‘How long will it last’: 1,000 in Tel Aviv, dozens in Beit Jala hold Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony

Palestinians and Israelis gather to observe the joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony on Memorial Day.

Roughly 1,000 Israelis attend a packed theater in Tel Aviv to watch the ceremony, while a group of roughly 60 people — the majority of whom are Palestinian — gather near Beit Jala. More than 200,000 viewers are tuning in online, organizers say.

One by one, Israeli and Palestinian speakers recount how they lost loved ones and call for an end to the conflict.

Boma Inbar, an Israeli from Neve Monosson, tearfully tells the Tel Aviv crowd how he lost his son Yotam in an Israeli military operation in Lebanon in 1995.

“I ask myself how long it will last… children from both sides will be killed without peace in our region,” says Inbar.

The event is controversial among both Israelis and Palestinians, who say it equates murderers with their victims — although they disagree on which is which.

Supporters say it represents an effort by those who have lost the most in the conflict to give meaning to the deaths of their loved ones by turning away from violence.

Nasreen Abu al-Jadian lost her son, her husband, and her mother-in-law during the 2012 Gaza war in an Israeli airstrike.

“Violence creates violence. And the greatest loss is the loss of life,” Abu al-Jadian said.