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Standing in Vigil at Westlake Park, Seattle Photo by Joseph Collas - copyright free
Seattle Women in Black now stand once a month usually on the first Thursday of each month from 5-6pm
SPRING
A TIME FOR HOPE AND UNITY
Every Spring, three of our world’s major religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – celebrate hope, freedom and forgiveness.
At Easter, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ, whose message is one of hope, love and forgiveness.
In Spring, Muslims celebrate two important events. Lailat A Miraj celebrates Mohammed’s night journey to Jerusalem where he ascended to heaven.
Shab e Bara’at, is the time that Allah absolves repentant believers from sin and frees them to enter heaven.
At Passover Jews celebrate their joining together to achieve freedom from slavery under the Pharaohs.
This Spring we in the United States face great divisions, anger, hatred and the threat of increasing oppression of our neighbors, friends and loved ones.
It is a time of travel bans, of walls (literal and figurative), of restrictions on our rights to full health care and of the degrading of our environment.
It could easily be a time when despair and helplessness paralyze us.
It is also a time of tremendous opportunity to stand and work together to tear down the walls that do not need to divide us.
It is a time to remember what is possible when we join together for actual safety and progress.
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Seattle Women in Black flyers
“WE WILL NOT OBEY”
Ilana Hammerman, an Israeli writer, translator and editor, had been spending time in the Palestinian West Bank learning Arabic when a girl there told her she was desperate to get out of the West Bank, even for a day. Ms. Hammerman, 66, a widow with a grown son, decided to smuggle her to the beach. The resulting trip prompted other Israeli women to invite her to speak, and led to the creation of a group they call We Will Not Obey.
As an act of protest against the law that limits Palestinian freedom of movement, these Israeli women drive Palestinian women and girls from the southern part of the West Bank, which is landlocked, for a day at the beach to swim and socialize together. Most of the Palestinian women have not seen the sea before. They all risk prosecution for their actions. The police have questioned 28 Israeli women; their cases are pending. So far, none of the Palestinian women and girls have been caught or questioned by the police. There have been 7 beach trips to date.
In a newspaper advertisement We Will Not Obey said: “We cannot assent to the legality of the Law of Entry into Israel, which allows every Israeli and every Jew to move freely in all regions between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River while depriving Palestinians of this same right. They are not permitted free movement within the occupied territories nor are they allowed into the towns and cities across the green line, where their families, their nation, and their traditions are deeply rooted. They and we, all ordinary citizens, took this step with a clear and resolute mind. In this way we were privileged to experience one of the most beautiful and exciting days of our lives, to meet and befriend our brave Palestinian neighbors, and together with them, to be free women, if only for one day.”
In a recent interview one of the Israeli women who participated in a beach visit, Ms. Aharoni, was asked her thoughts. She replied: “For 44 years, we have occupied another country. I am 53, which means most of my life I have been an occupier. I don’t want to be an occupier. I am engaged in an illegal act of disobedience. I am not Rosa Parks, but I admire her, because she had the courage to break a law that was not right.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/world/middleeast/27swim.html?_r=0#h[TASTAS]
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