Peace Now

Peace Now is the largest and longest-standing Israeli movement advocating for peace through public pressure. Peace Now currently works to ensure Israelis embrace the only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: two states, meaning the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Our activities include demonstrations, calls for action, lectures, debates, tours, public campaigns and more. Through these activities Peace Now seeks to educate the public, represent the portion of the public that shares its views, mobilize it and as a result influence the mainstream Israeli public – all out of a strong conviction that politicians are susceptible to public pressure. Peace Now’s activities are meant to ensure that issues related to Israeli Palestinian peace remain on top of the political agenda and the public discourse. Peace Now was founded in March 1978, in an act known to the Israeli public as “The Officer’s Letter.” Following the visit of Egypt’s President, Anwar Sadat, to Israel, a group of 348 reserve officers and soldiers from Israeli army combat units published an open letter to the Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, calling upon the government to make sure this opportunity for peace was not lost. In the early 1990s, after identifying settlements as one of the largest obstacles to the two state solution, Peace Now established Settlement Watch, taking upon itself to track and analyze developments in the settlements. Through research, analysis and exposure of settlement developments, Peace Now works to prevent settlement expansion and stop illegal settlement activity. Over the many years of its existence, Peace Now has consistently supported any and all steps promising to promote a resolution to the conflict that will guarantee Israel a secure, international border, in addition to pressing all Israeli parties in power to initiate steps to bring about an end to the occupation, return to the 1967 borders and negotiations for peace.