'Darkest period of my life': Palestinian and pro-peace Jewish Israelis find little hope on 7 October anniversary

As Israel and Gaza mark the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks and subsequent devastating assault on the enclave, pro-peace Israelis are as far from the political mainstream as ever before with far-right and secular nationalist leaders dominating the landscape making engagement with Palestinians almost impossible.

At least 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip - most of whom were women and children - since 7 October, which has devastated the entire enclave, reducing much of it to rubble.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli raids have increased, as have settler attacks, with at least 723 people being killed and over 10,000 more imprisoned, including children.

War on Gaza

Israel says its attacks on both Palestinian territories were in response to the Hamas-led 7 October attack, which - including counterattacks by Israeli forces - killed around 1,200 people.

Hamas says its assault in southern Israel was in response to the years-long blockade on Gaza, the mass detention of Palestinians without charge or trial, and increased violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

It has also denied it gave orders for its fighters to deliberately target civilians but has also acknowledged that some individual fighters might have done so.

Within Israel, the war on Gaza marked a decline in support for a two-state solution with only 21 percent of Jewish Israelis supporting the idea, according to a recent poll.

The one-time far-right fringes of Israeli politics who are now part of the government, extremists such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have repeatedly called for the ethnic cleansing and killing of Palestinians, the latter urging Israel to "destroy its enemies" saying "there are no half-jobs".

Israel is currently facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), over its actions in Gaza with many experts of International Humanitarian Law seeing the military campaign as a genocide.

Palestinian citizens of Israel 'afraid'

Wajih Siddawi, a Palestinian activist from northern Israel, describes how fear and division have once again gripped Palestinian communities in Israel - who make up 20 percent of Israel's population - driven by inflammatory rhetoric from Israeli political leaders.

"In times of war, what takes control and dominates is fear," Siddawi told The New Arab.

"In every war I remember, like the [1973] October war, [it's the] same thing, there is fear, there is economic damage, relations are completely severed between Jews and Arabs, and there is trauma and PTSD among the children and the community, both Jewish and Arab [alike]."

Sami Abou Shehadeh, a former Knesset member and current leader of Balad, a party that represents Palestinian citizens of Israel, said such a hostile environment has seen Palestinians arrested for merely putting their sympathy for Gazans in words.

"Imagine this society where people who are committing genocide are considered heroes, and those who are supporting peace are afraid to go out [of] their houses," Abou Shehadeh told The New Arab.

Many in the community fear calling publicly for a ceasefire, despite the huge demonstrations for Gaza taking place in Western capitals.

Seminars and talks between Arab and Jewish activists have been cancelled due to pressure from Israeli police, with pro-peace demonstrations coming under constant threat of violence from far-right counter-protesters.

Even Jewish peace activists working with Balad feel in danger due to the hostile environment in Israel.

"To be honest, this is the darkest and hardest period I remember in my life," Abou Shehadeh said.

"I hear the frustration and I hear the anger, but our main work now is to keep some hope and keep opening  a horizon for a better future for Palestinian and Israeli children alike."

One year on

Roni Kider is a Jewish-Israeli resident of Netiv HaAsara who was a survivor of the Hamas-led 7 October attacks, retreated to a safe room at the time, while her adult daughter and granddaughters hid in a wardrobe as Palestinian fighters stormed their home. 

They survived, but 20 members of her kibbutz settlement on the border with Gaza did not.

Kider, a long-time peace activist, had been involved in dialogue with Palestinians from Gaza before the 7 October attacks and has continued to speak to her Palestinian friends inside the besieged enclave, who are now enduring unimaginable conditions.

"So here I am feeling that there's no other way than to keep hope and to believe in mankind and think that we have to find a way to talk dialogue," she told The New Arab. "And on the other hand, I'm crushed with despair and anger for those who are not with me."

Still, she believes violence begets violence and says peaceful coexistence between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians is essential to prevent a further cycle of violence.

"That's what gives me the strength. I want more people to believe that we can make it work. Not 'we can', we must make it work, because we have no other choice," she said.

Political solution

Mauricio Lapchik, the director of development and external relations at Peace Now, said it was harder than ever to reach out to Jewish Israelis about such a future.

"One of the most popular answers that we get when people find us on the street or in different places is that this is not the time," Lapchik said.

Despite this, he said Peace Now will continue to insist that a political solution is the only way to end the Gaza war and reduce tensions in the future.

"At the end of the day, one of the things that must change for Israel is to understand that it is not possible to keep managing the conflict; it is impossible to keep managing the occupation," he told The New Arab.

"We need to look for another alternative, and that alternative is a political solution and giving the Palestinians the rights they deserve."