Maoz Inon | |
---|---|
Born | 1975 (age 49–50) |
Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, peace activist |
Known for | Founding several tourism initiatives including the Jesus Trail, Fauzi Azar Inn, and Abraham Hostels |
Children | 3 |
Maoz Inon (born 1975) [1] is an Israeli entrepreneur and peace activist. Inon has founded several tourism initiatives within Israel and the Middle East, including the Jesus Trail, Fauzi Azar Inn, and Abraham Hostel and Tour brands. Since the murder of his parents in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Inon has become a voice for peace between Israelis and Palestinians within international media. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Maoz Inon was born in kibbutz Nir Am in the north-western Negev. At age 14 he moved with his family to a nearby Israeli community, Netiv HaAsara, just next to the Israeli border with Gaza.[ citation needed ]
Inon's work in the tourism industry has largely focused on attracting backpackers and independent travellers to Israel. He ascribes to the idea that improving responsible tourism will also drive positive political change through boosts to the local economy. [8]
In 2005, Maoz Inon set up the Fauzi Azar Inn guesthouse in the Old City of Nazareth in a partnership with a local Arab family (The Azar Family). [9] [10] The hostel was set up as a way to help rejuvenate the Old City that had struggled with high levels of crime, dilapidation and low numbers of tourists. It was also envisaged as a platform for cross-cultural dialogue between Jewish and Arab Israelis, and for education for international tourists about Israel. [9] In 2011, Maoz's guesthouse received the World Responsible Tourism Award for its commitment to sustainable community development practices. [9] That same year, British Prime Minister Tony Blair also visited the guesthouse. [11] The Fauzi Azar Inn led to a tourism revival in the Old City of Nazareth, with a number of guesthouses opening since the Fauzi Azar's existence and local shopkeepers reporting a growth in business. [12]
In 2007, Maoz Inon established another project in the Galilee, the Jesus Trail. The 65 km trail was inspired by Maoz's personal experience of long-distance hiking he had done across the world and a perceived need to connect the region's various religious sites and communities with a walking path. The trail is committed to environmental protection and encourages local communities to take responsibility for waste disposal. In 2011, British Prime Minister Tony Blair walked the first section of the trail together with Maoz. [13]
In 2008, Inon co-founded Israel Hostels, an independent travellers' accommodation network. [14]
Together with Israeli entrepreneur Gal Mor and a collection of investors, Maoz Inon founded the first Abraham Hostel in Jerusalem in 2010. [1] Over time, the Abraham Hostels group has grown to become the largest hostel chain in Israel, with additional locations in Tel Aviv and Eilat, and a location in the Philippines. [15] The company also runs a tour operation. The Abraham Hostels and Tour Group is named after the biblical figure of Abraham, whom the owners consider as a "unifying symbol among the area's prominent faiths" and who serves as a "fitting representation of what we hope to bring to the world". [15] While some have been critical of some of the group's ventures, such as running tours to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, [16] others have praised the company for promoting dialogue about sensitive issues in the region. [15]
On 7 October 2023, Maoz's parents, Bilha and Yakovi Inon, were killed when their house was hit by a close-range missile in the Hamas attack on Israel. After the attack, Maoz Inon has appeared on international media outlets across the world calling for an end to the violence in the region and the need for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. [2] [3] [4] [5] [7] Maoz Inon has called for the Israeli government to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas. [2] [5] [17] On 7 November, Inon and Yaakov Godo, another Israeli who had lost a relative in the 7 October attacks, began a vigil in a mourner's tent outside the Knesset, saying they would not leave until prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigned. [18]
In April 2024, Maoz Inon, together with Palestinian peace activist Aziz Abu Sarah, spoke at a TED event in Vancouver, Canada. In the talk, they reflect on their personal losses related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and their decision to come together to work for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. [19] A month later, the pair were met and embraced by Pope Francis at the Arena for Peace event in Verona, Italy. [20]
In the early 2000s, Inon and his wife were based in Tel Aviv. [8] After the two spent several months hiking Patagonia and the Pacific Crest Trail in California, they were inspired to improve backpacking opportunities in Israel. [8]
As of 2010, Inon was based in Binyamina. [1] He and his wife have three children. [8] [21]
Inon's parents, who lived in Netiv HaAsara, were killed in the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, after a rocket propelled grenade launched by Hamas started a fire in their home. [17]
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas, is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organisation with a military wing called the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas in 1987. He also served as the first chairman of the Hamas Shura Council and de facto leader of Hamas since its inception from December 1987 until his assassination in March 2004.
The Arab–Israeli conflict is the phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between various Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by Arab League member countries for the Palestinians, a fellow League member, in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.
The Island of Peace, or Al-Baqoura as it is known in Jordan, is an area in northern Jordan bordering the Jordan River. The park is at the confluence of the Jordan River and Yarmouk River. Pinhas Rutenberg's Naharayim hydroelectric power station can be seen from here.
The Jesus Trail is a 65 km (40 mi) hiking and pilgrimage route in the Galilee region of Israel that traces the route Jesus may have walked, connecting many sites from his life and ministry. The main part of the trail begins in Nazareth and passes through Sepphoris, Cana, the Horns of Hattin, Mount Arbel Cliffs, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Tabgha, and the Mount of Beatitudes. An alternate return route passes by Tiberias, the Jordan River, Mount Tabor, and Mount Precipice.
Netiv HaAsara is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the north-west Negev, just at the northern border with the Gaza Strip, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 948.
Since 2001, Palestinian militants have launched tens of thousands of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip as part of the continuing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The attacks, widely condemned for targeting civilians, have been described as terrorism by the United Nations, the European Union, and Israeli officials, and are defined as war crimes by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The international community considers indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets to be illegal under international law. Palestinian militants say rocket attacks are a response to Israel's blockade of Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority has condemned them and says rocket attacks undermine peace.
The bilateral relations between the State of Palestine and Russia have a complex history, deeply interwoven with Russian and Soviet relations with the Israeli enterprise, Palestinian nationalism, and Third World national liberation movements. Between 1956 and 1990, Soviet–Palestinian relations were part of the then-ongoing Soviet–American confrontation.
Tourism in the Palestinian territories is tourism in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. In 2010, 4.6 million people visited the Palestinian territories, compared to 2.6 million in 2009. Of that number, 2.2 million were foreign tourists while 2.7 million were domestic. In the last quarter of 2012 over 150,000 guests stayed in West Bank hotels; 40% were European and 9% were from the United States and Canada. Major travel guides write that "the West Bank is not the easiest place in which to travel but the effort is richly rewarded."
The 2010 Palestinian militancy campaign was a coordinated effort by 13 Palestinian militant groups, led by Islamist group Hamas, to derail peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The campaign consisted of attacks against Israelis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel in which, according to a Hamas declaration in early September, "all options are open". The participating groups also included Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and an unnamed splinter group of Fatah. Some Israeli and Palestinian officials and analysts familiar with Hamas believe that the true target of the campaign is the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
Egypt–Palestine relations are the bilateral relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Palestine. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and he favored self-determination for the Palestinians. Although the Egyptian government has maintained a good relationship with Israel since the Camp David Accords, most Egyptians strongly resent Israel, and disapprove of the close relationship between the Israeli and Egyptian governments.
Fauzi Azar by Abraham Hostels is a guesthouse located in the old city of Nazareth, Israel. It is on the Jesus Trail. In recent years, the Fauzi Azar has played a role in working with the Christian Arab community of Nazareth through various projects.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and Maoist organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya. It is a member organization of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Alliance of Palestinian Forces and the Democratic Alliance List.
The Battle of Gaza, also known as the Gaza civil war, was a brief civil war between Fatah and Hamas that took place in the Gaza Strip from 10 to 15 June 2007. It was a prominent event in the Fatah–Hamas conflict, centered on the struggle for power after Fatah lost the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. The battle resulted in the dissolution of the unity government and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities: the West Bank governed by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and the Gaza Strip governed by Hamas. Hamas fighters took control of the Gaza Strip, while Fatah officials were either taken as prisoners, executed, or expelled. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that at least 161 people were killed and more than 700 were wounded during the fighting.
Ismail Haniyeh was a Palestinian politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination in July 2024. He also served as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 2006 until June 2014 and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip from June 2007 until February 2017, where he was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar.
The Abraham Accords are bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain on September 15, 2020. Mediated by the United States, the announcement of August 13, 2020, concerned Israel and the Emirates before the subsequent announcement of an agreement between Israel and Bahrain on September 11, 2020. On September 15, 2020, the signing of the agreements was hosted by US president Trump on the Truman Balcony of the White House amid elaborate staging intended to evoke the signings of historic formal peace treaties in prior administrations.
Since the 1970s, there has been a parallel effort made to find terms upon which peace can be agreed to in the Arab–Israeli conflict and also specifically the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Over the years, numerous Arab League countries have signed peace and normalization treaties with Israel, beginning with the Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1979). Despite the failure to implement the Israeli–Lebanese peace accords (1983), more treaties continued with the Israeli–Palestinian peace process (1991–present), the Israel–Jordan peace treaty (1994), the Abraham Accords normalizing relations between Israel–United Arab Emirates and Israel–Bahrain (2020), the Israel–Sudan normalization agreement (2020) and the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement (2020). Moreover, numerous Arab League members established semi-official relations with Israel.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza Envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The attack coincided with the Jewish religious holiday Simchat Torah.
The Netiv HaAsara massacre occurred during the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Thirty-five Hamas militants, some via paragliders and most via car, attacked Netiv HaAsara, an Israeli moshav close to the border fence. The militants killed at least 20 people, including in some cases members of the same family. Before the massacre, the moshav was home to approximately 900 residents.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Wikipedia articles available about the Israel–Hamas war. It is an evolving list.