On Monday, 20 April, in Brussels, at the Chapel for Europe, a projection of the 21st Joint Memorial Day Ceremony was held to commemorate together the Palestinian and Israeli victims of the conflict.
Organised by Parents’ Circle Families Forum and Combatants for Peace, the event offers an opportunity to encounter, through moving stories and testimonies, the perspectives of an increasing number of people who, from two different sides, mourn their loved ones lost amid the horrors of war, raising a single voice to call for peace and an end to so much needless suffering.
The audience present at the screening was immersed in an atmosphere of reflection and silence, listening to the lived testimonies of such immense suffering.
From Liora, whose son Tal was killed by Hamas on 7 October in Kfar Aza, to Kholoud, who lost her son Muhammad, killed by the IDF in Jenin in January 2024 and whose other son is still being held hostage, to Ayala, whose in-laws were kidnapped to Gaza and whose father-in-law was killed, and Mohamed, who, after the killing of his nephew Muhammad, chose no longer to remain silent, the shared call to Nonviolence continues to be recognised as the only viable path, so that such profound pain may never have to be endured again.
The songs, written with verses in Arabic and Hebrew, helped convey a sense of unity that is not merely a dream, but a goal to be pursued daily through dialogue and reconciliation.
Pax Christi International contributed to the event in collaboration with Pax Christi Vlaanderen, Chapel for Europe, the Platform of Israeli NGOs for Human Rights, the German Friends of the Parents Circle Families Forum, Broederlijk Delen and Women Wage Peace / Women of the Sun Belgium.
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