occupied territories met four former Palestinian fighters, most of whom had been associated with Fatah. Their early discussions focused on the shared human and political costs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the need to break cycles of retaliation, and the possibility of building peace through direct relationships. The participants continued meeting in and around Jerusalem for approximately a year before formally establishing Combatants for Peace during Passover in 2006. Its mission is to help create the social infrastructure for ending the Israeli occupation and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict through nonviolent cooperation. The movement seeks a just peace and a viable binational community in which Israelis and Palestinians can live and work together with dignity and equal rights. Rather than presenting reconciliation as separate from political change, Combatants for Peace combines interpersonal dialogue with public protest, community organizing, humanitarian projects, education and advocacy. The organization’s work is conducted through local Israeli-Palestinian groups and thematic initiatives. Its regional network has included groups operating between communities such as Tulkarm and Tel Aviv, Nablus and Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Jericho, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Beersheba and Hebron, as well as groups in northern areas. It has also supported region-wide binational groups, a women’s group and a Theater of the Oppressed program. Activities have included workshops, public lectures, international speaking tours, direct actions against occupation-related policies, and projects addressing land confiscation, home demolitions, restrictions on Palestinian farmers and workers’ rights. Community-oriented work has included laying water pipelines, planting gardens and playgrounds, renovating schools, supporting agricultural communities, assisting communities facing demolition and providing human-rights protection. These activities are intended both to meet immediate needs and to demonstrate forms of cooperation that challenge segregation and political violence. Combatants for Peace is particularly known for its joint Israeli-Palestinian ceremonies. Its Joint Memorial Day Ceremony, organized with the Parents Circle-Families Forum since 2006, brings Israelis and Palestinians together to mourn people killed in the conflict and to reject the idea that war and occupation are inevitable. The Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony, organized by Combatants for Peace since 2020, recognizes Palestinian displacement and loss while creating a setting for shared historical reflection and dialogue. The movement has received international attention through media coverage, lecture tours, documentary films and peacebuilding awards. The 2016 documentary Disturbing the Peace followed the organization and its members, while the 2025 film There Is Another Way examined its work and internal challenges after the violence of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent Gaza war. Combatants for Peace remains an active civil-society organization whose work combines nonviolent resistance, reconciliation and advocacy for an end to occupation and violence.

Combatants for Peace emerged from direct contact between former Israeli soldiers and former Palestinian fighters during the Second Intifada era. In 2005, twelve Israeli soldiers who had refused to serve in the occupied territories met four former Palestinian fighters, many of whom had been connected to Fatah. The meeting created a basis for dialogue between people who had previously occupied opposing military and political positions. Rather than treating the conflict as the responsibility of only one community, the participants discussed mutual responsibility, the consequences of violence and the need to develop a shared alternative. The initial participants continued meeting in several towns around Jerusalem for roughly a year. Their conversations gradually developed into a political and social movement. Combatants for Peace was formally founded during Passover in 2006. At first, membership was limited to ex-combatants: Israeli soldiers and military refusers on one side and Palestinian fighters on the other. Over time, the movement broadened to include Israelis and Palestinians who had not directly taken part in violence but supported its objectives and methods. The organization’s central approach combines personal transformation with collective action. Former combatants publicly describe their previous involvement, reject the use of violence and work with people from the other side in a binational framework. The movement argues that dialogue is most meaningful when paired with efforts to change the conditions that sustain conflict. As a result, its programs have included demonstrations and other nonviolent actions against occupation-related practices, while also providing humanitarian and community assistance. In its early years, many meetings were held in East Jerusalem. The network later expanded into local binational groups linking Israeli and Palestinian communities in and around Tulkarm, Tel Aviv, Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Beersheba, Hebron and northern Israel. It also developed regional groups, a women’s group and a Theater of the Oppressed initiative. The organization has supported water infrastructure, gardens, playgrounds, school renovation, agricultural communities, workers’ rights, human-rights monitoring and resistance to home demolitions and land confiscation. It has also organized educational events, public lectures, workshops and international advocacy tours. Public ceremonies became an important part of the movement’s identity. Since 2006, Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle-Families Forum have organized an Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony on Israeli Memorial Day. The event rejects conventional narratives that present war as unavoidable by giving Israelis and Palestinians a shared space to mourn, listen and call for an end to bloodshed. In 2022, the participation of Israeli actor Rivka Michaeli prompted online threats from right-wing extremists. In 2023, the ceremony drew more than 15,000 people in person and approximately 200,000 online. The 2024 edition was prerecorded because organizers feared disruption by protesters. Since 2020, Combatants for Peace has also organized a Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony. This event recognizes the Palestinian experience of displacement and dispossession as part of the historical record required for reconciliation. It brings Palestinians, Israelis and international participants together to share testimony and consider how acknowledgment of past harm can support different choices in the future. The movement’s work has been documented in media outlets and films. Disturbing the Peace, released in 2016 and directed by Stephen Apkon and Andrew Young, introduced the organization to audiences in Israel, Palestine, the United States and Europe and received international awards, including the first Roger Ebert Humanitarian Award. The 2025 documentary There Is Another Way returned to the movement after the October 7, 2023 attacks and the Gaza war, examining the difficulties of maintaining a nonviolent, binational message amid renewed mass violence. Combatants for Peace has also received peacebuilding and humanitarian awards and was associated with Nobel Peace Prize nominations in 2017 and 2018 through co-founders Sulaiman Khatib and Chen Alon.

• 2025

  There Is Another Way documents post-October 7 challenges

  [1]Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org

  The documentary follows members as they maintain a nonviolent peace agenda during the Gaza war and its aftermath.

• 2023

  Joint Memorial Day Ceremony reaches a large global audience

  [1]Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org

  The event reportedly drew over 15,000 in-person attendees and about 200,000 online participants.

• 2020

  Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony begins

  [1]Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org

  Combatants for Peace launched an annual binational ceremony centered on recognition of the Palestinian Nakba and shared historical reflection.

• 2016

  Disturbing the Peace is released

  [1]Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org

  The documentary brought the movement’s history and nonviolent activism to international audiences.

• 2006

  Combatants for Peace is formally founded

  [1]Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org

  The movement was formally established during Passover after a year of meetings among former combatants.

• 2006

  First Joint Memorial Day Ceremony

  [1]Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org

  Combatants for Peace began organizing the annual Israeli-Palestinian ceremony with the Parents Circle-Families Forum.

• 2005

  Initial meeting of Israeli and Palestinian former combatants

  [1]Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org

  Twelve Israeli soldiers who had refused service in the occupied territories met four former Palestinian fighters and began a sustained process of dialogue.

A grassroots Israeli-Palestinian peace movement built around former combatants who reject violence and work jointly for an end to occupation, equal dignity and a just peace.

• Peacebuilding and organizing

  Local Binational Groups

  Israeli-Palestinian groups connect activists across geographic areas and provide a base for dialogue, public education, joint action and community projects. Groups have operated across parts of Israel and the West Bank, including links involving Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Jericho, Beersheba and Hebron.

• Public remembrance and advocacy · 2006

  Joint Memorial Day Ceremony

  An annual Israeli-Palestinian ceremony organized with the Parents Circle-Families Forum. Participants mourn people killed on both sides, hear personal testimony and advocate an end to occupation and bloodshed rather than treating war as inevitable.

• Historical remembrance and reconciliation · 2020

  Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony

  A binational ceremony that acknowledges Palestinian displacement and loss, encourages testimony and listening, and frames recognition of historical harm as part of reconciliation and conflict transformation.

• Participatory education

  Theater of the Oppressed

  A participatory theater initiative that uses performance, dialogue and role-based exploration to help communities examine power, conflict and possible forms of nonviolent action.

• Humanitarian and community development

  Community Nonviolent Action Projects

  Projects have included water pipelines, gardens, playgrounds, school renovations, agricultural support, worker-rights advocacy, protection of communities facing demolition and assistance with human-rights concerns.

• 2020Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony

  Israel · Palestine · International

  The organization established a joint ceremony to acknowledge the Palestinian Nakba, share historical experiences and promote recognition as a basis for reconciliation.

  Outcome. The ceremony became a recurring platform for Palestinian, Israeli and international participants.

  Source
• 2006Joint Memorial Day Ceremony

  Israel · Palestine · International

  Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle-Families Forum created a shared Israeli-Palestinian commemoration on Israeli Memorial Day. The ceremony centers joint mourning and a public rejection of violence, occupation and the idea that conflict is unavoidable.

  Outcome. The event became an annual flagship initiative with substantial international participation.

  Source
• Nonviolent Resistance and Community Support

  Israel · Palestine

  Combatants for Peace has combined direct actions and protests against occupation-related policies with humanitarian work supporting Palestinian communities, farmers, workers and residents facing demolition or land confiscation.

  Outcome. The campaign portfolio links immediate community assistance with broader advocacy for political and social change.

  Source

• 2024

  Prerecording of the Joint Memorial Day CeremonyStrategy

  Background

  Organizers faced concerns that protesters could disrupt the annual ceremony amid heightened political tension and ongoing war.

  Action taken

  The 2024 ceremony was prerecorded rather than conducted entirely as a live event.

  Aftermath

  The organization preserved the ceremony’s public message while reducing the risk of an in-person interruption.

  Source

• 2006

  Formal creation of a former-combatant peace movementStrategy

  Background

  Israeli and Palestinian former combatants had spent approximately a year meeting after their initial 2005 encounter.

  Action taken

  They formally established Combatants for Peace as a binational movement committed to nonviolent action, dialogue and political change.

  Aftermath

  The organization expanded beyond former combatants and developed local groups, public ceremonies, direct actions and community programs.

  Source

1. 1Combatants for Peaceen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Combatants for Peace official websitecfpeace.org