Immediately after meeting Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon sat down in the studios of Vatican Radio for an exclusive interview.
By Roberto Cetera and Deborah Castellano Lubov
"I made the choice to choose forgiveness, not because that person deserved it, but because it's my choice, and I want to be free."
In an interview with Vatican Media, Palestinian American Aziz Abu Sarah, who grew up in Jerusalem, made this statement as he recalled the moment his brother was arrested at 18 years old, when Aziz was only ten, going on to suffer torture and later dying.
Aziz remembers from that young age, how he felt bitter, angry and in need of revenge, until something changed. "It took me eight years to eventually understand that every time you choose revenge, you choose hate, you are being a slave to the person who killed my brother. I was being a slave to that person."
Thus, Aziz decided to no longer let the loss of his brother control his life but instead work for peace. He is doing so with Israeli Maoz Inon, who has an equally dramatic story, having lost his parents on October 7th along with many childhood friends.
Fr. Faltas' dedication in Holy Land
The two men, who are both tourism professionals, and Co-Presidents of InterAct, an organization working toward peace, say that they now are not only partners but friends.
Moreover, in an interview in Vatican Radio's Studio 9, they recalled their journey, and looked forward, both with a goal to achieve peace in the region by 2030 and with an upcoming initiative in Jerusalem.
Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, also joined the discussion in the studio. He has worked extensively for peace throughout the Holy Land, running a plethora of projects.
Quest for peace by 2030
During the conversation, Aziz and Maoz expressed how their personal experiences of the horrors inflicted in the Holy Land shaped them, and, in a special way, they recalled their encounter with Pope Leo XIV this morning, following that with Pope Francis last year.
This morning, Pope Leo received more than 300 representatives of associations and movements that took part in the 2024 “Arena of Peace” in the Italian city of Verona. The encounter, which took place in the Vatican, marked a “return visit,” repaying Pope Francis' participation in last year’s event.
After Aziz chose to forgive, he recalled how he began working with Israelis, observing, "we are not on opposite sides if we agree on the same values of equality, of justice, of peace, of working together. If we agree on those values, then we are not enemies."
Maoz lost parents on October 7th
Meanwhile, Maoz tells his story of having been born in a small kibbutz in a Jewish Israeli community just a mile away from the Gaza border, and then that tragic date of October 7th, his parents were killed in the horrific attacks.
Yet, Maoz subsequently, despite his sorrow, had a vision where, amid immense tears, of himself, and humanity crying along with him, something incredible happened.
"Our tears healed the wounds, healed our burnt skin and cured us. And we kept crying and crying, and our tears went down to the ground. And our tears started washing the blood from the century long conflict between Palestinians and Israel. And our tears purifying the land, and then I could see the path to peace and reconciliation."
He later struck up a friendship with Aziz, adding, "We are not just partners, but we are brothers. We are brothers, pursuing justice and peace."
'Maoz was crying for children in Gaza'
Yet, what Aziz cannot forget is that "when we talked first time, his first sentence was, I'm not crying only for the for my parents, I'm also crying for the children in Gaza," saying, "to me, that's very powerful, for someone to be in so much pain and to think about the pain of others is not what most people do."
At that moment, Aziz said, I realized we have a lot to do together. Today we need that, especially, when there is a widespread "lack of empathy, understanding, and caring," where "we see our own pain," but often "we don't see that of others." "And Maoz," he marveled, "was able to see what's happening in Gaza before anyone else in the Israeli side was even seeing what's going on in Gaza.
With this sentiment, he explained their vision required for achieving peace between from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea by 2030.
"This is our mission, and our and we have a five-step plan how to make it happen."
First of all, he said, we must dream together about peace.
Second, we must practice our shared values of justice, forgiveness, reconciliation, security, and safely,
Third, we must build a coalition - which is why, he said, the support of Vatican Radio and Vatican News to the peace movement is so important.
Fourth, the pair have a road map out together by 2030, and five, they're already implementing the road map.
Recalling their work for peace, he said, "We gathered more than 8,000 Israelis and Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem, basically crying for the devastating and the horrors that are happening in Gaza and in the West Bank; calling for release of the hostages and prisoners, Palestinian prisoners; and envisioning and creating a new reality, a shared future between us."
"The longer we wait, things will always get worse," Aziz said. He disagreed with the view often held by politicians that one can "manage conflict" and that somehow it can "be stabilized," saying that "when you have a situation like we have, where there is an occupation, an injustice, a systemic injustice, it doesn't stay the same."
Unprecedented March for Peace in Jerusalem
"This is why we are working hard," Maoz notes, because "otherwise," he warns, "we will be condemning our children and our grandchildren."
"This is unacceptable," he said.
With this conviction, they therefore are acting to inspire change, beginning with a massive March for Peace.
"Both Maoz and I run an organization called Inter<act, and, on September 21st, we're leading a group of organizations to march from East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem to meet in the middle."
International Day of Peace and pontificates for peace
He remembered that September 21st marks the International Day of Peace, established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and ceasefire.
This concrete endeavor, Maoz underscores, is to "say that this division between us that governments have created needs to stop," and "we want thousands of people to march with us, not only Israelis and Palestinians. We want everyone who's listening here to come to Jerusalem in September."
And of course, Aziz and Maoz remembered with affection their encounters with the Popes.
"For me," Maoz said, "Pope Francis was a prophet," recalling his words for dialogue and for solving conflict peacefully. "And now together with the leadership, guidance and support of Pope Leo," he continued, "we're going to enter the promised land and we're going to bring peace to the Holy Land."
