AILSA CHANG, HOST:
As the conflict escalates in the Middle East, voices for peace are being drowned out. But a group of Israeli and Palestinian women is determined to keep working to demand a better future for their children. As NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, it's a future that they hope will break the cycle of violence.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: On October 4 of last year, Yael Braudo-Bahat and her organization, Women Wage Peace, were marching with Palestinians from a group called Women of the Sun.
YAEL BRAUDO-BAHAT: Imagine 1,500 women from both sides. Women came from the West Bank to march with us, the Israelis, in Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian mothers together demand the political solution for this long-lasting conflict.
KELEMEN: Three days later, Palestinian militants led by Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, including the co-founder of her organization. Israel retaliated with a war in Gaza that has devastated the region, leaving some 41,000 Palestinians dead, including 38 activists with Women of the Sun.
REEM AL-HAJAJREH: (Non-English language spoken).
KELEMEN: Reem Al-Hajajreh, through an interpreter, calls this a tremendous loss.
AL-HAJAJREH: (Through interpreter) Because these women are activists. These are women who want peace. And these are women who got dragged into the war.
KELEMEN: She says it was hard to continue to work with Israelis as the death toll mounted in Gaza and the conflict expanded. But Al-Hajajreh says the women remain united as mothers who refuse to sacrifice their children.
AL-HAJAJREH: (Through interpreter) At the moment that hope dies in our heart, that means that there will not be a better life for us. At the break of every dawn, we look at their children, and they replenish hope in us.
KELEMEN: We meet at Georgetown University, where the two organizations were given an award by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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HILLARY CLINTON: Together, Women of the Sun and Women Wage Peace have issued what they call a mother's call that recognizes the unique perspectives that women bring to the peace process.
KELEMEN: Clinton says she signed her name to the petition.
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CLINTON: Their members are women in conflict zones who have lost children, parents, and loved ones. But instead of being embittered and turning to rancor and despair, they are working for peace. And we owe it to them and the loved ones they honor with their work to do the same.
KELEMEN: Israeli activist Angela Scharf told the audience it was not easy to draft the mother's call.
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ANGELA SCHARF: Every single word had to be negotiated. It took us nine months, but we made it, like giving birth (laughter).
(APPLAUSE)
KELEMEN: Palestinian activist Reem Al-Hajajreh is careful about the way she talks about the conflict. While many Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out a genocide, she simply calls for peace.
AL-HAJAJREH: (Through interpreter) If we ask and demand peace, that doesn't mean that we accept the current situation and what the Palestinians are enduring. Our most important demand is the freedom of the Palestinian people.
KELEMEN: And a break in the cycle of violence, says Israeli activist Yael Braudo-Bahat.
BRAUDO-BAHAT: Our language is no blaming and no shaming. We look into the future, and we demand a different future, a future of peace and reconciliation. And we want to stop the bloodshed.
KELEMEN: Do you feel like you're kind of a lonely voice, though, in Israeli society right now?
BRAUDO-BAHAT: Well, we're not a popular voice, I must say, but we are not alone at all.
KELEMEN: She says she continues to work in honor of Vivian Silver, the co-founder of Women Wage Peace, who was killed at her home in Kibbutz Be'eri last October. Silver's son has joined the cause, too.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.
(SOUNDBITE OF KACEY MUSGRAVES SONG, "SLOW BURN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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