2025 has been a dramatic year in the area between “the river and the sea”. In Gaza, Israel’s brutal warfare and starvation policy have alternated with fragile ceasefires. In the West Bank, the occupation has turned increasingly ruthless. With few glimmers of hope, despair has seemed ever-present.
Standing Together’s persistent work for peace and justice for all who live in the area has been a light in the darkness during all this time. ST has continued to grow during the year and has carried out concrete peace work along the Gaza border, where they have both rallied and protected food and relief transports against violent Israeli settlers. They have been active as well in the occupied territories of the West Bank, where they were active in protecting olive harvest workers against attacks by settlers (the latter often supported by the Israeli military).
Within Israel, during 2025, and and particularly towards the year’s end, ST has been deeply engaged in the issue of violence and organized crime in Arab-Palestinian communities. ST has also been standing in solidarity with the Bedouin population of the Negev desert, whose rights are violated by the Israeli state. The infrastructure in these areas has been very neglected, not least concerning bomb shelters. This became an acute problem during the war with Iran in June when ST contributed to distributing mobile bomb shelters in the Bedouin communities.
ST has also actively participated in public debates in Israel during 2025 and gathered thousands of people for large rallies against the Netanyahu government. In September, Standing Together launched the English language podcast “The Long Answer”, which we warmly recommend. It delves into issues that are central for the organisation.
Here you can read ST’s own review of the past year.
Friends of Standing Together (FoST) Sweden has also been active in 2025 and has gained many new members. Here are some of our highlights from 2025:
In February 2025, Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green, co-directors of Standing Together, visited Sweden. FoST Sweden organized a panel discussion with them in Gothenburg in collaboration with Bilda, and members of FOST Sweden also had the opportunity to meet them privately in both Stockholm and Gothenburg. Below, they are pictured with Isabell Schierenbeck, Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, and Miri Stryjan of FoST Sweden. In the lower image, Mirjam Haj Younes from the Resilience Against Racism project (City of Gothenburg) and Paul Dakwar of FoST Sweden are also shown.
In the spring, FoST Sweden became a member of the newly established European network within FoST, which has representatives from the UK, Belgium, France and Germany (and now Sweden). Our Palestinian members have participated in the global Palestinian FoST network during the year. These two networks meet online and communicate in web forums between meetings.
During the spring and summer, we participated with FoST placards in several rallies and manifestations in Stockholm, where we handed out flyers about our activities. Among them were a rally organised by Doctors Without Borders in May, the “Gaza Rally” in June, and the rally “A Red Line for Gaza”, organised by The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, together with Oxfam Sweden, Olof Palme International Center, ACT Church of Sweden, and Amnesty Sweden.
At the national level, in 2025, we gained many new members, and new subscribers to our newsletter, especially in the autumn. We organized our first webinar in October. In November, we published an op-ed in the Swedish daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet: “Another path is possible for Israel and Palestine”.
We recently had purple t-shirts with the FoST Sweden logo printed.
The local Stockholm group has grown quite a bit and has held several meetings during the fall. The members had social gatherings, where they talked about their respective backgrounds and perspectives.
In the autumn, some of FoST Stockholm’s members participated in an event about Palestine at the Alias Theatre in Stockholm, “The West Bank & Gaza: Occupation, ceasefire… – what do you mean peace?”. The group has also met with the Together for Sweden project at Fryshuset to discuss possible future collaborations. The group is planning new, interesting activities for 2026.
We look forward to a new year with more activities and local groups, and more collaborations with other organizations. We are currently planning a webinar in Swedish about Standing Together and FoST, and also hope to hold more webinars with invited guests later in the spring of 2026.