A Collective Yearning for Peace

“Guarding Our Home” collage of photography by Dalia Ayalon Sinclair

"My Way – Their Way" is a solo exhibition of work created by Dalia Ayalon Sinclair*, which opened at the Romanian Cultural Institute (RCI) in Tel Aviv on July 4, 2025. It is more than a five-year retrospective of multidisciplinary art. Through photography, installations, and poetry, Sinclair reaches beyond aesthetics to address trauma, resilience, and a collective yearning for peace.

Her deeply personal and timely statement moves from the striking black-and-white series "Protecting Our Home" to an evocative wall installation -- "We Are Here for You" – a piece composed of reflections on the aftermath of October 7, 2023; together they express the ongoing search for a just and lasting peace. Ayalon Sinclair strives to create a new world by curating the fragments of our lives, shattered by the horrific events, into a new world.

Ayalon Sinclair's work, grounded in both creative and social engagement, is also shaped by over four decades of Israel advocacy in Australia and Israel. This dual commitment to culture and community was captured in a unique event held at RCI on July 18, 2025. It wove together art, dialogue, and youth-led peace-building activities.

One of the highlights of the events held at the "My Way – Their Way" exhibition took place on August 5, 2025. It was a presentation illustrating the collaboration fostered in a non-political educational initiative aimed at connecting Jewish Israeli and Palestinian teenagers. The event was hosted by Martin Salamon, director of the Romanian Cultural Center, and Steven Aiello, founder and director of Debate for Peace, a project which began in 2012. Starting with a group of students from Petah Tikva and from Tira, Aiello has since succeeded in bringing together hundreds of young leaders from all over Israel for the purpose of learning how to accept each other's points of view as well as exchange ideas.

After October 7th, this initiative gained new urgency in the drive to provide a safe space for Jewish and Arab youth from across Israel to engage in dialogue", said Aiello. "From October 10, 2023, I started holding daily Zoom calls with students, just offering a platform to meet and talk, a judgement-free, safe space for everyone. From there we joined Professor Robert Vogel's "Writers Matter" program, which included the participation of dozens of students and teachers throughout Israel. We also worked on a storytelling project during which the participants would learn and retell one another's story (e.g., a Jewish student would tell an Arab student's story, and vice-versa). A competition required each participant to write, together with a partner "from the other side", a piece (e.g., story, commentary) on the theme of Hope. Another project, entitled, the "Debate for Peace," held simulated peace negotiations in an attempt to conclude a draft of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement beneficial for both sides."

During his talk, Aiello also shared a description of the project's practices with the audience. These included regularly meeting in Jerusalem and at the RCI. The purpose of these meetings was to provide the young participants with opportunities where they couldengender profound moments of empathy and understanding. One particularly moving undertaking saw 20 Jewish-Arab pairs co-authoring original works on the theme of "Hope" — a powerful testament to the belief that change begins by listening.

Their original pieces — poems, short stories, and personal narratives — written in their native language, were translated by participants in the "Writers Matter Program". These works were later published in two volumes under the Program's auspices.

We would like give you a taste of the "My Way - Their Way" mission's outcomes. In a gathering held on July 18, the guests were delighted to meet the three top participants in the project. It began with a poem written by Muhammad Shibli, a Muslim Arab student from Jerusalem, who regularly attends the monthly peacekeeping sessions; it continued with a free-verse piece by Emily Shalbi, an Arab student who shares her life between Nazareth and Netanya but continues to attend the weekly writing program sessions; and it closed with Yair Ziv-Av, a Jewish student from Ramat Gan. The three were also active in a variety of programs initiated overseas, such as the "Hope" writing competition, comprised of works originally written in their native language and then translated. As Emily so simply and profoundly wrote: "Every story has its ending, and no one writes their own. To become one with yourself is a goal we all share. While few achieve it, those who do so can truly live their lives. Fear can paralyze us, preventing us from making hard choices. However, once we choose to be bold we can witness the greatness we are capable of. No matter how bad life gets, how depressing or misguided, we will always have one thing: Hope."

As to overseas activities, the young people mentioned their participation in the Yale Model UN Europe Conference in Geneva, where they won special awards for their written contributions, featured in the Writers Matter Collection, mentioned above. They were also scheduled to continue their engagement in Kosovo and the United Nations in Vienna during July- August 2025.

"The work of these amazing students is a testament to the courage of young leaders to open up to one another, even at our most vulnerable points, and to the strength of their recognition of each other's humanity. Aiello summarized the initiatives mission by stating that despite the challenges, he is convinced that the contributions made by these spirited young people will help us find a non-violent path to living together in peace, justice and respect.

By means of the "My Way – Their Way" platform, Dalia Ayalon Sinclair created more than an exhibition. She opened a space for reflection, dialogue, and action — where art and advocacy meet, and where new voices emerge with strength, dignity, and hope, elements inherent to the "My Way – Their Way" vision.

As a dessert, we would like to demonstrate the emotional depth and literary maturity of two of the participants mentioned: Mohammad Shibli and Emily Shalbi.

"Nature"

By Mohammad Shibli

Mother Nature, did we leave you behind?

Do you ever intend to return to the times of sun worship, not hiding it from

the earth that is sacred, and rivers that were wild and unconfined

before we forgot how to love you?

I love you always but yet I hurt you

Not by preference, but with the weight of a world which takes and does not give

Instead of advocating for you, I contribute towards hurting you,

trapped in the cycle that sees devastation as progress.

It is not me; it is everyone

We cry, why should I transform when the world fails to change

And then I see, if it is not me, then I am the decay

If I remain idle, I am the problem.

Mother Nature, do you still hear us?

Do you still forgive us, even though we keep failing you?

Will you heal, despite our foolishness, or will you turn away from us and leave us to reap the devastation we have sown?

Guide us back before all that is left is silence,

Show us how to appease you once more,

before we lose you forever.

I Am From….

By Emily Shalbi

I am from a soul buried within flesh and bones, an intellectual mind that refuses to judge according to social norms.

I am from Summer's late nights and early mornings, achieving my goals in the only season where it is no longer boring.

I am from the beach's waves, like melodies in my ears rushing through my nerves. I am from a brain racing a million times a second, filled with emotions, goals and "What if's". For the unambitious, it would be hard to get it.

I am from experiences, life lessons and learning how to let go. For only then I wouldn't have learned how to grow.

I am reshaping my life for the sake of getting peace; keeping toxic souls and fake smiles away from my world with no hesitation, as cruelty was never part of the equation. I am from metaphors and analysis. Because dreams with no aspirations are no different from birds with no wings just like claiming the sound of the rain is relaxing is a hypothesis.

I am from a present with an unknown future. However, I know a successful ambitious unstoppable woman is most definitely a picture I can capture.

For now, a suture is all I need in order to close the current chapter I am from indeed.

* Dalia Ayalon Sinclair is a recipient of the OAM Medal of the Order of Australia, an honor awarded her by Queen Elisabeth II in June 2013.