Combatants for Peace tell U.N. briefing ceasefire has not held, urge political solution and international pressure

At a United Nations briefing, representatives of the binational group Combatants for Peace said Gaza was still being bombed and called for an international push toward a political agreement to end the cycles of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

The group's speakers, who described themselves as former combatants turned peace activists, told the briefing that grassroots organizing across Israeli and Palestinian communities shows the two peoples can work together to build stability. Thomas Contogorgos, head of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration section of the U.N. Department of Peace Operations, described the U.N. team's role supporting ex-combatants' transitions to civilian life and said the office operates in "more than 20 different contexts." Lee Woodyer of the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions introduced the session.

"The ceasefire is not yet a ceasefire. Gaza is still being bombed," said Mai Shaheen, a Palestinian activist and former combatant with Combatants for…