While the ceremony itself was tastefully done, that is not the story.
On the YouTube live chat during the ceremony, I see comments in English and Hebrew - but I could not find a single comment in Arabic.
As I wrote on Sunday, not one organization that sponsored it was Palestinian.
This is not the story of reconciliation and grassroots peacemaking as framed by the Israeli organizers.
The real story is that it hijacked Israel's solemn day for remembering fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks by saying that the day is also about Palestinians.
The real story is that many of the "fallen Palestinians" being memorialized were terrorists, and died while in the course of attacks against innocent Jews, making this hijacking all the more perverse. If you want to make a joint memorial day, do it some other day.
The real story is that this is not a joint Israeli/Palestinian peace effort, which would be worthwhile. It is a propaganda exercise largely conceived and run by leftist Jews who have a political agenda that has little to do with "peace."
If the Jews and Palestinians who are part of these groups really cared about peace, they would be prioritizing teaching Palestinians to accept Israel as a permanent Jewish state. They would be inviting Israelis to speak about peace to Palestinian groups. They would be holding conferences in how to achieve peace in Ramallah as often as they do in Tel Aviv. And none of them are doing that, at least in a way that is visible.
There is no coverage of this event in Palestinian news media that I can see. No one called on Palestinians in Arabic to remember their dead yesterday. The idea that they would do such a thing on the same day that Israelis do it would be anathema.
No, this event was propaganda to make it appear that Palestinians are just like Israelis, with the same hopes and dreams and sorrows.
For some Palestinians, this is true. I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the Arabic speakers at the ceremony. But in the aggregate, it isn't true at all. Palestinians are not yearning for peace the way Israelis are. Palestinians are not interested in joint grassroots initiatives with Israelis the way Israelis want. On the contrary, Palestinians who talk with Israelis are considered traitors and guilty of "normalization."
Events like this are not publicized or reported on in Palestinian media because Palestinians are not the target audience. That is the entire problem and proof that this is has nothing to do with peace. And while this sounds cynical, that means that the Palestinians who are involved in these initiatives are merely props to be used by left-wing Jews, saying to the world, "look, we all have the same pain." If there is no true Palestinian-created peace organization that accepts the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, then there is no Palestinian group that actually wants real peace.
Jews are being asked to be sympathetic to Palestinian pain but no one is asking Palestinians to be sensitive to Jewish pain.
Israelis are expected to do more to achieve peace and the Palestinians are not.
This is gaslighting. It is brilliant propaganda. But don't be fooled that it has anything to do with peace or compromise or conciliation.
UPDATE: Previous ceremonies explicitly memorialized terrorists.