This modern history is one full of hope and despair. The promise of the 1993 ‘Handshake’ between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Prime Minister and Chairman Yasser Arafat was followed by the assassination of Rabin and the election of a right wing, conservative ruling body in Israel. One can only imagine how Israeli and Palestinian emotions rose and fell – plummeted – in the aftermath of the killing of the peace process, which essentially was seen in the aftermath of the killing of Rabin.

Some people have kept the faith on all sides of the conflict, notable among the Christians are: Elias Chacour, a recently consecrated Melkite archbishop; Naim Ateek, an Anglican/Episcopalian priest – both Palestinian Israeli citizens – Jean Zaru, a Palestinian Quaker; Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian Lutheran pastor; and Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi, an Anglican herself, previously the sole female Palestinian Cabinet Member and spokesperson for the Palestinians in the occupied territories. These people are more fully addressed in the chapter on ‘Peacemakers in Israel/Palestine’.

According to Muslim and Jewish persons with whom I spoke, Yossi Beilin and Ehud Barak are two individuals who stand out for them as Israeli Jewish peacemakers. I would add Itzhak Rabin as a man who worked for peace and became a martyr for peace. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Abu Jihad remain examples of Palestinian Muslims who worked, or continue to work for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Israel/Palestine.