Dear friends, we are here in these difficult times, in this difficult and unbearable time in all of our lives, to say in the clearest way possible, that we demand, first and foremost, a ceasefire agreement that will release the hostages and stop the killing of innocent people in Gaza.
We are here to say that only an agreement like this, a bilateral ceasefire agreement, will bring the hostages back alive. Only an agreement like this can stop the killing, the destruction, and the hatred.
We are also here today to demand the only thing that will allow us to end the deathly status-quo, to stop the never-ending wars — this is our solution, and it is Israeli-Palestinian peace. This is what we are here to demand this evening. [...]
Operation First Rain, 2005. Operation Summer Rains, 2006. Operation Hot Winter, 2008. Operation Cast Lead, 2008-9. Operation Pillar of Defence, 2012. Operation Protective Edge, 2014. Operation Closed Garden, 2018-21. Operation Black Belt, 2019. Operation Guardian of the Walls, 2021. Operation Breaking Dawn, 2022. Operation Iron Swords, 2023-4. A decade-and-a-half of wars. A decade-and-a-half of bloodshed on both sides. A decade-and-a-half of deepening the occupation and building more settlements between each war. Each and every time, they tell us, “This is the last time. This time we will achieve security. This time we will defeat Hamas.” But this has not worked, not a single time. And it won’t work this time. This war will not bring us security.
We are here tonight to say that the time has come to stop. To stop the killing, the destruction, the deepening of despair that exists in both peoples. The time has come to take the opposite path, the path of Israeli-Palestinian peace. In this framework, everyone who lives in this land will live with peace, will live with liberty, and will live with independence. This is the reason we are here this evening, this is the reason to continue to fight, until our path wins.
• Lightly-edited transcript of an excerpt of a speech by Alon-Lee Green, National Co-Director of Standing Together, Tel Aviv, 28 December. Video here