Israeli women’s movement Women Wage Peace and Palestinian Women of the Sun met with high-ranking officials in France last week, in a call to promote a political agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
Delegates from the two movements also met with Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who signed the movements’ shared Mothers’ Call, which opens with the words:
“We are thousands of Israeli and Palestinian mothers crying out together: enough of this madness. Without a brave political solution to the bloody conflict our children will continue to pay the price!”
In a speech delivered by two of the movements’ leaders in the French parliament, they said:
“We call upon people of peace around the world to add their voices to our Mothers’ Call, and to women worldwide to stand beside us. We call for a unification of moderate voices in the region and worldwide to create a brave alliance, for the sake of the future of the entire region.
The Israeli women’s movement, Women Wage Peace, and the Palestinian Women of the Sun, held a joint visit to France last week, and met with local leaders with the intent to harness them and the international community to support a political agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
Representatives from Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun, who led the joint visit, met with Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo. During the meeting Mayor Hidalgo signed the Mothers’ Call, a covenant formulated jointly by members of both movements, and which maintains that “we believe that the majority of the people of our nations also share our mutual desire. Therefore, we demand that our leaders listen to our call and promptly begin peace talks and negotiations, with a determined commitment to achieving a political solution to the long and painful conflict, within a limited timeframe.”
Hidalgo promised to distribute the call among members of the city council, and other mayors in France and worldwide, and to organize an international event on March 8th, International Women’s Day, as an expression of support for the movements’ initiative.
The peacebuilders also met with members of the French Socialist Party at the French Parliament. This event included a joint speech by the two leaders of the peace movements, calling for a political agreement and solution to the conflict. They received widespread support and were promised that a political lobby would be established to back efforts to reach such a political agreement. Party members also committed to add member of other parties to this lobby, in order to widen support and influence. Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, former head of the French Socialist party, expressed moving support and reinforced the Israeli and Palestinian women’s initiative.
Meetings were also held with heads of feminist organizations in France. A rally was held in a cry to release the hostages and achieve cease-fire, equality, freedom, peace, security, respect and justice. Simultaneous rallies were held throughout the world – in Tel Aviv, Rio d’janeiro, Dakar, Buenos Aires, San Fransisco and more.
The peace leaders said: “during these dark days we battle despair and carry the flag of hope for a better future, for us and for our children and for future generations. Your support strengthens us and enables us to continue on this difficult journey, especially now. During these terrible days when we all experience the pain and suffering of thousands of children, parents, grandparents, women and men, young and old, we need your support in order to enhance our shared voice, our demand to end this bloody conflict by a political move, and to act for the future of our children and the next generations. We call upon our nations’ leaders to lead a bold political move that will end the conflict, stop the bloody cycles and bestow life upon us all. We call upon countries in our region and worldwide to support this move. Your support is crucial and vital for it’s success.”
Dr. Yael Admi, who led the WWP delegation: “we call upon our leaders to show courage and vision in order to bring about the historic change we all aspire to and commit to continue to act persistently to restore hope to our peoples and to actively participate in negotiations until their fruition. This is in accordance with UNSCR 1325 that demands to respect women’s rights and support participation and representation of women in peace negotiations and conflict resolution processes.
Over the past two years, WWP and WoS have cooperated through numerous actions demanding our leaders to heed the Mothers’ Call, stop the bloodshed and resume talks and negotiations in order to achieve a just, inclusive, sustainable, agreement, and end the long and painful conflict. Both movements maintain continuous communications before and since the beginning of the War.
Last month, The Free University of Amsterdam (Vrije Universitait Amsterdam) submitted Israeli Women Wage Peace and Palestinian Women of the Sun as nominees for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. Vrije Universitait Amsterdam is one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the city and is recognized by the Nobel committee as a nominator of candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In their recommendation letter the university representatives wrote: “their work is tragically salient at the moment, given their ability to continue building peaceful connections between Palestinian and Israeli communities despite the incredible obstacles they have faced over the past two months
