A petition published in Haaretz calls for the need to establish a Jewish–Arab peace party.

Today, a full-page advertisement was published in Haaretz, including an invitation and a call to establish a new Jewish–Arab party that will run in the upcoming elections with the aim of bringing down the Netanyahu government and forming a different government. A party that struggles for peace between Israel and Palestine and fights for equality and social justice.

The call was signed by 130 prominent public figures from Arab society and from progressive Jewish communities, and the stream of signatures continues to grow.

The leaders and initiators of the “All Its Citizens” party have joined the signatories of this call.

And this is the text of the call:

A Peace, Equality, and Partnership Party Is Needed

After the massacre of October 7 and two years of war, atrocities, destruction, and starvation, we find ourselves at a historic crossroads. The extreme right is dragging us into endless war, expulsion and devastation, international isolation, the trampling of democratic rights, and turning this land into a place unfit for human life.

But a crisis is also an opportunity to change direction and renew ourselves, and to move in the opposite direction: an Israeli–Palestinian peace agreement that will put an end to the occupation and guarantee both peoples safe lives, independence, justice, and freedom in their shared homeland; the rebuilding of the State of Israel as a state that upholds civic and national equality, without institutionalized racism and without discrimination, where both Arab-Palestinian citizens and Jewish citizens are equal stakeholders; a normal state that invests in education, health, transportation, the environment, welfare, infrastructure, and in narrowing the gaps between the center and the peripheries, and where everyone can earn a dignified living.

For this to happen, Israel needs a peace party—one that can articulate a vision for an Israeli–Palestinian agreement, present it proudly, and fight to broaden public support for it and advance it in government. A Jewish–Arab party of equality and partnership is needed, with equal representation for Jews and Arabs, for men and women, that promotes solutions to violence and crime and demonstrates that shared life in equality is not just a slogan. A party of social justice that cares for the basic needs, livelihoods, and welfare of the majority of the public. A young party that offers hope. A party that enters the arena to win—one committed not to condemning the present from the stands or indulging in sentimental nostalgia for the past, but to mobilizing to build a bold future. A party that rises to the magnitude of this moment, shows the way, and then responsibly advances alliances to build a united Jewish–Arab camp that will ensure broad participation in the elections and guarantee that a government of change truly brings change.

Such a party will say clearly: the Israeli–Palestinian conflict cannot be managed—it must be ended. And the path to that end passes through recognition that this land is the shared homeland of two peoples, and that trauma, pain, and hatred must be replaced with healing, reconciliation, and mutual recognition. A party that generates hope.

Such a party does not currently exist—and it must. The leadership capable of leading it already exists on the ground: Arabs and Jews who have waged joint struggles against the war in Gaza and for the return of the hostages; Arab and Jewish women who emerged from activism for women’s equality and against violence and crime in Arab communities, bringing the voice of a new generation seeking to influence and change; grassroots activists who led struggles for fair wages and social rights; bereaved families from across the country who lost their loved ones on October 7 and decided to do everything to stop the bloodshed and bring security and peace; veteran and young activists who have struggled and have not lost hope.

Join us in this call: now is the time for a Jewish–Arab peace, equality, and partnership party!