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Jun 27, 2026, 10:06 PM

Diplomats Can Sign a Ceasefire. Relationships Keep the Peace.

Illustrative. AI image created by the author.

A ceasefire can be negotiated in conference rooms. Peace cannot. Diplomats may end the exchange of weapons, but only ordinary people can end the cycle of fear, resentment, and dehumanization that makes violence return. Lasting peace is sustained not by...

Jun 27, 2026, 5:14 PM

Washington Mediates Historic Israel-Lebanon Framework Agreement

In a remarkable turn of events, Israel and Lebanon have signed a historic framework agreement in Washington, a move that many analysts are hailing as the most significant diplomatic breakthrough between the two countries in years. The agreement includes...

Jun 27, 2026, 5:09 PM

An infectious illness: Obsession

Photo credits: Sabine Sterk (AI)

The "Palestinian" infectious illness: Obsession Some people spend their lives building. They create businesses. They invent products. They develop technologies. They build schools, hospitals, roads, parks, and communities. They wake up every morning asking themselves one simple question: how can I...

Allen S. Maller

Jun 27, 2026, 12:22 AM

10 Muharram (Ashura) and Nine Av for Tragedy and Forgiveness 1

Ashura marks the 10th day of the 1st month of Muharram, on the Islamic lunar calendar of 1448. Ashura for 2026 is observed on sundown of June 25th ending at sundown on June 26th. The day commemorates for Shia Muslims the...

Jun 26, 2026, 6:49 PM

What Cannot Be Mourned Cannot Be Forgiven

How grief becomes grievance—and what communities can do about it. The title of this essay is not a metaphor. It is a description of something that happens — in families, in communities, in nations — when loss has no legitimate...

Jun 25, 2026, 10:45 PM

The Grievance Economy

Illustrative. Grief in a living room. Outrage on a screen. How media and algorithms turn private loss into public grievance. Created by the author.

This essay is part of an ongoing series on “peace preparation” — the emotional, relational, and narrative work that political agreements cannot do on their own. Earlier pieces traced how grief becomes identity and identity becomes grievance; this one...

Jun 24, 2026, 8:32 PM

We Both Thought the Other One Left

Yesterday, I spent an hour and a half on Chicago’s South Side with a Black community leader and his beautiful wife. I had met him years ago while lobbying in Springfield, and something about him stayed with me. Some people...

Jun 24, 2026, 6:00 AM

The Palestinians – and Israelis – who believe in peace

The people I know are committed to seeing each other's humanity, even through grief and despair

Jun 24, 2026, 5:24 AM

The Politics of Making Others Weep

This essay is part of an ongoing series on “peace preparation” — the emotional, relational, and narrative work that political agreements cannot do. Drawing on decades of work with couples, families, and dialogue programs, I’m exploring how grief, identity,...

Jun 23, 2026, 5:28 AM

What a Peace Preparation Process Would Look Like

Why agreements fail when societies are not emotionally prepared to live inside them. Peace agreements describe what leaders sign. Peace preparation describes what people must be ready to live. The first is negotiated in conference rooms. The second is built in homes, schools,...

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