In honor of International Peace Day, some 1,000 Jewish and Arab mothers will gather Wednesday for a number of events held by Women Wage Peace, including creating a human chain and a rally.
“The events of the past year proved that it is impossible to manage the Israel-Palestinian conflict," said Women Wage Peace steering committee member Nadia Hamdan.
"We will come to Jerusalem during Hol Hamo’ed Sukkot and demand that the government do everything possible to resolve the conflict with a political agreement. We embark on a New Year waging peace," she said.
“We Jewish, Moslem, Christian, Druze and Bedouin mothers, secular and religious, will stand together in a Human Chain of peace and hope, along the walls of the Old City, and will hold a Mothers’ Rally. Our voices must be heard!"
Attendees will gather at Independence Park before forming a human chain around the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Finally, attendees will hold a rally at the Jaffa Gate plaza where they will call to promote negotiations for a peace agreement with Palestinians.
Musicians Sapir Golan and Dana Berger will perform at the rally, to be MC'd by actress Sapir Dermon.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Women Wage Peace has continued to gain new members, now having approximately 45,000. The NGO has also worked with the UN in a consultative role and introduced a bill to the Knesset focused on forcing the government to exhaust all political options before military actions.
Its broad umbrella membership includes Jewish and Israeli-Arab women from both sides of the Green Line, as well as women who are secular and religious and who come from the Left and Right of the Israeli political spectrum.
For the last seven years, the group has worked to ensure that politicians move forward on a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.