It is a year since my mother was murdered at her kibbutz. Out of this horror, surely peace must come | Yonatan Zeigen

I’ve found a political reawakening, and learned that the only way this will end is if we turn our enemies into our partners

Yonatan Zeigen is a father, social worker and mediator, and the son of the late peace activist Vivian Silver

A year has passed. Sometimes, this in itself is a hard fact to process. My mother, Vivian Silver, did not survive the massacre in the kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October 2023. On that day, time collapsed. When we measure a year in the context of a baby growing up, we may see them learning to walk, learning to speak and beginning to be purposefully playful. But we’ve been measuring time in the context of war, and babies are continuing to die. A year has passed and hostages are still in Gaza, Palestinians are still hungry and being bombarded, the displaced on both sides have yet to return home, and other fronts continue to escalate. How do our leaders measure time?

The attack of 7 October didn’t start time. It happened in a context of prolonged occupation and conflict, of an ongoing process of dehumanisation of both sides. It didn’t start time, but it changed the course of my life. It has woken me from what I call my political coma, from the fantasy that we can lead normal lives in a place where life itself isn’t sustainable. Facing my own helplessness that day, having said goodbye to my mother while she was being murdered on the other side of the phone line, pushed me into a kind of manic phase of activism. I felt a deep sense of responsibility, an urge to become invested in change, to contribute whatever I can to create a new reality in which Israelis and Palestinians fully understand that we either flourish together – from the river to the sea – or perish.

Yonatan Zeigen is a father, social worker and mediator, and the son of the late peace activist Vivian Silver

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