December visit

After an amazing experience at the March of Hope in October we had the opportunity to return to Israel and reconnect with the project and people this past month.

The first two weeks of our trip were with our daughter Shoshana's family, including Ari (9), Eli (5), and Kobi (3). It was a great opportunity to see Israel from the eyes of children, including an archaeologic dig at Beit Guvrin, milking goats and making cheese at the Chai Goat Farm, and playing on the beach in Tel Aviv.

We also used the trip to visit the friends we had made in October, and find out what was going on in the Women Wage Peace movement.

Early in our stay, we participated in the year's final demonstration in front of the Knesset, where the goal is to make it clear to the individual members that they are being held accountable for working towards peace. Many dozens of picketers have showed up each week with posters depicting the faces of each of the 120 Knesset members. WWP has been working with individual Knesset members to address what is needed to move towards a negotiated settlement. Several members from center (Likud) to left parties left the Knesset building to share remarks with the protestors.

Carol ended up giving an impromptu talk to the crowd.

On another day, we did a whirlwind tour to the South of Israel. We joined in with a tour organized by Women Wage Peace, starting at Netiv HaAsara, a kibbutz right on the northern Gaza Border. Here's a view of the border wall and fence from where we were standing.

We visited the home of Tsameret Zamir, an artist who has created a peace mosaic on the wall protecting the kibbutz from gunfire, and we became part of the wall by attaching ceramic pieces, as thousands of visitors have done (including us and several US congressmen we were with on previous trips).

From there we went to Sderot where we saw the remains of rockets that had been fired at the city, and had lunch at a "fast food" place (hummus and falafel) with the group, and heard from Mally Pnina Tapiro, a Women Wage Peace activist who had survived attacks there and has written a children's book called "I, myself" about the psychological impact. We heard many moving stories from people about living under the threat (and actuality) of attacks.

From Sderot we went to Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which is right on the Gaza border, where we heard more stories, and saw how they combine "normal" life for families, along with bomb shelters, which they have to get into within a few seconds when the siren rings (that's a bomb shelter, with Piglet):

We sat in front of the wall they built around the children's house, where we heard from Dany Rahamin, one of the residents, about the things that had happened over the years, including the death of one of the children from a mortar attack, which had a deep impact on the residents. In the picture you see the group we were touring with.

From there we went to Ofakim, a town that is just outside the 45 second warning time, and therefore doesn't get government support for shelters. We spent a couple of hours talking with Yahaloma Zechut, the daughter of Egyptian Jewish parents, who is one of the most active leaders in Women Wage Peace. Her participation is especially important since she comes from a very traditional, conservative, economically depressed, mostly Sephardic and Russian community. She has done an incredible job there of community organizing in what they call the "Resliency Center" for dealing with the trauma of attacks, setting up a youth group, pressing demands on the government for a fair share of resources (the "periphery" gets much less than the core central areas and the West Bank settlements), and more. She's the short one in the picture, and the woman on the right is Lili Weisberger, a key WWP leader and the one who escorted us on the voyage.

We accompanied Yahaloma to a Chanukah celebration (mostly for seniors) in the nearby Yemenite community of Moshav Bit'ha. We enjoyed a traditional Yemenite feast with the hundreds of people there,

And enjoyed the dancing by some of the senior Yemenite Moshav members.

On our last day in Israel we attended a Chanukah celebration in Jerusalem, which was one of more than a dozen Chanukah events around the country organized by Women Wage Peace. The program was multi-faith, including both Christian and Moslem speakers and musicians.

The event was organized by Tamar Applebaum (on the left of the candle-lighting picture) who is the rabbi of the Conservative (Masorti) congregation Tzion: Kehillah Yisraeli Artzit (Zion: An Israeli Community). One of the program participants (to the right of the menorah) was Hadassah Froman, an Orthodox Jewish woman peacemaker, from the West Bank settlement of Tekoa. She is the widow of the late Rabbi Menachem Froman, who was a pioneer in Jewish-Muslim peacemaking in the West Bank settlements and she has spoken at many Women Wage Peace events.

Hadassah and Carol both got in on the dancing:

In the course of the travels, we were able to have long talks with several of the major organizers for Women Wage Peace, including our old friend Jessica Montell (who manages their Twitter feed); Anat Negev (and her husband Doron), who has done the graphic design for all of their materials and now manages the web site and all communication; Yael and Yoel Admi, who have managed the logistics for the marches and events (Yael is the dancer in the grey sweater and scarf)' Hamutal Gouri, (who is on the far right in the picture of the menorah lighting); Lili Weisberger, Anat Saragusti, Rivi Diamond, and others. They are all remarkable activists and have become personal friends in the course of our visits.

At this point, the organization is deeply engaged in community development, bringing together women from a variety of locations and backgrounds. For example, while we were there, they held a Chanukah event in Dimona, which is one of the underdeveloped periphery communities (best known as the location for the Israeli nuclear program). This was part of their "Israeli Salad" program, which emphasizes the bringing together of diverse ingredients (people from different backgrounds and cultures).

Along with the person-to-person organizing all around the country, they are taking advantage of social media with a large presence on Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp (a mobile app used extensively in their organizing). They are formulating the strategy that will guide their work in the coming year, building on the great success of the March for Peace, towards both new large events and the continued work with women around the country and their political representatives. The march was well publicized in Israel and around the world. WWP thinks it has been a game-changer. There has been lots of interest from new communities, a regular place on a TV series, interviews, and articles in mainstream media.

Their strategy with the government (i.e., the Knesset) is being developed and already includes several elements in addition to their weekly presence. They are participating actively in the relevant committee meetings, and working with individual members for them to come out in support of the group and a negotiated resolution of the conflict. They have been asked to speak at a large event in Israel for International Women's Day, and have been particularly effective with women's groups.

Of course, the future activities will depend on what happens in the political situation, both in Israel and in the surrounding world. They were all concerned about what impact the Trump presidency will have, and about a number of anti-democratic and anti-two-state trends they see in Israeli politics. They realize that they have a long way to go. At the same time, they are more encouraged every day that by the enthusiasm and strong desire to end the conflict and live in peace that they see in women around the country. They have the will and willingness to make changes to bring about peace.