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The March of Hope by Women Wage Peace reaches PM`s Residence in J`lem

Wed. Oct. 19 at 18:30 - The March of Hope by Women Wage Peace reaches PM
Residence in J`lem

http://womenwagepeace.org.il/en/

Women Wage Peace

Women Wage Peace works to bring about a viable peace agreement. We will
place the option of a political resolution at the top of the public agenda,
as it is the only outcome that offers life and hope. A new and different
reality in the Middle East is feasible, and we must strive for it.

A March for Hope \ Sarit Bloom

The March of Hope will begin on Tuesday, October 4, the end of Rosh
Hashanah, and end on October 19, during Sukkot. We will march together to
Jerusalem, and call on the leadership of the state:

We demand that our leaders work with respect and courage towards a solution
to the ongoing violent conflict, with the full participation of women in
this process. Only an honorable political agreement will secure the future
of our children and grandchildren.

You can register for the various parts of the march and/or the rally with
the following link:
https://womenwagepeace.smarticket.co.il/

– Join the uniting Israel trail

For non-Hebrew speakers who need assistance with registration, please send
us your name, phone number and the language you speak, at this e-mail
address: marchofhope.nonhebrew@gmail.com

One of our members will contact you and assist you in filling out the
necessary forms.

What else can YOU do?

– To pull off a successful March, we need your help with a donation of $18,
$36, $100, $500, $1,000, $1,800 or whatever amount you can afford. Click
HERE to make a U.S. tax deductible contribution to Women Wage Peace through
our American partners at Ameinu. Be sure to write “Women Wage Peace” in the
donation designation line.
– You can donate also through Generosity by Indiegogo
– Fill out the March participation form
– Mark “attending” on the Facebook event
– Join the organizing team – write to us at marchofhope2016@gmail.com
– Invite your friends, and spread the word.
List of events in Israel (Hebrew)

Solidarity events around the world

Join us in supporting Piece for Peace, a partner group

Check out these videos:

March of Hope Video

Women Wage Peace 2015 Video

Women Wage Peace activists speak, August 2015

Leymah Gbowee (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) Supports Women Wage Peace

Read what we have to say (op eds, articles and speeches):

By Avital Brown and Donna Kirshbaum, March 2, 2016

By Bradley Burston, Haaretz, June 7, 2016, mentions Women Wage Peace

The importance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 to WWP and Israel

As election nears, women march to put peace on agenda, March 5, 2015 by
Elhanan Miller Thousands of Women Protest for Peace in Jerusalem Today

Israel has always been close to my heart. Not only was I born there and hope
one day to live there permanently, I also follow all that is happening there
very closely and get upset and sometimes moved to tears when things are
going wrong. The political situation over the last few years has made me
depressed and dismayed. In the last 20 years something has happened to
Israeli discourse. Israel stopped talking about peace. Consecutive
governments have convinced the people that we have no partner for peace and
that, at best, we can aspire to maintain the status quo – “manage the
conflict” – rather than solve it.

However, in November 2014, at a memorial rally for the assassinated Prime
Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, I was touched by hope. A small group of women stood
on the stage, all dressed in white, and sent a message which I could relate
to, a message which I thought could gather strength and influence what is
happening in Israel. So I joined the embryonic movement to try to spread
this message.

collage-2
Women Wage Peace (WWP) has started in 2014 whilst Operation Protective Edge
was taking place. It is a non-political movement, encompassing women from
all over the country – Jews, Arabs, and Palestinians, religious and non-
religious, women from the settlements and from the peripheries, women of all
political inclinations. The aim is to restore hope and to work towards a
peaceful existence for ourselves, our children and the future generations.
In a small country, it is hard to avoid funerals at war time. It is the goal
of the movement to try to prevent the next war, to raise public awareness
and to make people recognize that the status quo cannot be allowed to
continue, that there is a need for change. The idea is to recruit more and
more women to the movement in order to put pressure on and influence
politicians and opinion makers to work towards achieving a political
agreement; to find a resolution for the conflict we are in, a resolution
which is non-violent, is respectable and agreeable to all sides and we aim
to try and achieve this within four years.

Why a women’s movement? Michal Barak, one of the founders, explains: “Women
entail doing, initiating, determination, hope, listening and communicating.
Women signify an alternative.” It is hard, she maintains, to persuade anyone
by using only logic. A consciousness shift is possible only through
connections and relationships built on identity. Here, it is the gender
identity – being women. “Women”, she says, “connect on the basis of their
gender, of their being mothers and sisters and wives. It is a shared
identity that crosses the deep divisions. Not as a gimmick or a tactic – it
is very deep. We share so much as women and we connect very easily. This
connection opens a possibility of finding more common grounds; it encourages
each of us to look for her real drives beyond the automatic.” Michal
believes that “seeing the complexity in yourself and in others is the key
for breaking stereotypes and for resolving disputes. “

Michal Barak is an educationalist and a lawyer involved in social
organisations. She and Irit Tamir – also a lawyer who was a counsellor for
civil societies- had the same vision of creating a women’s movement. The
inspiration came from ‘The Four Mothers’ movement – a protest movement which
was founded by four women from the north of Israel, mothers to soldiers who
were serving in Lebanon, with the aim of bringing about the withdrawal of
the Army from there.

The idea was to stop the cycle of violence and to have no more bloodshed.
The first meeting of the movement took place in Jerusalem where around
thirty women attended. Most of these women are still active in the movement.
It was decided not to be another “Left” movement, but to try to encompass
women from all walks of life and every possible political nuance, to become
an irritant, a stubborn buzzing fly which will not go away until ‘peace’
will become part of the general debate and no longer would be a “dirty
word”.

The launch of the movement took place on November 25, 2014 in Sderot,
following the ‘train for peace’ action, which saw women dressed in white
boarding the same train from different parts of the country to arrive at
Sderot. Like many other women, I found in the movement something reassuring.
It seems to be a movement which manages to give the thousands of women
following it the opportunity to be part of political conversation, and to
try to influence the country’s future. It gives us the feeling of
empowerment and the motivation to go on until we reach our goal.

In May this year, I joined a weekend seminar lead by three movements – Women
Wage Peace, ITACH ???? ?? – Women Lawyers for Social Justice who work to
advance women’s rights and to encourage women’s voices in the public and
legal domains – and the ADAM Institute – a national educational
organisation working towards the advancement of democracy, peace and respect
of human and citizen rights.

Since, two other similar seminars were held with the intention of
organising, all together, nine seminars over two years. This is a unique
project where some 500 women in all, from diverse Israeli groups and
sectors, women of different backgrounds presenting a variety of voices, aim
to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas concerning peace and
security. The organisers hope to stimulate a discourse from which women are
usually excluded. The objective is to allow this dialogue to continue long
after the seminars have ended by initiating public and communal activities
in order to stimulate women’s participation.

For me, it was an exceptional encounter and a special experience of meeting
women from the north and south of the country, from cities, villages and
kibbutzim, secular, religious and Arab women, from the left, the centre and
the right of the political spectrum, women who brought with them an array of
professions and knowledge. Our discourse was earnest, open and encompassing.
The workshops introduced us to new information, historical events,
information on the conflict and its origin, on peace and equality. Mainly,
though, it presented us with different points of view, some original, some
fascinating and sometimes challenging. The feminine perspective took centre
place, highlighting the need to think about those different to us, about
civil rights, freedom of movement and freedom of choice and to understand
what issues need to be tackled when the discourse is around the subject of
Peace.

english-banner-2016
The expectations from us, the participants, and from the organisers were
high and the will to act even higher. The subjects discussed were weighty,
such as the end of the occupation, the improvement of Israel’s democracy,
healthy sex education, bringing together Israelis and Palestinians, the lack
of tolerance towards opinions which are not the accepted norm, citizens’
rights and the need to abolish racism. It was an inspirational event from
which, I believe, we came out with the knowledge that each of us is not
alone, that there is much willingness to improve our lives and the lives of
our neighbours. This weekend increased my motivation to act. I have been
trying hard since to do just that. I do believe that the Women Wage Peace’s
message of the need to change, the need to go out into the public domain and
voice our wishes can work and I hope we can rally as many women and men as
possible to act towards this goal too. Now, in October, a March for Hope is
held. Women (and men too) from all over the country, marching towards and in
Jerusalem. The March will culminate on Wed. Oct. 19 in a rally outside the
Prime Minister’s home, where we will demand from the government to strive
for change, to try for a political agreement. I will certainly be there.

cinematheque-jerusalem-20-10-16/

israeli-march-hannah-rubin-j-weekly-13-10-16/

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