How Do We Observe the International Day of Peace in a Time of Genocide?

Part of the Series

Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation

The International Day of Peace is marked around the world each year on September 21. But this year, as we mourn the deaths of more than 41,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, I am struggling to find the words to express my grief. What is there to say that has not already been said — and ignored — millions of times in these last 11 months? How do we honor these lives and continue our struggle for a world where peace and justice prevail?

The International Day of Peace, also known as Peace Day, was always intended to be aspirational. As the general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) — a Quaker organization that has worked for peace and justice for over 100 years — this is an aspiration to which I have devoted my life. But after decades of U.S.-backed apartheid and months of genocide against Palestinians, maintaining the hope required to mark such a day feels like an act of courage.

The International Day of Peace was initiated by a United Nations resolution passed in November 1981 amid the Cold War. The resolution was brought by the United Kingdom and Costa Rica, stating that that “peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.”

That year, I was a high school student at the Ramallah Friends School, a Quaker institution in the West Bank. While I did not yet know of the newly declared Peace Day, I was painfully aware of the ubiquity of violence, having lived under the brutality of Israeli military occupation for most of my childhood.

In 1980, the year prior, my best friend was hospitalized after being shot by Israeli soldiers. Just a few months before the Peace Day resolution was passed, the Israeli military bombed a nuclear reactor in Baghdad, Iraq — using U.S.-made planes in violation of U.S. policy — and provoking fear of nuclear escalation both regionally and globally. Iraq had purchased the reactor in partnership with France, ostensibly for energy production and not the development of nuclear weapons. Ten Iraqis and a French engineer were killed in the attack. Israel claimed that bombing the reactor was an act of self-defense.

In response to the bombing, the American Friends Service Committee sent a letter to heads of state in the U.S., Russia and France, urging them to enact an arms embargo on all weapons and nuclear materials to the Middle East. The Reagan administration briefly paused the shipment of additional planes to Israel, but quickly backed down.

Only weeks after the Peace Day resolution was signed, Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights — part of Syria which it had occupied since 1967 — in clear violation of international law. The United Nations Security Council condemned the move, but Israel continued to build settlements in the area.

Two decades later, Peace Day was given new meaning when, in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the United Nations designated September 21 as a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence. Less than two weeks later — on October 7, 2001 — the United States launched a war on Afghanistan that would last more than 20 years. The war initially had massive bipartisan support in the U.S., and the AFSC was one of the few national organizations publicly speaking out against the invasion early on. But growing protests were ignored by those in power. Despite a revitalized antiwar movement, less than two years later, the U.S. invaded Iraq.

In 2001, I was in Ramallah with my children and husband. Israel had reoccupied the West Bank at the beginning of 2000, resulting in the uprising of the Palestinian people known as the Second Intifada. We were surrounded by the sights and sounds of repression and violence. Israeli tanks destroyed everything around us and frequent rocket fire permeated our days. My eldest son was haunted by nightmares and our whole family was awoken every night by his screams.

More than two decades later, peace has not come to Palestine, or to Afghanistan. The Pentagon budget has more than doubled, and the U.S. maintains at least 750 military bases in 80 countries around the world. Before the genocide, Palestinians in Gaza lived for years under a brutal Israeli blockade that severely limited travel and trade, and prevented reliable access to clean water, electricity, construction, medical resources, and many other services for all Gaza residents.

Israel also launched major assaults on Gaza in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021, killing thousands with the support of the U.S. government.

In this context, it felt like a cruel irony when I learned that the theme of this year’s Peace Day was “building a culture of peace.” But then I received a message from my colleague in Gaza. He had just been distributing gifts to children as part of an educational program he helped organize in Khan Younis.

Our AFSC staff in Gaza have lost dozens of family members to Israel’s bombs. They have been displaced over and over. But despite many hurdles, they still have the courage to help others; by providing food, hygiene kits, water, and other forms of support, they have reached over a million people in the last 11 months. They have organized football matches, flown kites on the beach and helped young people deal with unimaginable trauma.

In the U.S. and around the world, my colleagues have worked tirelessly to organize protests and advocacy efforts, prayer vigils and divestment campaigns. We began working in Gaza in 1948 and have worked for decades to end occupation and apartheid in Palestine. Since October 7, our work has been focused on securing a permanent ceasefire, instituting an embargo on U.S. arms to Israel and ensuring full humanitarian access to Gaza. We do this work collectively, compassionately, with a deep belief that together we can make positive changes against almost impossible odds.

This is where we are building a culture of peace. While violence and destruction are wrought by powerful nations, that is not the only story. There is nothing inevitable about genocide. There is a possible future where our movements successfully pressure the U.S. to enact an arms embargo on Israel and secure a permanent ceasefire. There is a future where Palestinian children can go back to school, where Gaza can be rebuilt, and where Palestinian rights are recognized and respected. There is a future where Palestinians no longer live under occupation and apartheid.

I have hope in the relentless efforts of the people working to make this vision a reality, knowing it may take years, decades or lifetimes. It is the power of deep and actionable solidarity that sustains my faith that one day we might bring about a world where everyone has the opportunity to live and thrive. And that one day we can have a Peace Day that we can truly celebrate.