Women in Black to stage international vigil
This Friday over 120 chapters of Women in Black from around the world will hold vigils to protest "Israel's ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories." This international protest was initiated and organized by the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, an umbrella organization of ten Israeli women's peace organizations.

Women dressed in black will stand at various locations in their individual cities holding signs and posters bearing a short unequivocal message that has been the theme of Women in Black protests since the organization's founding in 1988. "Stop the occupation," the demonstrators will demand. The organization claims that the "liberation of the Palestinian people with a state of its own is not only the moral solution, but one that serves the best interests of Israel as well."

Women in Black began in Jerusalem in January 1988, one month after the first Palestinian Intifada broke out, with a small group of Israeli women who carried out a simple form of protest. Once a week at the same hour and in the same location - a major traffic intersection - they donned black clothing and raised a black sign in the shape of a hand with white lettering that read, "Stop the Occupation".

Similar vigils were subsequently held in other countries. Local Women in Black chapters protested not only the Israeli occupation but also other causes including war, interethnic conflict, militarism, the arms industry, racism, neo-Nazism and violence against women.

Nobel Peace Prize nomination
In 1991, the movement of Women in Black in Israel won the Aachen Peace Prize and, in 1994, the peace award of the city of San Giovanni d'Asso in Italy. In 2001, the international movement of Women in Black was awarded the Millennium Peace Prize for Women, given by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

This week eight Danish and Norwegian parliamentarians announced that they have nominated the Women in Black movement, represented by its Israeli and the Serbian chapters, for the Nobel Peace Prize 2001. Explaining their choice, the parliamentarians said, "The movement Women in Black is nominated as a representative of the grass roots peace movement including all the groups now active in Balkan and the Middle East."

Gila Svirsky, cofounder of the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, says that the nomination "is a moving tribute to the work of Women in Black, whether or not it results in a prize. We can only hope that the very nomination will serve to promote -- internationally and in the Middle East -- the vision of replacing the occupation with a just peace between Israel and Palestine."

Women in Green on the front lines
When Margalit Har-Shefi began her nine-month jail sentence in March for failing to report Yigal Amir's intentions to murder Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, some 500 protestors demonstrated on her behalf outside the prison. "Margalit Har-Shefi, we are with you" were the words on banners held high. Prominent among the demonstrators was Women in Green activist Nadia Matar.

In February, Nadia Matar of Women in Green was detained by Israeli police for questioning over charges that she threw a tray of cakes at a Palestinian vehicle as she stood with a group of protesters at the Efrata intersection. Police claimed that the group attempted to block the road and prevent Palestinian vehicles from passing. Upon her release, Matar said she was standing with a group of protesters when a policeman pushed her, knocking the tray from her hand.

Demonstrators from the Women in Green organization, easy to recognize by their green hats, always seem to be in the front lines of demonstrations backing the residents of Judea and Samaria residents. The women in the organization believe they are defending a worthy cause. "We know we represent the voice of the majority of the Jewish People in Israel," states Nadia Matar confidently.

Women in Green advertisement banners are prominent on the Jerusalem Post website and the organization's political cartoons are frequent paid advertisements in the Post's print edition. The Women in Green website proudly states that Maariv described the group as "the most authentic and exciting popular resistance movement to have arisen [in Israel] in the last few years." With their street theater, creative posters, and newspaper ads, the Women in Green "have captured the imagination and heart of the Jewish People."

Organized in 1993, Women in Green has chapters throughout Israel and abroad, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Toronto. The organization counts many men among our supporters.

Dedication to security and Jewish heritage
Women in Green's goals center around educating the Israeli electorate on the consequences of certain government policies, such as abandoning the Golan Heights for illusory promises of peace. The organization offers unwavering support for the Jewish community of Hebron and regularly provides toys and playground equipment to the Jewish children of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

Regarding the recent wave of violence, the message of the Women in Green is quite clear. After the shocking murder of two Tekoa teenage boys in a cave near their home, the Women in Green stressed three simple points:

1. The Arabs are our enemy. They are not a     'peace partner.'
2. Yasser Arafat is the leader of the largest     terrorist organization in the world, hiding     behind the name 'the Palestinian Authority.'
3. The only way to fight fire is with fire.

Women in Green also calls for punishing the "guilty architects" of the Oslo Agreements, under which weapons were given to Arafat and the Arabs. "The public, just as they did after the [Versailles] wedding hall disaster, should rightly demand that Beilin, Peres and those others involved in irresponsibly providing guns to our unrepentant enemies, be brought swiftly to justice and receive their deserved punishment," an article written by Nadia and cofounder Ruth Matar demands.

The messages of these two active organizations are quite clear, though they are in very much opposite directions. Women in Black and Women in Green appear to have one thing in common, though. They both are advocating the full involvement of women in the process that will determine Israel's future.

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