People’s Peace Summit
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Expo Tel Aviv (Pavilion 1)
It must be, because we cannot continue living in a bleeding reality, from round to round, from war to war.
It can be, because wars end, conflicts are resolved, and peace can follow.
It will be, we are determined, we will not give up, until there is a reality here worthy of raising children - a reality of peace and security, dignity, equality, and justice.
*The program is still under construction.
Please follow for updates.
Program by Halls
Doors Open 11:30
12:30-18:00 Throughout the day there will be sessions across five halls
*For details about the content and speakers -
see the detailed schedule
12:30 | Between Gaza and Tehran: A New Regional Order
Alternatives to a security doctrine based on perpetual war
14:30 | Climbing out of the Abyss - Operative Plans
Seven short talks presenting seven breakthrough ideas
16:30 | It Can Be: A Coalition for Peace
A panel of current and future political leaders12:30 | A Child Is a Child
Screening of the Oscar-nominated short film Children No More: “Were and Are Gone,” by Hilla Medalia, followed by a discussion on the dilemmas of memory and commemoration in asymmetric war
14:30 | Eyes on Gaza
Projects of humanity and hope in times of dehumanization and despair
16:30 | Eyes on the West Bank
What can be done in the face of policies of violence, expulsion, and annexation
14:30 | Starting Point
Resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as a key to regional stability
15:30 | An Era of Endless War-or a New Regional Order?
The role of the international community in resolving the conflict
Panel of ambassadors and diplomats
12:30 | The Voice of Peace
14:00 | It’s Time for Peace with Moshe Radman Abutbul
15:30 | The Elephant in the Room with Ibrahim and Udi
17:00 | The Radical with Eli Cook14:30 | Who Pays the Price
Connecting the dots: a civic conversation about the costs of forever war
16:30 | A New Land
The personal and national tikkun we will bring to this place
14:30 | Lessons in Humanity
On courage and solidarity in times of racism and persecution in school
17:00 | “The Stand” – A Bilingual (Hebrew/Arabic) Children’s Play
Almina Theater
Main Event
It Must Be. It Can Be. It Will Be. Peace.
19:00 The main event of the day will take place in the evening, with an audience of thousands, featuring Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families, activists, leaders and public figures, international guests, artists and representatives of peace organizations, Featuring: Dana International, Noor Darwish, Achinoam Nini, The Jerusalem Youth Choir, Rana Choir
Late Night
Don’t want to sleep? You don’t have to!
Starting at 21:30, join us to carry peace into the night at the People’s Peace Summit Late Night.
After the main event and until midnight, the summit continues in a relaxed nighttime atmosphere, with conversations, encounters, learning, great music, and an opportunity to connect with others in the camp. Together, we will bring about change. Because it must be. It can be. It will be. Peace.
Alongside the sessions, the Summit will feature art installations and exhibitions, live podcasts and an organizational fair of It’s Time coalition organizations offering a wide variety of ways to take action-here and now-to build a better reality of equality, justice, security, and peace
Detailed Schedule by Hour
Alternatives to a security doctrine based on perpetual war
Opening remarks: Eran Etzion
Panel featuring: Dr. Abd Kanaaneh, Dr. Gil Murciano, Elizabeth Tsurkov, Dr. Yael Sternhell
Moderated by: Arad Nir
Screening of the Oscar-nominated short film Children No More: “Were and Are Gone,” by Hilla Medalia, followed by a discussion on the dilemmas of memory and commemoration in asymmetric war
Featuring: Said Abu Shakra, Prof. Ido Bruno, Hilla Medalia, Timna Rose Peretz
Moderated by: Maya Savir
Seven short talks presenting seven breakthrough ideas
Featuring:
Avi Orpaz and Ayala Metzger | Imagine a reality where communities in the Western Negev no longer need bomb shelters
Dr. Shaul Arieli | Two states for two peoples, it is possible, and it’s in our hands
Dr. Ra’aya Hendecklo | On the abandonment of Arab society to crime and violence, and what can be done
Former MK Ksenia Svetlova | Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a key to regional normalization
Former MK Sundus Saleh | How is air pollution in Shoham connected to the conflict, and how can it be addressed?
Hagit Ofran | How do we roll back annexation?
Dr. Omer Zanany | Despair breeds Hamas, hope defeats it
Moderated by: Reut InbarProjects of humanity and hope in times of dehumanization and despair
Situation overview: Stav Salpeter
Panel featuring: Wajdi Bkairat, Noa Golan, Yuli Novak, Sapir Sluzker Amran, Lee Mordechai
Moderated by: Anat SaragustiResolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as a key to regional stability
Session featuring: Eran Etzion, Christophe Bigot
Moderated by: Nivine Sandouka (ALLMEP)
Connecting the dots: a civic conversation about the costs of Forever War
Testimonies by: Merav Svirsky, Amir Ashraf Suleiman
Panel featuring: Dr. Shlomit Benjamin, Dr. Yoav Groweiss, Shahira Shalaby
Moderated by: Ben ShaniOn courage and solidarity in a time of racism and persecution in school
Short talks and a conversation featuring:
Tzurit Erezi – Head of the Educators Community (“HaZor’im”) at the Sadeh Institute for Faith-Based Humanistic Education
Hussam Ghanaim – Teacher in Tamra; Chair of the Parents’ Committee in Sakhnin
Yoav Friedan – Principal of Ironi Alef High School for the Arts
Yaara Chelanov and Aseel Yahya – Alumni of Gesher al HaWadi High School
Galit Raz Dror – Forum for Thought and ActionPanel of ambassadors and diplomats
On the international community’s role in resolving the conflict - a panel of ambassadors and diplomats
Featuring: Ambassador of Canada, Ms. Leslie Scanlon; Ambassador of the European Union, Mr. Michael Mann; Consul General of France in Jerusalem, Mr. Nicolas KassianidesModerated by: Rana Fahoum
A panel of current and future political leaders and civil society leaders
<Speaker details to be announced>
What can be done in the face of policies of violence, displacement, and annexation
Situation overview: Amir Ziv
Panel featuring: Sarit Michaeli, Adv. Michael Sfard, Samah Iraqi, Avigail Shor
Moderated by: Amal OrabiThe personal and national repair we will bring to this place
Opening remarks: Moshe Radman
Panel featuring: Dana Amir, Ze’ev Degani, Dr. Nasreen Haddad Haj-Yahya
Moderated by: Orly VilnaiA bilingual, human, and humorous interactive performance:
An encounter between two market stall vendors on a holiday that spirals out of control. They don’t speak the same language and are both eager to succeed in selling their goods in the middle of a bustling town square. As misunderstandings escalate, the situation turns into a surprising and funny competition, until they have no choice but to try to understand the “other,” and even make some compromises. Together, they learn to collaborate and create a unique product of their own to sell.
Bilingual performance - Arabic and Hebrew.Duration: approximately 50 minutes.
Featuring Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families, activists, leaders, international guests, artists, and representatives of peace organizations.
Featuring: Dana International, Noor Darwish, Achinoam Nini, The Jerusalem Youth Choir, Rana Choir
Don’t want to sleep? You don’t have to!
Starting at 21:30, join us to carry peace into the night at the People’s Peace Summit Late Night.
After the main event and until midnight, the summit continues in a relaxed nighttime atmosphere, with conversations, encounters, learning, great music, and an opportunity to connect with others in the camp. Together, we will bring about change. Because it must be. It can be. It will be. Peace.
17:00 | Throughout the day | Shared Life Dialogue Circle
Facilitated by graduates of the integrated school “Hand in Hand,” trained and experienced in leading dialogue groups.
Registration at the “Hand in Hand” booth<details to follow>
Late Night
“It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”
We will gather together to reflect on a shared past, a challenging present that calls us to act, and our ability to imagine a better future.
We will open with a text, break into discussion circles, and conclude in a collective gathering. We will open our eyes and our hearts, sing, and share experiences and insights.
Led by the Faith-Based Academy (Midrasha HaEmunit).
Hall C1
A Song for Peace
The right has “Harbu Darbu” – and the left?
With Nitzan Pinko, Radical House – A Home for Ideas
Where have anti-war and pro-peace songs disappeared from the Israeli mainstream, and what did it look like here in the past?
Nitzan Pinko, journalist (ynet), radio broadcaster, writer, and feminist and LGBTQ+ activist, has spent years researching violence and occupation in Israeli music. In this fascinating talk, we will dive into anti-war music: what created it, what silenced it, and how it might return. Along the way, we will also get to know her independent zine, Riot!, and her upcoming book to be published by Radical.
Hall C2
Yuval Mendelson, perhaps the coolest teacher there is, comes to the People’s Peace Summit to give us a lesson in citizenship.
How do we talk about democracy and peace under an anti-democratic, war-driven government? How do we encourage deep dialogue and independent thinking among a generation that has known only one prime minister? And what do we do when the content of the civics curriculum is so far removed from the dark reality outside?
Hall C2
Throughout the day, podcasts will be recorded in front of a live audience.
Hall C3
14:00 | It’s Time for Peace with Moshe Radman Abutbul
Season finale episode – It Must Be. It Can Be. It Will Be. Peace.
15:30 | The Elephant in the Room with Ibrahim and Udi
From Belfast to Tel Aviv, Nazareth and Ramallah: lessons from resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland
17:00 | The Radical with Eli Cook
Let the Sunshine In: An analysis of American anti-war songs of the 1960s and lessons for Israel 2026
Art Installations
Created in 2026 especially for the People’s Peace Summit
Seeing the Land Where it Stands is based on archival materials - a historical photograph of the broader area in which the Summit takes place, from before 1948, and a transcript of a conversation between Tawfiq Toubi and David Ben-Gurion.
The conversation took place in the 1960s, after Ben-Gurion had already left public office, and reflects a transition between periods, shifting power relations, and a retrospective personal perspective from both participants.
Through the selective erasure of the transcript - and particularly through what remains legible - the work attempts to challenge historical narratives and open fissures within them. This act of disruption, and the questioning of the text’s original context, becomes a kind of acknowledgment of possibilities and questions that may still exist.
Alia Khalil is an artist whose work focuses on reactivating archives and juxtaposing them with contemporary lived experience. Moving between text and installation, her practice explores dynamics of power between presence and absence. She gathers remnants — abandoned documents, ephemeral texts, and photographs — and searches within them for unrealized possibilities. In her recent project, Ink Spilled from the Pier, Khalil installed three listening stations along the Jaffa port, where voices carried the memory of a vanished city, and a personal and collective longing that drips from rope to rope, like ink dissolving in salt.
Adam Yekutieli (b. 1986) is an artist whose work explores the relationship between the personal and the collective, and between the political and the intimate. His practice is primarily situated in public space and includes site-specific installations, murals, and assemblage. Yekutieli makes extensive use of text as a tool to deepen engagement with memory, trauma, and intercultural encounter, aiming to foster empathetic thinking, encourage dialogue, and open space for an honest exploration of shared human complexities — while imagining new realities.
Created in 2026 especially for the People’s Peace Summit
Mahmoud Qais (b. 1985), artist. Lives and works in Israel, Nahf.
In his work, Mahmoud creates site-specific installations that translate geometric patterns from traditional Islamic art into contemporary three-dimensional sculptures made of exposed plywood. Through processes of copying, transformation, hybridization, and abstraction, he explores shifts in form, dimension, and material, while engaging deeply with questions of space, meaning, and personal and artistic identity within the contemporary Israeli–Palestinian context.
Created in 2026 especially for the People’s Peace Summit
Ad Ein Sof? is an installation by Broken Fingaz based on a recurring flower motif that evokes a sense of loss and symbolizes the memory of the dead, while also emphasizing beauty, life, and hope. The work reflects on the ongoing conflict and its human cost, while raising the possibility of choosing peace as an act of resistance to the cycle of violence.
Broken Fingaz is an international artists’ collective founded in Haifa in the early 2000s.
Their work includes monumental murals, installations, typography, animation, and painting, and is characterized by bold color, complex imagery, and an experimental visual language. Their work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. The Fingaz continuously push boundaries, creating innovative art that bridges street culture and contemporary art.This installation presents the names of Palestinian and Israeli children killed in the war over the past two years, and invites visitors to light a candle in their memory.
From the accompanying text:
So many children have been killed in the wars being waged here over the past two and a half years. Every child is a whole world: with parents who called their name in the morning, friends who waited for them at recess and saved them a seat, a bag left at the entrance, a message left unanswered, and dreams - small and large…
This installation is in their memory.– An exhibition by the Parents Circle Families Forum ( Israeli–Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum)
Sixteen members of the Forum, Israelis and Palestinians, chose to bring everyday objects that belonged to loved ones who were killed: a toy car left still, a watch that stopped time, a garment worn for the last time, a necklace, a camera, a school bag left orphaned, a shirt bought with love.
We seek to speak through what remains. Not through grand events, but through quiet memories. Through small details, loss is revealed - not as an abstract idea, but as the real absence of lives once full, of love that was cut short, of futures that will not be.
We chose to present objects without national identity, to allow a gaze that is not bound by labels, but instead bears witness to shared humanity - a gaze that seeks to see a person as a person, not a statistic within a violent conflict.
We, families who have lost what is most precious to us, carry this pain in our bodies and in our memory. It is impossible to continue living in a reality of war, occupation, oppression, and terror - a reality that produces more loss, more objects left without hands to hold them.
This exhibition offers a possibility to imagine a different future - one of freedom, peace, and justice for us and for our children.
*Seating throughout the day is subject to availability
*The event will take place in accordance with Home Front Command guidelines. If the event is postponed, you may choose to use your ticket on the new date or receive a refund.