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The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

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RELIGION AND POLITICS: ISLAM AND JUDAISM –<br />

A RELIGIOUS OR A NATIONAL CONFLICT? A SMALL<br />

ANECDOTE FROM MY POLITICAL WORK<br />

On the eve <strong>of</strong> the Israeli military disengagement from Hebron in the mid<br />

1990s, I was asked by Bat Shalom <strong>to</strong> organize a women’s joint rally for<br />

peace in Hebron. Intensive meetings were held with the Palestinian<br />

women leaders <strong>of</strong> Hebron, including negotiations over jointly agreedupon<br />

messages <strong>and</strong> slogans for the rally, in the context <strong>of</strong> a very tense<br />

climate, with extremist Jewish settlers threatening Israeli woman activ -<br />

ists, <strong>and</strong> the Israeli army pressuring us <strong>to</strong> prevent the women’s joint<br />

march on the streets <strong>of</strong> Hebron.<br />

When the women finally met for the rally at the spot, they pulled out<br />

banners in Arabic, Hebrew <strong>and</strong> English. One <strong>of</strong> the banners in Arabic<br />

stated: “Hebron – a Palestinian, Arab <strong>and</strong> Muslim city.” Among the Israeli<br />

women, a group <strong>of</strong> religious women was present. <strong>The</strong>y were rightfully<br />

irritated by the banner. Religiously, Hebron is as Jewish as Muslim.<br />

Though I am a secular woman, I do not ignore that the common legend<br />

<strong>and</strong> the Jewish collective consider Abraham as the father <strong>of</strong> the Jewish<br />

community. Personally, I felt deceived by those with whom I had negotiated<br />

so long for agreeable slogans. Spiritually, I do not deny the Jewish<br />

connection <strong>to</strong> Hebron, although politically, I call for an end <strong>to</strong> Israeli control<br />

<strong>of</strong> Hebron.<br />

Certain earlier positions refer <strong>to</strong> the peaceful co-existence between Jew -<br />

ish communities <strong>and</strong> the Muslim world – in contrast <strong>to</strong> the relation be -<br />

tween Jews <strong>and</strong> Christians in Europe, characterized by persecution <strong>and</strong><br />

discrimination. Well, it is true. Yet, <strong>to</strong>lerance <strong>to</strong>wards the Jewish commu -<br />

nities by the Muslim world was only conceivable as long as non-Islamic<br />

communities committed themselves <strong>to</strong> the rules <strong>of</strong> the game, dictated<br />

by Muslim domination.<br />

This state <strong>of</strong> affairs underwent a radical change with the emergence <strong>of</strong><br />

the Zionist idea. <strong>The</strong> main meaning <strong>of</strong> the Zionist idea for Jews was the<br />

transformation <strong>of</strong> power distribution. Jews became, by the virtue <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Zionist idea, a distinctive political entity, claiming a separate, political sta-<br />

186

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