How the Israel-Hamas conflict has changed lives in Vancouver's diasporas, 6 months in

As the Israel-Hamas war enters its seventh month, Vancouverites with ties to the region say theycontinue to acutely feelthe pain and tensionassociated with the conflict.

There are more than 2,200 people of Palestinian origin and about 2,000people of Israeli origin living in Greater Vancouver, according to Statistics Canada 2021 census data.

For many, if not all, their lives have changed since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamasinitiated a series of deadly attacks within Israel, leading to Israeli retaliation on Gaza.

CBC News profiled several people in Vancouver who consider themselves part of these diasporasto learn how thingshave changed, and how they are each working to create a sense of hope and solidarity within their communities.

Findingcommunity in food

Sobhi Al-Zobaidi, 63, owns a Palestinian restaurant in East Vancouver with his wife, Tamam Zobaidi. He spent his childhood in the Al-Jalazonrefugee camp north of Ramallah in the West Bank.

He and Tamam opened the restaurant more than a decade ago to create a footprint of Palestinian culture within the city. Now, it's a community hub for people who support Palestinians and oppose the war, according to Al-Zobaidi.

WATCH |Sobhi Al-Zobaidi:

Palestinian restaurant owner fundraises for aid in Gaza

6 months ago

Duration 8:03

Sobhi Al-Zobaidi and his wife, Tamam, own a Palestinian restaurant in East Vancouver where they host fundraisers to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.

He says he and his wife have raised more than $76,000 from a series of fundraisers held at the restaurant since Oct. 7 in orderto provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Al-Zobaidi calls it "one of the most important things that we've done since we opened this restaurant 11 years ago that we are able to offer the community this chance to get together."

Lobbying fortwo-state solution

When Maytal Kowalski moved to Toronto to attend university in 2002, she expected to see less polarization than in Israel, where she spent her formative years.

"You would think that there is a lot of polarization in Israel-Palestine because it is affecting the people on the ground the most, and that the further you move outside of that the less polarized it is. And it's the opposite. And that really struck me."

WATCH |Maytal Kowalski:

Vancouver woman says her mixed-race heritage informs her Middle East peace advocacy

6 months ago

Duration 9:13

Maytal Kowalski, who identifies as a progressive Zionist, says growing up in a mixed-race family in Israel shaped how she views the current conflict and her belief in a two-state solution.

Kowalski, 40, was born in Winnipeg and moved to a kibbutz in Israel when she was 11 years old. There, her mother, who is Jewish, fell in love with a Christian Arab Israeli from Nazareth.

She credits her unique upbringing for instilling in her a conviction that both Israelis and Palestinians have the right to self-determination, which is why she supports a two-state solution.

Now living in Vancouver, Kowalski, who identifies as a progressive Zionist,serves as interim chair of JSpaceCanada, a group thataims to galvanizeCanadian Jewish communities to lobby Israel and Canada fora peaceful resolution to the current conflict.

Solidarity among parents

Mia Amir who was born in Israel, founded the group Parents for Palestine alongside Sama Ghnaim, a Palestinian.

Ghnaim, 39, said the group formed "in response to the war that's being carried out against Gaza."

"As parents, I feel like we have the most difficult job watching this happen and tucking our children in bed at night. So we really had to do something about it."

WATCH |Mia Amir and Sama Ghnaim:

Palestinian and Israeli mothers find common ground in advocacy group for parents

6 months ago

Duration 9:05

Jewish Israeli-born Mia Amir and Sama Ghnaim, who is Palestinian, are founding members of Parents for Palestine, a Vancouver group that aims to help local families process complex emotions and find community support.

The grassroots advocacy group holds events in Vancouver for families who want to express solidarity with Palestinians in a child-friendly environment.

Amir, 41, who describes herself as a Jewishanti-Zionist,said she chose to include her own child in advocacy efforts out of a sense of moral responsibility.

Self-defence for the community

Assaf Yogev was born and raised in Israel and served in the Israeli army.He has leaned on those experiences in the aftermath of Oct. 7.

In the wake of the attacks, Yogev, 38, noticed urgency within his community to connect.

"We really felt the need to come together even closer, because we've never seen anything like this before," he said.

WATCH |Assaf Yogev:

Community safety group established in wake of Hamas attack

6 months ago

Duration 10:49

Following Hamass attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Assaf Yogev, who was born and raised in Israel, founded the United Jewish Shield, which provides other Israeli and Jewish Vancouverites with a sense of community and security.

That drive to find a renewed sense of safety led Yogev to form a grassroots group called the United Jewish Shield. The group provided immediate support to the Jewish and Israeli community by teaching self-defence and establishing an informal neighbourhood-watch network in Vancouver.

"The Jewish community, and even more so the Israeli community, is a very small community. It's very easy to paint a target on a small number of people and try to make us feel scared," he said.

Connecting experiences,not comparing

Nawal Musleh-Motut drew inspiration for her project from her own life. She's Palestinian and the daughter of a survivor of the Nakba the "catastrophe" the term for displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

"But I was also raised and educated in Canada, and so I learned about the Holocaust, its enormity and also had, obviously, a great deal of respect for the uniqueness of Jewish suffering," Musleh-Motut told CBC News.

In August 2023, the postdoctoral fellow in social justice and decolonization at B.C.'s Simon Fraser Universitypublished a bookafter bringing together Israelis and Palestinians to listen to each other's stories, look at each other's photographs and acknowledge each other's memories.

WATCH |Nawal Musleh-Motut:

Academic bringing Palestinians and Israelis together

6 months ago

Duration 10:24

Simon Fraser University post-doctoral fellow and author Nawal Musleh-Motut brought people together to share memories and photographs related to the Nakba and Holocaust.

She said the purpose ofConnecting the Holocaust and the Nakba Through Photograph-based Storytelling: Willing the Impossibleis to open up a space to connect people's experiencesrather than compare them a need that persists, she said, since the events of Oct. 7.

"This is an invitation for people to come together and change things. We have the ability. It's not going to come from government. It's not going to come from institutions. It's going to come from the people on the ground who recognize each other's humanities, [and] act on it,"Musleh-Motutsaid.