Barbara: Thursday
The work week ends on Thursday and there’s a lot to finish up. I go to a Torah study class, then spend the night listening to favorite music and cooking. As usual, we expect a dozen guests for Shabbat. Tonight, my son-in-law Daniel Zamir and his jazz quartet are playing a benefit concert for the [...]
Barbara: Wednesday
I was back at Hadassah Hospital last night for some family. The ophthalmologist I needed to see for something was unexpectedly busy. He had to rush to the emergency room where the neurosurgeon was working on the teen who had a cinder block thrown at his head. A Jewish teen, by the way. The conflict [...]
Aysha Ibrahim Hudali
Mother of political prisoners
My granddaughter keeps saying, “I want my Mommy, I want Daddy.” She waits. When she hears the doorbell she expects her dad, but when it turns out to be someone else, like her uncle, she cries, “Where is Daddy? You said Daddy was at work, why didn’t he come home?”[...]
Rivka Grabovski
Director of Daycare Center in Sderot
I hear the noise of the Qassam rocket, and the loudspeaker and the red alert, and my heart’s beating quickly, and I can’t catch my breath, and what do I do now? It can happen anywhere. You can be at home, at the center, in the street. I live in fear. I feel I have a sixth sense with which I can hear better, concentrate better. I’m so frightened and tense—but courage is key. Don’t give up, despite everything. I continue to walk for exercise, do my shopping, take classes, visit my girlfriends, and come to work despite the fears, anxiety, and trembling. I tell myself not to give up, but to get up and do the impossible. [...]
Fatima Shehada Ja’fari
Political activist, women’s organizer, and former political detainee
No institution has given Palestinian women anything. Women have to grab their rights from men. I was the only woman invited to the anniversary celebration of the Fatah movement. I asked the men, “Was the revolution launched by men only? No, it was launched by men and women. Women have always struggled. Have any of you brought your wives, sisters, or mothers to the struggle? You only get us involved when you want us involved. Then you put us aside. You vote for women because you have to, not because you choose to.” [...]
Sarai Aharoni
Facilitator with Isha L’Isha-Haifa Feminist Center
Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security was accepted by the United Nations Security Council in October 2000 and is seen by the international women’s movement as one of the biggest achievements of the movement during the last decade. It officially recognizes the need to incorporate women in all peace negotiations and everything to do with conflicts—prevention, management, and resolution. [...]
Barbara: Tuesday
Today I spent part of the day brainstorming with a mixed team of Israelis and Palestinians staff members about the best way to improve the experiences of Palestinian parents, (mostly mothers) who visit Hadassah Hospital. We have thousands of patients from Gaza and the West Bank, and many arrive without pocket money, let alone the [...]
Salwa Abu Lebdeh
Camerawoman and documentary filmmaker
I am a director. I try to show a picture that’s different from the one you see on television that depicts a nation being killed, a nation that lacks life—with only funerals and flags. I show our life: a people with a history, civilization, and heritage. [...]
Silvia Margia
Program director with women’s intercultural organizations
There are voices inside myself. Some can be very ugly. In the last war, I found myself angry with the Jewish people. Will they wake up and see that security is not about the army? Peace is about economic security, not about an army. I was shocked. How I am thinking this way? How did I give myself even permission to say these things? I want to heal myself of this voice of the wounds of the little Arab girl inside. Sometimes you need to meet the other side and say, “Help me to heal myself and I will offer my help for you to do the same.’’ [...]
Badia Khalaf
Chair of Annahda Women’s Association
The best thing in life is love. Without love we cannot live. As Christians, we want only peace. This is our Christianity. We can love each other, we can live with each other. It’s not hard for us to live with Jewish people, Israeli people. [...]
