Taking stock of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be dispiriting: sixty years of wars, rebellions, occupations, repression, intifadas and lost opportunities, and nothing more than a few truces and promises to go on by way of progress toward a resolution. Next month Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary (the country declared its independence on May 14, 1948, and was recognized within minutes by Harry S. Truman).

And Palestinians? They have less to celebrate this year than most, a considerably negative feat given their beleaguered history since 1948. There's talk of a Palestinian-Israeli deal for peace under the aegis of the American-sponsored Annapolis conference, but that's all it's been: talk. And very little talk at that. There's also talk of a third intifada, while The Atlantic emblazons its May issue with this provocative cover story: "Is Israel Finished?"

Demise sells. But every once in a while it's worth remembering that the extremists, who've been so successful since the 1980s, don't monopolize the scene. Israel and the Palestinian territories have a vibrant, if restricted and often harassed, community of peace and human rights organizations. Here's one you may not have heard of, but should: Ta'ayush (the word is Arabic for "life in common").

Here's how one of its members, the Israeli writer, peace activist and member of Ta'ayush, describes it in Dark Hope: Working for Peace in Palestine-Israel, published last year by the University of Chicago Press:

Ta‘ayush is not affiliated with any political party or organization. There is no formal process for joining and no declared ideological program. One becomes part of the movement by taking part in its activities and becoming involved in the process of decision. Activists—female and male, young and old, Israeli and Palestinian — come from all walks of life and hold diverse views and opinions, though all abhor the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and believe in the urgency, and the possibility, of reaching a peaceful solution. We follow the classical tradition of civil disobedience, in the footsteps of Gandhi, Thoreau, and Martin Luther King. From the beginning there has been a consistent emphasis on action, in real time, on the ground. The goal: to construct a true Arab-Jewish partnership. “A future of equality, justice, and peace begins today, between us, through concrete, daily actions of solidarity to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and to achieve full civil equality for all Israeli citizens.”