ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN VOICES IN DIALOGUE IN TIMES OF GENOCIDE IN GAZA

Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with Dani Gal, Guli Dolev-Hashiloni and Atheer Elobadi

ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN VOICES IN DIALOGUE IN TIMES OF GENOCIDE IN GAZA
Civil society activists on international solidarity and the attempt to uphold the rule of international law

Israelis for Peace is as Berlin based group of Israeli activists. These Israeli citizens, currently living in Germany, have come together out of a strong sense of responsibility to contribute to peace, equality, and justice for everyone living in Israel-Palestine. Their engagement reflects the conviction that voices from civil society can and must play a central role in shaping a more just and peaceful future. Standing Together Vienna is a Jewish-Arab alliance for peace in the Middle East. The group is an initiative with members from different backgrounds that promotes dialogue and co-existence as a means of achieving a just peace in the Middle East.

The panel will discuss how this can be achieved in Austria and Germany. The discussion will address some of the most pressing issues of the present moment: the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, and forms of protests inside Israel that often remain invisible in the international debate. The event highlights non-violence, justice, and democratic rights and underscores the importance of transnational solidarity and civic courage in times of crisis.

Dani Gal, (* 1975, Jerusalem) lives and works in Berlin. He studied at Bezalel Academy for Art and Design in Jerusalem, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste Stäadelschule in Frankfurt and in Cooper Union in New York. His films and installations have been shown at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), Istanbul Biennale (2011), New Museum New York (2012), Kunsthalle St. Gallen Switzerland (2013), The Jewish Museum New York (2014), Berlinale Forum Expanded (2014), Kunsthaus Zurich (2015) Kunsthalle Wien (2015), Documenta 14 (2017), Centre Pompidou (2018, 2023) and at Club TransMediale Festival Berlin (2020).

-In 2024-25 Gal was  Fellow in the Centre for Advanced Studies INHERIT. Heritage in Transformation ist ein vom BMBF gefördertes Käte Hamburger Kolleg –  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

– In 2019 he was artist-in-residence with Blood Mountain Projects and research fellows at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute.

Guli Dolev – Hashiloni is a writer and researcher based in Berlin. He is a founding member of Israelis from Peace, holds an MA in Contemporary Middle East Politics (University of Haifa) and an MA in Global History (Freie Universität Berlin) and translates from German and Yiddish to Hebrew. He is a current fellow at the LABA residency in Künstlerhaus Bethanien, and his debut novel „Tsulul“, taking place in a human rights NGO based in Tel-Aviv, came out earlier this year in Hebrew.

Atheer Elobadi is a Palestinian and Israeli citizen who grew up in Tira, Israel, where he became politically active early on. He left Israel in 2008 and moved to Austria in 2009, where he became involved in social and political movements, including the organisation “Vielmehr für alle” and refugee and homeless aid. He is a co-founder of Standing Together Vienna, an initiative that promotes dialogue and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians as well as the promotion of peace, justice and equality. He is also a member of the artistic-political collective OneState Embassy, which uses performative art and diplomatic interventions to challenge political structures, promote intercultural dialogue and explore new forms of belonging beyond nation states.

Tessa Szyszkowitz, Austrian journalist and author, is a UK correspondent for Austrian weekly Falter and other German and Swiss publications. She curates Philoxenia at Kreiskyforum and she is a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute in London. Her book “Der Friedenskämpfer” (2011) was a biography of Issam Sartawi, a Palestinian politician who tried to establish dialogue with Israelis with support of Bruno Kreisky.