Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 19:14:38 -0400 From: Hans Sinn <•••@••.•••> Subject: Fwd: Bat Shalom Petition: LET THE WOMEN TALK! LET THE WOMEN ACT! Hi Jan, Below a petition by Palestinian Israeli women. If you are interested I have more relevant material on the current conflict. Best wishes, Hans. Dear Bat Shalom Friends and Allies, Individuals and organizations around the world have been asking for ways to show their support for Israeli women's peace initiatives. We are grateful for the support and concern you have expressed, and now ask you to raise your voices, loud and strong and in great numbers. Please sign (by replying with your name and address at the top of the message) the following petition**. Print it out and collect signatures and mail them to Bat Shalom (see address below). Help us to ensure that our women's voices are heard by sending a donation that will allow us to publish the petition, in Hebrew and Arabic, in as many places as we can. Let us talk! Let us act! Let the women talk! Let the women act! We know that two peoples CAN live in this land. WE know that our children deserve a life of dignity and peace. We do not want our children to be killed, nor do we want them to be killers. We must stop this madness. We must stop the use of brute force. Let the women talk. Let the women act. Let Palestinian and Israeli women lead the way. It was Israeli women who changed public opinion about the terrible and pointless war in Lebanon. It was Palestinian women who were courageous enough to engage in joint peace initiatives with Israelis. We the women can find an end to this cycle of violence as well. Let the women talk. Let the women act. The men tell us not to be scared. They all tell us to be strong. We are scared, and we want them to be scared too. We do not want to be "strong". We don't want them to think that they are strong enough to make the other nation disappear or go down in defeat and disgrace. We want each and every person to have the right to live in peace and dignity. We want to share the resources of this land, its water, its vines, and its holy places. Jerusalem can be shared; this whole area can be shared between two independent and equal nations. Israel should not rule the lives of Palestinians. Neither Palestine nor Israel should believe that peace can be won through violence and force. Let the women talk. Let the women act. Palestinian and Israeli women have been talking for years about their future here. Tens of thousands of women from around the world have been supporting our vision of making peace. These have been quiet efforts thus far. Now is the time to raise our voices and insist on being heard. Let the women talk. Let the women act. Let the women try to make sense where men did not. We are launching an international initiative to stop the violence immediately. We are insisting that all negotiating teams include at least 50% women - in the Palestinian and Israeli leadership, in the UN teams, among representatives of all the governments involved in attempts to resolve this conflict. The women will talk- they will not shoot. There are too many men with too many egos involved in burning this piece of land. Let the women talk- we can bring peace. Let the international community form a group of women from all around the world to become the Women's Peace Corps - an international meditating body of women who will listen, facilitate, help us save ourselves. Let the women talk. Let the women act. Bring the women in. The men have not done a good job here. They talk of a security based in might. We know that security means being good neighbors. Without forgetting the wrongs of the past, nor the unequal distribution of power, we will focus on how to LIVE here in peace. We do not want the next generation of children to wear uniforms, to go to war. We want them to know self-determination and dignity, without the need to fight for them. Let the women talk. Let the women act. We feel the pain, we are outraged, we are scared. Before it is too late - let the women talk. ** Profound gratitude to Daphna Golan, former director of Bat Shalom, for sharing her text with Bat Shalom. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bat Shalom is a feminist peace organization working toward a just peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Bat Shalom, together with The Jerusalem Center for Women, a Palestinian women's peace organization, comprise The Jerusalem Link. Visit our web site for more information and our latest activities: http://www.batshalom.org We gratefully accept contributions to help support our work. Checks in any currency can be mailed to Bat Shalom, POB 8083, Jerusalem 91080, Israel. Tel: +972-2-563 1477; Fax: +972-2-561 7983. See our web site for information about tax-deductible contributions or bank transfers. To subscribe to Bat Shalom's newsletter, please reply by e-mail with the word "Subscribe" in the subject line. To unsubscribe, please write "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
