Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation's CEO Janet Jobson calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

It is hard to take in the immensity of the violence taking place in the Middle East. From the horrifying killing and kidnapping of civilians in Israel, to now the wholesale destruction of Gaza, there is immense injustice and violence taking place. This military violence cannot deliver peace or security for Israelis, and will only result in layers of deep trauma, of pain, and of deepened fractures in the region. There must be a complete and immediate ceasefire.

One of the core tenets of our work is the idea that societal healing requires three interconnected processes:

• Reconciliation, through which we try to keep finding each other
• Reparation, through which we tackle ongoing injustices and inequalities; and
• Reimagination, through which we redefine who we can be together

At a time where the status quo seems to drive on more and more conflict and violence, reimagining who we can be together is not only necessary, but urgent. One of the great gifts that the Arch gave us was his ability to imagine a version of society in which we embodied the best of our possibilities – a loving, equal, just, and connected society. As we watch the Springboks returning victorious to South Africa, led by the giant of a captain Siya Kolisi, that dream feels temporarily rekindled. But real imagination requires of us to be able to see the beautiful possibilities of change not just in moments of success and joy, but also in the darkest of times. As the Arch noted: “To choose hope is to step firmly forward into the howling wind, baring one's chest to the elements, knowing that, in time, the storm will pass.” He embodied this hope when he led the multi-faith, multi-racial, march through the streets of Cape Town in 1989, no-one in the crowd knowing that the end of apartheid was just 5 years away.

Our urgent work in the midst of the escalating violence in the Middle East is to step firmly into the howling winds of war and put forward with courage and conviction a vision of an alternative future in which Israelis and Palestinians live together in peace and mutual flourishing. As naïve as it can feel to hold onto this hope, it is at the darkest of times that we most need to remain committed to hope; to taking every action possible towards reimagining who we can be together as people across the world; to hold firmly to the knowledge that the storm will pass – and that our actions (big and small) rooted in hope, will be the cause of it coming to pass.

Janet Jobson‍