A glimpse of what’s possible — from the people living it
Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday for The Next Generation Speaks: Youth Co-Resistance and Repair. It was a moving conversation with Abigail and Tareq, two Freedom School graduates who are already stepping into courageous leadership. If you missed it or want to revisit it, you can watch the recording here.
Both young activists shared a request of the international community: Speak up. Put pressure on political leaders. Don’t stay silent. They reminded us that global solidarity isn’t symbolic; it strengthens the peace movement's capacity to continue.
Today, we’re doing exactly what they asked.
Right now, CfP activists Nimala Kharoufeh and Noa Harell — along with AFCFP's Tiffany Goodwin-Van Camp and me — are on Capitol Hill carrying an urgent message to Members of Congress. We are delivering a letter on behalf of AFCFP supporters and urging lawmakers to take concrete steps to protect civilians, curb violence, and support nonviolent Palestinian and Israeli peace activists on the ground.
We’re sitting down with the offices of Senators Van Hollen, Sanders, Murray, Kaine, Welch, Kim, and Schiff, as well as the White House, to bring the stories and hopes of Palestinians and Israelis directly into the rooms where decisions are made. We’ve also just finished co-hosting a civil society roundtable with FCNL and MADRE, bringing together policy experts and movement partners to deepen coordination around justice-centered U.S. policy.
Over the past week, I’ve traveled with Nimala and Noa across the East Coast through NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and D.C. Everywhere we went, I watched people lean forward with the same longing: How do you keep choosing courage? Where does hope come from now? And what can we do?
In New York, our dear NYC Chapter gathered with partners from Unarmed Civilian Protection. Nimala and Noa described what settler violence looks like today and what it means to stand beside families who are facing it. We also met with the United Nations Political Affairs Department and the DDR team, continuing a relationship built on shared commitment to nonviolence. In Baltimore, CfP spoke of the young leaders like Tareq and Abigail who are emerging from the Freedom Schools. Youth who have inherited walls, fear, and deep division, yet still choose one another, daring to dream together and co-create a world healed and whole.
In Philadelphia, our beloved Philly chapter welcomed us, and we visited Haverford College. At our Peace in Progress gathering, Nimala spoke about the power of Palestinian and Israeli women to shift what feels immovable: “What we desperately need now is softness… values that let us see one another with equal eyes. No one above the other. No one less than the other.”
And in D.C., Noa said something that stayed with all of us: “We must shift from zero-sum thinking to a future grounded in shared dignity and shared humanity.”
After a week of connecting in living rooms, places of worship, college campuses, and community centers, it's clearer than ever: the people living this reality every day aren’t waiting for permission to build a different future.
Palestinians and Israelis are choosing partnership over enmity, standing with one another against all odds, and building peace from the ground up.
If you believe in that future, not as an idea, but as something we make with our hands — I’m asking you to stand with us today. We need your help to grow the movement.
