Women form movement for a
"Gathering for Peace" on the Israel-Palestine border
[12-21-02]
Back in September, two women began circulating an
e-mail note sharing their idea for a massive "Gathering of
Women" on the Israel-Palestine border, to try to cool the
violence in what so many call the Holy Land.
Well, we're not exactly on the leading edge of this
news, but we think it's worth sharing ... both the text of their
original letter, and a link so you can visit
their own web site for more information.
Subject: Women Gathering for Peace
From Betsy Cox and Sally Brady
To Women Everywhere:
I am writing to let you know of a still-developing
initiative imagined by two essentially nonpolitical women in Vermont and
Massachusetts.
Sally Brady is a literary agent and writer, mother of
four, and I am a novelist and professor of creative writing at MIT
(after 18 years at Duke University), mother of two, stepmother of three.
A week ago I visited Sally in Vermont. She showed to
me a letter from an Israeli woman. The woman's daughter was an innocent
victim of a suicide bombing several months ago.
The letter had touched Sally and she kept saying,
"What can we do? Can't we do something?" Her plea made me
think of women everywhere who feel the need to do something, something
different from the regular attempt at solution.
I reminded Sally of two ancient myths that reflect
upon the difference in masculine (Parsifal) and feminine (Psyche)
energies, because they remind women of a power that is not "power
over" anything, but "power with" -- and the results can
be remarkable. I suggested that we tap into that power.
Sally suggested a Gathering of Women. She liked the
softness of the word" gathering," and so did I. We thought of
a march, but a march didn't seem right -- gathering seemed better.
"We need an image," I said. "An image
can change awareness." (This idea came from Carl Jung.)
Then Sally said, "What about a gathering of women
standing on the border between Israel and Palestine? What about women
hand in hand on the border?"
I could not believe the hopefulness that image brought
to my mind: hundreds of thousands of women standing over hundreds of
miles-women of different cultures, class, color, ethnicity, women from
all over the world. Standing for three days. We grew passionate about
the idea, and since that night every woman we've told has grown
immediately excited and wants to be part of it: an Israeli woman living
in Israel, a grandmother, a young woman in business school.
Already, the Voices of Women (both Israeli and
Palestinian) are being encouraged. Those women are already talking. I
keep thinking what a difference it might make to engage women from all
over the world. Many men would be willing to help us. I'm already
enlisting their help, but I hope they are willing to help in the
background -- as women have done in times of past wars.
The image of women from all over the world standing on
the border between two warring countries creates enormous vulnerability.
The risk is great (I hope that women with young children will
participate in ways that are not risky), but the door that could be
opened by this great act might lead to awareness of a different kind.
I also think that something new might be realized if
men see that their wives, mothers, daughters, sisters could be killed.
Perspectives might change. Big hopes live in this; and though Sally and
I approach it with no great expectation of change, we do have the
greater hope for a new imagination.
Recently, I read an article ("The Last
Negotiation" in Foreign Affairs) which speaks about ways to give
both countries what they want. What struck me in this article was the
original and new idea of "boundaries" -- ways in which
boundaries would need to be more fluid.
Maybe whatever 'border" this gathering of women
can find might reflect a possibility for new definitions of boundary.
Would this be the first time, and the first place, in the world where
boundaries could have a new meaning?
I don't know precisely what to ask for in this email,
perhaps an acknowledgment that you liked the idea of a Gathering of
Women, and believed it to be a good one. Or you may have
ideas/suggestions about how we might proceed ... suggest ways to spread
the word around the globe.
We, most likely, would need the help of the Red Cross.
I plan to write Elizabeth Dole and the leader of the Red Cross. I am
also writing to Hillary Clinton, to Sara Erhman at The Center for Middle
East Peace and Economic Development, and to Jimmy Carter. And of course,
Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, and other obvious choices for 'getting the
word out'.
Lifting this idea off the ground involves more than
Sally and I know how to do, but that doesn't seem to matter to either of
us. We feel that the idea might catch like wildfire.
Our dream is that we keep it focused on nonpartisan
hopes, to transcend our normal ways of responding to conflict, and to
let the image have its own effect. I have the further image of leaving
something along the border; toys, clothes, books. Something to remain
after we have gone.
I can also imagine that, once this Gathering of Women
is formed, that we could continue to affect problems in other countries.
I'm sure our project faces obstacles that we've
minimized, or failed to consider. The days and months ahead will tell if
any of this triggers a moment of enthusiasm in you, or in others.
Thank you for your attention. Sally Brady and I would
be grateful for any word from you.
With hope, Elizabeth Cox <street301@aol.com>
"Can you see this moment as a place of
soul-making, rather than soul-breaking?" The past is prophetic in
that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out
peaceful tomorrows. One day we must come to see that peace is not
merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at
that goal."
"We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful
means. How much longer must we play at deadly war games before we heed
the plaintive pleas of the unnumbered dead and maimed of past
wars?"
Ann Hafften Weatherford, Texas
