Bereaved Israelis urge Palestinian state recognition ahead of UN summit

After militants killed his parents during Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, Maoz Inon vowed to reject revenge and choose a path of reconciliation - for his own healing and his country's.

The 49-year-old is among thousands of Israelis now calling on the international community to formally recognise the State of Palestine ahead of a UN summit next week, where several Western countries are set to do just that.

For Inon, a tourism entrepreneur who became involved in the peace movement around 20 years ago, dialogue, recognition and forgiveness on both sides are key to a secure future for the region.

"By avenging the death, we are not going to bring them back to life. And we're only going to escalate the cycle of violence, bloodshed, and revenge we've been trapped within, not since October 7, but for a century," he said.

When militants attacked Israel, Inon said he "wasn't surprised" after the years of "occupying, oppressing and walling between us and the other side".

"I knew it was going to explode in our face," he told AFP in Tel Aviv.

"I didn't, in my worst nightmare, think I will pay the price."

Inon has since become a key figure in a new campaign calling for Palestinian statehood, but the initiative is facing an uphill battle for Israeli hearts and minds.

According to a survey by the Pew Research Centre, only 21 per cent of Israeli adults think Israel and a Palestinian state can co-exist peacefully -- the smallest share since they began asking the question in 2013.

'Peace will bring many fruits' 

The campaign's petition, titled "No to War - Yes to Recognition", has so far garnered the signatures of more than 8,500 Israelis, with organisers hoping to submit the document with 10,000 names at the UN General Assembly.

"Recognising a Palestinian state is not a punishment for Israel, but a step toward a safer and better future, based on mutual recognition and security for both people," the petition reads.

The initiative was launched by Israeli grassroots movement Zazim Community Action, which has distributed thousands of posters and put up a billboard in Tel Aviv as part of the campaign.

"On 8 October 2023, it was clear already that the doctrine of managing the conflict has totally collapsed, and that we have two options," said Raluca Ganea, a co-founder of the movement.

"One is complete destruction and annihilation of the other side, or a two-state solution."

The humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza is expected to dominate the UN event starting Monday, nearly two years after Israel's military offensive began in response to Hamas's attack. 

The meeting is expected to see France, Britain, Belgium, Canada and Australia recognise a Palestinian state.

For Ganea, it would be a step towards ending what she called the "dehumanisation" of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, by giving them the same "status as other nations around the world".

Inon stressed that the push for recognition must be accompanied by concrete steps to ensure the state is manifested on the ground.

"Everyone who is acting against a two-state solution must be punished, must be sanctioned," he said, from the politicians on down.

Inon proposed that incentives and investment from the international community must also accompany the sanctions to show that "peace will bring many fruits... prosperity and stability and security and safety".

'Basic right'

The approach is one shared by Yonatan Zeigen, whose mother -- prominent peace activist Vivian Silver -- was killed at Kibbutz Beeri on October 7."I had to accompany my mother to her death on the phone," he said.

Out of a feeling of "total helplessness", Zeigen said he found a sense of responsibility to make sure that nobody else goes through a similar experience.

"The only sustainable and viable future here is the two peoples sharing the land," he said.

Palestinian liberation and Israeli security are dependent on the Palestinians receiving their basic right.

"It shouldn't be negotiable, conditional, or in line with Israeli timing. It's a basic right of people, self-determination and statehood."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has insisted "there will be no Palestinian state", and far-right members of his government have pushed for increased settlement in the occupied West Bank to preclude the possibility.

Nonetheless, all the activists were confident in the future of the movement.

"French and Germans, it wasn't so long ago that they couldn't imagine themselves being part of a confederation," said Zeigen.

"I think that peace is as realistic as war".