TEL AVIV — Palestinian peace activist Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon carried the Olympic torch in Italy in January 2026 ahead of the Winter Games. The two men, who have become joint advocates for Israeli-Palestinian peace, have set a goal of achieving a peace agreement within five years.

Abu Sarah and Inon first met over tea in Jerusalem about a decade ago and stayed in touch via Facebook. Before 2023, each ran a travel agency — Abu Sarah had founded a socially conscious company called MEJDI Tours. After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,100 people, Abu Sarah reached out to Inon, whose parents, Bilha and Yakovi Inon, were killed by Hamas-led militants at their home in Netiv HaAsara near Israel's border with Gaza.

Following the attack, Inon became a full-time activist to promote peace and coexistence with Palestinians, stepping away from his travel business. "I lost my parents on Oct. 7, but I won a brother. And for me, it's not a partnership, it's not a friendship, it's a brotherhood," Inon said.

The two have since gone on speaking tours together and met with Pope Francis in 2024. "We don't really debate language so much. We don't censor each other," Abu Sarah said.

In 1990, during the First Intifada, Abu Sarah's brother Tayseer was arrested and beaten in Israeli custody and died of his injuries a few weeks after his release. The war in Gaza killed more than 72,000 Palestinians.

Abu Sarah and Inon are co-authors of a forthcoming book titled The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land. In the book, they take readers on a journey through Israel and the West Bank, covering the past, present, and an imagined future. The book includes visits to the kibbutz where Inon's parents were killed and to Jaffa, an ancient port neighborhood that is part of Tel Aviv.

The pair have pointed to broader grassroots activity as a source of momentum. Hundreds of Israelis have protected Palestinians from settler violence in the West Bank during olive harvest season and during Jerusalem Day commemorations. Younger Palestinians and more women are joining peace protests.

"That gives me hope, because that's where we're going to get the future leaders, is those younger people realizing finally that we can't wait until a politician signs the agreement. We're going to make them — and if they don't, we're going to replace them," Abu Sarah said.

Inon cited the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, signed five years after the 1973 war, as a precedent for what the two activists hope to achieve. "It's too late for Tayseer — Aziz's brother. It's too late for my parents. But it's not too late for the other 14 million Israelis and Palestinians that are living in this region," he said.