"Jerusalem Women Speak" Tour

Israeli and Palestinian Women Call for Speaking the Truth
April 10, 2007
by Terry Walz, CNI Staff

A group of Israeli and Palestinian women spoke of the need to speak the truth about the occupation of Palestine both in Israel and the US. The group, sponsored by Partners for Peace, a Washington-based organization, is touring selected Midwest cities under the name "Jerusalem Women Speak."

In advance of the tour, the group spoke yesterday at the Palestine Center in Washington about their daily lives and aspirations as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains deadlocked. The women included Amal Nassar, a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, Tal Dor, an Israeli Jew from Haifa, and Huda Abu Arqoub, a Palestinian Muslim from near Hebron. Each woman had a particular story to tell, shaped by their very different personal experiences. All felt that the real situation of the Palestinian people was habitually ignored not only in the West but especially in Israel.

Dor, whose parents emigrated from apartheid South Africa to Israel and works as an activist in Israel, spoke of her slow awakening to the human and political realities in her country - and to the similarities and differences of apartheid as practiced in South Africa and Israel. "We are fed myths and lies," she said, and that as a young person she felt the need to open the eyes of her countrymen to what the reality of the occupation is and to fight for a more just and equitable Israeli society. "I believe we have to speak about justice, equality, and ending the occupation. We cannot live at the expense of other peoples and speak about peace."

Abu Arqoub, who works as an educational consultant for the Ministry of Education of the Palestinian National Authority, felt the need to show the reality of the occupation by relating three stories from her acquaintances - a boy in Hebron who was arrested for playing in the street and helping a friend, a shopkeeper who was hit on the head by an Israeli soldier during a nonviolent protest, an old man who was arrested for trying to prevent the Israeli army from expelling him from the house his family lived in. These events are usually described as terrorist acts, and the reality behind the stories is never known.

For Nassar, the occupation has involved her family's tortured attempts to hold on to an olive grove that had been deeded to them in 1917 - before the founding of the state of Israel. The grove stands close to the many huge settlement blocs in and around Jerusalem, and has involved their family in constant court cases at their own expense, as bits of the land are seized for development purposes or the construction of Jews-only roads. Its 250 trees have been uprooted by settlers, an act of vandalism that prompted her family and other Palestinians to replant 400 new ones. To spread the word, the family has set of a nonprofit organization on the land called Tent of Nations which attempts to bring youths of all nations together for reconciliation and peace.

The women will be visiting Chicago and Evanston and in nine localities in Wisconsin before returning to Washington, DC during the period April 10-26. For a full schedule, see their itinerary at http://www.partnersforpeace.org/pressreleases/db200703050/.

The speakers for the Twelfth national Jerusalem Women Speak Tour are:

Huda Abu Arqoub a Muslim Palestinian from Hebron, Palestine
Tal Dor, a Jewish Israeli from Haifa, Israel
Amal Nassar, a Christian Palestinian from Bethlehem, Palestine

Biographical information for the speakers is available here.


Jerusalem Women Speak 13 will visit more than 30 venues in at least 15 different communities, including:

Washington, DC – Monday, April 9 (and Wednesday, April 25 – Thursday, April 26)
Chicago, Illinois – Tuesday, April 10 – Wednesday, April 11
Evanston, Illinois - Wednesday, April 11
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Thursday, April 12 – Friday, April 13
Fitchburg, Wisconsin - Sunday, April 15
Madison, Wisconsin – Saturday, April 14 – Tuesday, April 17
Platteville, Wisconsin - Tuesday, April 17 – Wednesday, April 18
La Crosse, Wisconsin – Wednesday, April 18 – Thursday, April 19
Red Wing, Minnesotta – Thursday, April 19
Eau Claire, Wisconsin – Friday, April 20 – Monday, April 23
Menomonie, Wisconsin – Monday, April 23
River Falls, Wisconsin – Tuesday, April 24
Rockville, Maryland - Wednesday, April 25
Washington, DC – Wednesday, April 25 – Thursday, April 26


A detailed daily schedule is available here.


Interviews, talk shows appearances, editorial appearances and community presentations are currently being scheduled. They may be arranged by contacting Partners for Peace.


For More Information Contact:

Jacob Pace, Program Coordinator
Office: 202-863-2951
E-mail: jake [at] partnersforpeace.org

To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Council for the National Interest Foundation click here:

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=2836

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