You are probably following with horror the news from Israel and the West Bank. It’s easy to despair in the face of all the misery. Israelis and Palestinians have been deadlocked in this violent embrace, unable to find a way to separate into two states living side by side in peace and security.

In such times, when there is no political horizon to give us hope, we can find solace in the work of individuals, people on both sides – yes, on both sides – who despite the trouble around them choose to reach out and build bridges.

One such hero is my friend David Broza, the famous Israeli singer-songwriter, who is a committed peace activist and a longtime friend of Israel’s Peace Now movement.

David recently made an album, produced by Steve Earle, devoted to peace, collaborating with Palestinian musicians to build musical bridges to Palestinians in East Jerusalem. His album, and a documentary that tells the story of the making of this album, are now available as a set, exclusively to APN donors like you.

Please read David’s letter below. It will give you hope, and – hopefully – inspiration.

Saturday night’s Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) rally brought out thousands of people, Israelis sick of the status quo, to protest the Netanyahu government’s intransigence, its diplomatic inaction and its fomenting of violence and brutality.

Under the slogan “There is no Security without a Political Solution,” thousands of Israelis urged their government to choose dialogue over demagoguery and incitement, diplomacy over force and subjugation, to offer Israelis hope, and to lead Israelis toward peace with the Palestinians.