Hagrit, from Israel, Geraldine, Sandra, Sivan, an Israeli-Australian, Hinde, Alex, just returned from Israel, Sandra, Esma, Di and Hellen, in vigil photo, Joan from New York and Melbourne.
The rain fell. On such a sad and hopeless time it seemed for world sanity, for history to have meaning, black clad Israeli commandoes swirling onto the ships, nine people and perhaps more dead, and still Israel has not released their names as if they were not really human after all, just a problem for the nation's public relations concerns. But then we gathered, Israeli women, Australian women and some of us from in between, then we took to the streets where hope was born again. A young Iraqi couple walked by, read our signs, took our leaflet, and then returned again. The young man stood in front of us and asked, "are any of you Jewish women?" It just so happens that most of us are Jewish. Hagrit and Sivan, both Israelis and myself all heard the question and nodded. Then Hagrit said, "yes, I am Israeli and I am so ashamed." The young woman answered, "we are Iraqi and we had to leave, there is no room to be different." She stepped forward, throwing her arms around Hagrit, there on a Melbourne street, people holding tight to the humanity of their dissent, to their desire for another kind of world. No reporters from The Age or the Australian ever cover our vigils, gray haired women standing in the rain again and again--but the hundreds who walked by us know silence is a choice and there are alternatives.Our flyer:
We Are All Gazans Now
Women in Black, Melbourne
End the Israeli Occupation, End the Embargo of Gaza
June 5, 2010 marks 43 years since the Six Day War that began the occupation.
Three and a half million Palestinians live under Israeli occupation which denies their most basic freedoms.
Walls, check points, eviction, embargoes bring endless suffering to families, destroy possibilities of education, medical care, harvesting of crops.
We stand here to make our opposition visible, to ask you to think about what kind of world you and your children want to live in.
We stand, women from many different backgrounds, refusing to be enemies.
From Hagar Square, Jerusalem to the Old GPO, Melbourne
Peace activists on both sides of the wall call for the end to this madness.
Join us, in Melbourne, the first Saturday of every month, 12-1 on the steps of the old GPO.
A statement from Isha L'Isha, Haifa Feminist Center:
We, the women of Isha L'Isha--Haifa Feminist Center express deep shock at the continuing and deteriorating consequences of the siege on Gaza. We express our solidarity with women peace activists who acted to break the unhuman siege on women, children and men; a siege that has been preventing basic human freedoms, health services and essential materials.
We extend our support to our sisters in the feminist movement, especially those who went out to exercise their right to protest against an outrageous injustice, and found themselves facing a military attack that was a result of a violent state policy.
We call on women and men in Israeli society to resist the assault on the most basic human values, and to join our call--the attack on the peace flotilla is an attack on me. The siege on Gaza endangers us all. Isha L'Isha--Haifa Feminist Center is a multi-cultural feminist collective established in 1983. Our aim is to bring about social change by promoting values of equal rights and equal opportunities for all women; eradicating discrimination, violence and oppression of women, and fostering solidarity among women.
Shifting Sands: Jewish Women Confront the Israeli Occupation
edited by Osie Adelfang, an anthology of women writing about the Middle East, with a preface by Amira Hass and foreword by Cindy Sheehan.
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