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The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land 2026
by Aziz Abu Sarah (Author), Maoz Inon (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars (37)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Two lifelong peace activists and guides to Israel/Palestine, both of whom have lost family in the conflict, take readers on a revealing life-changing journey across this holy, bloodstained land and discover the mythic, political, and personal history that divides but also binds them and their peoples.
"[A] short but immensely poignant account of a shared journey across Israel and the West Bank . . . raw with pain and rage and yet bravely insistent on the imperative of hope."--The New York Times
"We do not see ourselves as Palestinians and Israelis, or as Jews and Arabs, but as human beings who believe in fostering a culture of dialogue, a culture of forgiveness, and a culture of peace. To those who see only division lines, we say: If you must divide us, let it be as those who believe in peace and equality and those who don't ... yet."
Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon forged a bond of brotherhood when the world expected them to be enemies. Both have lost family to the conflict. Both have known the bitterness of righteous anger. Yet, they chose a different path.
In The Future Is Peace, Sarah and Inon take readers on a transformative weeklong journey across a sacred and bloodstained land. Facing competing narratives, they explore how compassion and unity can pull humanity back from the precipice of blind hatred. Throughout their travels, they have been constantly asked: In the face of so much loss, how can we ever find hope? Their answer is always the same. One cannot find hope. We must create it.
This book is a rebuttal to a broken world and a bold challenge to the belief that more violence can ever bring security. Told with unflinching honesty, their story is proof that peace is not a naive dream, but a courageous choice--for reconciliation to heal the wounds of revenge, for partnerships to change a destiny of war, and for empathy to save us from drowning in sorrow.
Pairing unapologetic candor and inspirational prose, Sarah and Inon are sending an urgent message that the people have the power to make change. Peace is inevitable. For Palestinians, for Israelis, and for the world that awaits their example, it is not just possible--it is the future.
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Debby O
5.0 out of 5 stars Wish there were more folks like the authors, Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah!
Reviewed in the United States on 8 May 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
A wonderful book about a wonderful idea, Palestinians and Israelis collaborating and peacefully coexisting!!!
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Ainsleigh
5.0 out of 5 stars A book of Hope and resilience.
Reviewed in Canada on 22 April 2026
Verified Purchase
Excellent read if you are looking for some hope in the current world time. Axiz and Maoz are a beautiful demonstration of tolerance, learning and honouring human beings. Highly recommend this read and very thankful to have experienced it!
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Barry
5.0 out of 5 stars A vital work
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2026
Verified Purchase
Wonderful.
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Jasmine Moon
5.0 out of 5 stars Just finished
Reviewed in Canada on 7 May 2026
A powerful book of hope.
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HappyDriver
5.0 out of 5 stars Fortifying, edifying, and nourishing
Reviewed in the United States on 26 April 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I've just finished this book, and it's been fanning the tiny flame of hope in my heart.
There are a million moments in which we can be closed and cynical, or we can do something different, inspired and scary. I want to thank Maoz and Aziz for making the many small and consequential decisions to act beyond their initial fears and anger, which led them to becoming the people who could write this book. In reading it, I remember that these small moments do matter. And that, sometimes, they create new realities that are the kind of worlds we actually want to live in.
Most of us need models for HOW to move from stuck places of resentment, hatred, and division into new ways of relating to the others we share this life, this world, this planet with. This book offers a roadmap in navigating the kinds of challenges, opportunities, and emotions that arise if we open ourselves to being agents of peace in a world where retaliation is common and celebrated.
I found this read to be fortifying, edifying, and nourishing. It is giving me inspiration to find my own tiny moments of possibility and meet them in creative new ways. For that I am grateful.
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sharon f. leff
5.0 out of 5 stars Peace Possibilities!
Reviewed in the United States on 26 April 2026
This book restores hope in humanity and for the future. If indeed these 2 men, raised to despair and fear the others’ beliefs and proximity, can become friends and ambassadors after listening, learning, and visiting, there is hope. If Israel, the religious homeland for 3 religions can eventually obtain a peace, then they will lead and show the world what the future can provide.
Even after, especially after the most recent attacks, retaliation, hostage negotiations, and more bombings, these 2 men have remained friends realizing what and how they can aid their nation and ALL its people on either side of walls or Gaza Strip, is to maintain a calm, a compassionate focus for all.
This book is a dual perspective of alternating histories through personal and ancient histories. The journey through key cities examines the conditions and people from the ancient times to the present with closest examinations on positive possibilities and proof of mini milestones in the journey towards peace.
Should be a book more widely read for it will educate, illuminate, and inspire. Such a powerful potential exists…if…
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Adam Taub
5.0 out of 5 stars HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! READ THIS BOOK!
Reviewed in the United States on 4 May 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Read this book! This is such an important, inspiring, engrossing book by Aiz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon. I can't stress enough how glad I am to have found and read it. Once I picked it up I could not put it down. A quote from the book says "There is a mirror between Israel and Palestine, each of us reflecting out own rage back at ourselves. We must breat this mirror and look one another in the eye to humanize the other side, but even more important, to recognize our own humanity.
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Richard L. Fischer
5.0 out of 5 stars Imagining the unimaginable
Reviewed in the United States on 15 April 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
One can not read The Future is Peace and come away thinking or feeling the same way about war and conflict anywhere. The book will bring you into the lives of two people who have suffered unimaginable family loss and evolve through their suffering to become brothers advocating for peace in Israel and Palestine as well as throughout the world. After suffering unimaginable loss, Aziz and Maoz proceed to imagine something most living in the region can not; peaceful coexistence. The Future is Peace is a must read.
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Dee
5.0 out of 5 stars A book everyone needs to read, discuss, and act on.
Reviewed in the United States on 16 April 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I cried in the first chapter, and found myself pausing throughout the book (which I couldn’t put down), because of the emotion it stirred. The way Aziz and Maoz weave together landscape, history, people, and hope for the future is truly powerful.
The Future is Peace is a book everyone needs to read, discuss, and take action on.
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Mark Bauman
5.0 out of 5 stars The most powerful book I have read in years….
Reviewed in the United States on 16 April 2026
Two heroes for our time, who have suffered the tragedy of conflict in deeply personal ways, make a clear-eyed case that war has not brought peace to the Israelis or the Palestinians, who share a common land. Their story is beautiful, powerful, and unflinching. And most importantly, it offers hope and a path toward a just and secure peace for both communities.
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UserNameHidden
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on the topic
Reviewed in the United States on 8 May 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
This book is amazing. Life changing. Perspective warping. Must read.
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Marez
5.0 out of 5 stars A Microcosm of Hope
Reviewed in the United States on 24 April 2026
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The great friendship between Aziz and Maoz in this book is a microcosm of hope not only for peace in the Middle East but also for those of us living in the "us and them" political culture of the United States; there is hope for us, too!
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Patricia Morgan
4.0 out of 5 stars Hopeful
Reviewed in the United States on 28 April 2026
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Admittedly as I read the histories (thank you...very informative), particularly of the destruction of all that is Palestinian,I found it so difficult to not feel vengeful. Power to you both to walk this path of peace. A living example. (For whatever reason most of the photo links at the end were broken on the Kindle edition.)
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Stanley Sagov
5.0 out of 5 stars This book inspires t
Reviewed in the United States on 10 May 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Timely moving and mindful book
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Lashrew
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United States on 4 May 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
If you've lost all hope for peace in the Middle East, read this book.
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GEORGE ACOSTA
5.0 out of 5 stars The road to peace
Reviewed in the United States on 27 April 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
These two human beings have found the answer, it’s a shame that those in power are not going to listen !
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KR
5.0 out of 5 stars Important to read
Reviewed in the United States on 23 April 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Buy this book both to help the Middle East conflict and to understand the true enormity of the problems.
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Laura Wass
5.0 out of 5 stars truth
Reviewed in the United States on 15 April 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
If you are looking for meaning, or clarity, or insight into what our learning is as humans, it is this.
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Susan Leigh Kantar
5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ
Reviewed in the United States on 15 April 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Incredibly powerful, meaningful and important. Anyone interested in peace, Israel/Palestine and/or the future of the region should read this book.
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Michael Beigel
2.0 out of 5 stars One side of the reality in two voices
Reviewed in the United States on 9 May 2026
Verified Purchase
When I started to read the book I taught that I will read one side of a Palestinian and one of a Israeli, but I only read about the Palestinian suffering (that it is true), and almost nothing about the Israeli side. Where is the Arab terror, where are the descriptions of the attacks of all the Arab countries in 1948 after not accepting the partition. Where are the descriptions of the terrible masacre of October 2023? The burning of children, the rapes, etc. The description “After the October 7 attacks and the Israeli military’s brutal response” it is right, but not one word about the brutal actions of Hamas. Really? It is a manipulative description of the terrible reality. One song for two similar voices.
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< 미래는 평화다 > (The Future is Peace) 요약 및 평론
1. 요약: 비극의 연쇄를 끊어내는 두 남자의 목소리
이 책은 이스라엘인 마오즈 이논(Maoz Inon)과 팔레스타인인 아지즈 아부 사라(Aziz Abu Sarah)가 공동으로 집필한 실존적 기록이자 평화 선언문이다. 두 저자는 각각 이스라엘-팔레스타인 갈등의 직접적인 피해자다. 마오즈는 2023년 10월 7일 하마스의 공격으로 부모를 잃었고, 아지즈는 이스라엘 감옥에서 가혹 행위를 당한 형을 잃었다. 각자의 진영에서 상대를 증오할 명분이 충분함에도 불구하고, 이들은 복수가 아닌 <연대>를 선택한다.
책은 두 저자의 교차 서술을 통해 고통의 보편성을 드러낸다. 마오즈는 부모의 죽음이 증오의 불길을 지피는 연료가 되는 것을 거부하며, 평화는 나약함이 아니라 가장 강력한 저항임을 강조한다. 아지즈는 어린 시절의 분노를 극복하고 히브리어를 배우며 타자의 서사에 귀를 기울였던 과정을 설명한다. 이들은 단순히 정치적 해결책을 제시하는 것을 넘어, 인간 대 인간으로서 서로의 눈물을 인정하는 것이 평화의 시작임을 역설한다.
저자들은 평화를 <근육>에 비유한다. 가만히 있으면 퇴화하고, 갈등의 상황 속에서도 의식적으로 훈련하고 사용해야 하는 힘이라는 뜻이다. 이들은 국제 사회가 이 갈등을 스포츠 경기처럼 어느 한쪽을 응원하는 방식으로 접근하는 것을 경계하며, '친이스라엘' 혹은 '친팔레스타인'이 아닌 <친평화>의 관점을 가질 것을 촉구한다.
2. 평론: 서사의 전환이 만드는 불가능한 희망
< 미래는 평화다 >는 혐오가 지배하는 시대에 던져진 가장 도덕적인 질문이다. 이 책의 가장 강력한 지점은 그 진정성에 있다. 이론적인 평화주의자가 아닌, 삶의 가장 소중한 부분을 잃은 당사자들이 내뱉는 용서는 그 어떤 외교적 담론보다 묵직한 울림을 준다.
비평적 관점에서 볼 때, 이 책은 갈등의 해결을 구조적 정치 공학이 아닌 <인간적 연결>의 영역으로 끌어내렸다는 데 큰 의의가 있다. 저자들은 상대방을 '적'이라는 추상적인 개념에서 '나와 같은 고통을 겪는 인간'이라는 구체적인 실체로 복원시킨다. 특히 아지즈가 강조하는 '서사의 공유'는 갈등 해결의 심리학적 기초를 단단히 다지는 지침이 된다.
물론 일각에서는 이들의 주장이 지나치게 이상주의적이라는 비판을 제기할 수 있다. 국가 권력, 군사 복합체, 종교적 근본주의라는 거대한 벽 앞에서 개인의 형제애가 얼마나 실질적인 힘을 발휘할 수 있을지에 대한 의구심은 여전하다. 가해와 피해의 권력 관계가 비대칭적인 현실에서 '고통의 동질성'만을 강조하는 것은 구조적 억압을 가릴 위험도 존재한다.
하지만 그럼에도 불구하고 이 책은 <상상의 힘>을 회복시킨다. 전쟁이 상수이고 평화가 변수인 현재의 정세 속에서, 평화를 상수로 두고 미래를 설계하는 이들의 연대는 그 자체로 혁명적이다. 이들은 복수를 멈추는 것이 패배가 아니라 진정한 승리임을 증명한다.
3. 결론
결국 이 책은 중동의 분쟁만을 다루는 것이 아니라, 우리 내면의 벽을 허무는 법을 가르친다. 혐오를 연료 삼아 유지되는 정치가 판치는 세상에서, 마오즈와 아지즈의 악수는 가장 강력한 정치적 선언이 된다. 평화는 언젠가 도래할 먼 미래의 사건이 아니라, 지금 당장 타자의 고통에 공감하기로 결정하는 순간 시작된다는 사실을 이 책은 웅변한다.
요청하신 형식에 맞춰 작성하였습니다. 더 궁금한 점이나 추가로 필요한 도서 요약이 있다면 언제든 말씀해 주세요.
이번 요약과 평론 내용이 세진님께 의미 있는 통찰을 드렸나요
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