Formation | 2014 |
---|---|
Co-director | Yael Braudo-Bahat |
Website | www |
Women Wage Peace (WWP; Hebrew: נשים עושות שלום, romanized: Nashim Osot Shalom) is an Israeli grassroots peace movement, formed shortly after the Gaza War in 2014. Its primary goal is to pressure the Israeli government into achieving a "bilaterally acceptable political agreement" to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a target date of 2018.[1]
While originally started by Israeli women, including peace activist Vivian Silver,[2] the movement has worked to build connections with Palestinian women, also reaching out to both women and men of many other local regions and religious backgrounds.[3][4] It was inspired by similar women's movements in Northern Ireland and Liberia, where women of different faiths had united to help resolve violent conflicts.[3][5] Inspiration also came from the Four Mothers movement, established in 1997, which ultimately influenced Israel's military withdrawal from South Lebanon.[6]
The movement has its basis on two main objectives:[7]
As of May 2017, Women Wage Peace had more than 20,000 members and supporters.[4]
In March 2015, members of the movement protested outside the Israel Parliament building in Jerusalem, calling for politicians to put more priority on peace talks in the general election debates.[8]
In 2015, from July 8 to August 26, Women Wage Peace staged a collective fast outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's formal residence, timing their symbolic 50-day "Operation Protective Fast" to coincide with the anniversary of Operation Protective Edge in Gaza the previous year.[9][10] Approximately 300 women and men participated, joining the protest in shifts.[6] In early September, a week after the hunger strike had concluded, four members of the movement were invited to a formal meeting with Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of renewing peace talks with Palestine.[6]
In October 2016, over 3000 Israeli and Palestinian women participated in a Women Wage Peace march from Northern Israel to Jerusalem, ending with a rally in front of Prime Minister Netanyahu's formal residence.[3][11] Among the speakers at the rally was Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate known for helping to end the Second Liberian Civil War.[3]
Following the march, Canadian-Israeli singer and activist Yael Deckelbaum of Habanot Nechama collaborated with Women Wage Peace to create the song "Prayer of the Mothers", which included clips of a speech by Gbowee.[12][13] As of May 2017, the music video had received over 3 million views on YouTube.[14]
The movement has continued to remain active, building pressure and awareness around the need for peaceful conflict resolution.[4]
In March 2017, at an International Women's Day reception in Tel Aviv, more than a dozen foreign female ambassadors pledged their support for the Women Wage Peace movement.[15]
On May 13, 2017, the Israeli music network Constant Culture announced that they had created an EDM compilation album in support of peace, with all proceeds going to Women Wage Peace.[16]
On May 18, 2017, members of Women Wage Peace met in Tel Aviv in advance of U.S. President Donald Trump's first visit to Israel, creating a human chain that spelled out "ready for peace".[17][18]
They have collaborated multiple times with the Palestinian organization Women of the Sun, who have a similar objective.[19][20]
In late 2021 and early 2022, both groups worked together on forming a "joint platform".[21] In March 2022, coalitions from both groups met at Neve Midbar Beach on the Dead Sea for a peace conference.[21][22]
On October 4, 2023, just days before the onset of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war which included the murder of the organisation's founder Vivian Silver by Hamas militants, the two groups organized a peace march in Jerusalem, from the Monument of Tolerance to the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood.[20]