journey to peace, Sep 24 – Oct 10, 2017
We are Women Wage Peace, a rapidly growing grassroots Israeli movement of over 25,000 women (and men!) united across all traditional dividing lines – political, religious, ethnic, social and geographic. We were founded three years ago in the midst of deep despair and cynicism in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge/the 2014 Gaza War in order to reclaim hope and take action for a viable future for our region. Our goal is to reach an honorable and bilaterally acceptable political agreement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to increase the number of women in all aspects of negotiations.
Our journey to peace is bringing together tens of thousands of secular and religious, young and old, Jewish and Arab Israeli women from the political right, center, and left for a two-week journey across Israel. The journey culminates in a mass rally on Oct 8th in Jerusalem where decision-makers will hear our united demand for a diplomatic agreement loud and clear.
Join us as we journey to Peace!
Yes, it’s possible! Because more and more women demand an agreement.
The journey to peace began last week in the Negev desert, tracing the path of Abraham, father of the Jewish and Arab people. It is now continuing in the north of the country with local marches, roundtables, cultural events, and meetings with mayors, religious leaders, cultural figures, and local residents.
Yes, it’s possible! Because we all have the same basic need – a secure future.
On Oct 8, we’ll join thousands of our Palestinian sisters in the Tent of Hagar and Sarah, named for the mothers of our two peoples. There near the Dead Sea we’ll share our hopes for peace and reconciliation and invite more women and men to sign the charter. Later that day, we’ll hold a mass rally of thousands in Jerusalem.
Yes, it’s possible! Because we’re not stopping without an agreement.
On Oct 9, we’ll launch the Women’s Parliament, a group of 120 women leaders for peace from diverse communities, basing its engagement with all 120 of Israel’s elected parliamentary leaders on an uncompromising demand for a diplomatic agreement.
Yes, it’s possible! With your help.
With your support for journey to peace, you can take an active part in the most significant attempt made in recent years to grow a critical mass of Israelis ready to demand a change for the better in the reality in our region.
The journey to peace is an ambitious project requiring significant funds. Israelis and supporters worldwide have already helped us raise 90% of its total budget. We’re now counting on people like you to help us raise the rest – people who believe as we do that only a diplomatic agreement will end the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; people who believe that a critical mass of civil society in Israel can indeed influence the government to accept the fact that security will only be achieved through a diplomatic agreement.
Support us on our journey to peace. Together we can make history.
Each donation raised in this campaign will go directly to cover expenses for the journey to peace, enabling us to fund all the events we’ve planned throughout the country. All donations are tax-deductible in the U.S.!
What Women Wage Peace has accomplished in the past three years:
- March of Hope (Oct 2016) in which 30,000 participated in various events including a 150-mile trek from the Lebanese border to Jerusalem, a peace gathering with 1,000 Palestinian women, and a march/mass rally in Jerusalem, followed by media attention in Israel and abroad and dozens of meetings with Members of Parliament, government ministers, and women ambassadors to Israel
- 50-day fast with 300 women participating, outside the Prime Minister’s residence to mark the Gaza War’s first anniversary
- Israel’s first Knesset Women’s Caucus for Peace and Security established January 2016
- Outstanding Peace Activist award at the Luxembourg Peace Prizes (Jun 2016)
- Hundreds of parlor meetings, film screenings, Piece-for-Peace gatherings, sessions to grow our diversity, and trainings for peace activism, attended by more than 15,000 Israeli women and men; monthly presence at 160 main traffic intersections around the country to spread our message
- Building relationships with Palestinian women peace activists and introducing them to Israeli audiences
We are succeeding in making our voices heard above the wail of sirens, showing our leaders that tens of thousands of women are organizing, training for strategic action, and learning to speak with a united voice: Enough bloodshed! Enough tears! Yes, peace is possible!
Read about us:
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.814360?v=7057998DAD08EF14EAD379432C393CBC
Dear supporters of Women Wage Peace,
Greetings from the start of Day Five of our two-week journey to peace, our second-to-last day in the south of the country.
From a park in bustling Sderot near the Gaza border, to the social hall of a border kibbutz where the view takes in both Gaza and the Mediterranean Sea, to a Bedouin hospitality tent near Yerucham in the desert, to the steps of the Beersheva train station, to a stage erected in Dimona’s town center for a festive evening, to Abu Kaf high school in Um Batin, to the workshop of Desert Embroidery in Lakiya,
the message to us has been the same: thank you for coming to us; thank you for recognizing everyone’s need for peace; thank you for restoring hope; please keep going, women can do this.*
After we break for Yom Kippur, our journey will take us to diverse communities in the north, to Tel Aviv in the center, and finally to the Judean desert where thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women will meet together in a tent of reconciliation, the Tent of Sarah and Hagar. Later that day the journey will continue to its destination, Jerusalem, for a mass rally in Independence Park.
Thank you for helping to make all of this possible. Please support us and share the campaign with your friends and family!
*see https://www.facebook.com/WomenWagePeace/videos/1372687139497244/
We’ll add subtitles as soon as we catch our breath a little and collect a few more days’ worth of scenes from this extraordinary journey.