• Sayrah Namaste of the Michigan Peace Team recently returned from the International Women in Black Conference held in in Jerusalem. Please read below for details on this amazing conference of women peacemakers from around the world. Sayrah's three reports follow in chronological order.

1. Women Peacemakers Join Together from 30 Different Countries, Settlers Invade the Muslim Quarter

Hello Friends,

This is my second day at the women's peace conference in Jerusalem, and it's been very intense. Thank you for all the support you've given me so that I could be here.

We 700 women from more than 30 countries gather each day outside under a tent on the Mount of Olives. Women from each country stood up as their country was called: Cambodia, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France, UK, Spain and the Basque, Balkans, Russia, Chechnya, Phillipines, Japan, Australia, India, Canada, US, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Nigeria, South Africa, Burundi, Palestine and Israel. There are 5 Nobel Peace Prize nominees and women who are ministers in the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Parliament. I was moved to tears to just see each of the groups of women stand when their country was called out, and a story shared--about the women's struggle against sexual violence in the Balkans or assasinations in Colombia, etc.

Two women from Spain, one from Finland, one from the Congo, one from Kenya, and one from Rwanda were prevented from joining us. Ten of us were detained--I was interrogated for about 2 hours by 3 soldiers and strip searched, but still allowed in.

"My sisters!" said Gila Svirsky, Israeli activist and the conference organizer, "this is the revolution! We are everywhere, despite the politics and the profits keeping us apart."

I will write more on the content of the workshops, but I wanted to share this brief story:

I and six others walked to and from the conference and my hotel--a beautiful walk, about 40 minutes. On the way back, we came across a 'flying checkpoint'. In other words, it was not there in the morning. Almost fifty soldiers armed with M-16s were there. I approached them and said Lion's Gate (the entrance to the city) and they nodded their heads and let us in. But a few meters up the hill, I saw a Palestinian mother and her 3 year old daughter. When they saw the checkpoint, the mother froze. The child began to cling to her mother, who did not speak but just stared. I could see she was contemplating what to do. I decided to stop and sit down on the sidewalk to watch and see if my presence could be of any help. She called her brother on her cell phone, then hung up and stood waiting, conflicted.

I approached her and we began to talk. Her name is Claire, she is a strong woman, very direct. She told me she was worried about getting back home with the checkpoint there--would they let her back in? Should she cancel her plans? She wouldn't be back until 10pm and her brother was going to escort her. But his ID doesn't let him into this side of the city when there is a checkpoint. I offered to accompany her and she gratefully accepted. My heart went out to her, and her daughter so close in age to my own. Claire grabbed my arm and linked it in hers, and held her tiny daughter's hand, and down the hill we went into the midst of these soldiers.

When we got to the checkpoint, the little girl was right up against the butt of their guns. It pained me to see her having to be a child in this. The woman, Claire, tried to negotiate with the soldiers to allow her back in tonight and her brother. They were noncommittal. After a while, she gave up and walked out, her arm still linked in mine. We talked for a while. Her hope was her brother will be able to escort her back in at 10pm, but I worry tonight about if that happened.

You see, tonight and tomorrow, 200,000 settlers and their supporters are coming to Jerusalem. The Palestinian family that runs the hotel I am in say they are here to show that although they are not in Gaza, they will show that they 'own Jerusalem". The threats of terrible violence tonight and tomorrow are great. The Women in Black organizers actually warned us that we could be killed if we went anywhere near the demonstration tonight. The city is in lockdown, with the military everywhere. It feels everyone is holding their breath, gathered around their TVs watching the settlers.

I don't know if you are getting the news there about this? Please know that I am safe and fine, and glad to be with 700 feminist peacemakers at this time.

Will write more later, Sayrah

2 . The Apartheid Wall, Tear Gas and Solidarity

Dear Friends,

As I write you this, I can still smell the teargas I breathed in today...

Today, 400 international women went to Ramallah. We went to meet with women who were prevented from coming to East Jerusalem to be a part of our peace conference--the women who live in the occupied territories.

It was a wonderful visit with them. They told us their stories: one woman was the newly elected mayor of her town (the first woman!); another was a political prisoner at the age of 14 and recently was released after serving 6 years; another was a mother whose two little boys were killed by the IDF. The senior aide to a minister in the Palestinian Authority gave an excellent presentation about the 'apartheid wall' being built in the area.

And you know how I am....I skipped a formal luncheon to slip away with a Palestinian woman from the area that I befriended and got a wonderful tour of Ramallah, including her home and family store. I returned just in time to board the bus to a big action in Bi'lin (a town in occupied Palestine).

In Bi'lin, there are weekly demonstrations against the wall being built on their land. The demonstations are often violent with many injuries. The people welcomed us as we entered the small village; the children were so excited, running around and wanting their pictures taken. We marched down the road with them--Indian women in saris, Nigerian women in beautiful African dresses, Italian women singing 'Bella Ciao', all of us going to see the wall being built.

We never saw the wall. Down the road, the Israeli military was lined up, with their huge assault weapons, shields, and a barbed wire barricade. Most of the women in my group were surprised to be this close, this confrontational. It was a very, very tense standoff. I went to the front of the barricade and held up the peace sign, which the media loved. Some women began to sing, others to chant.

A Holocaust survivor from our group came forward to the front of the barricade. She told the soldiers her horrible story. I watched the faces of these soldiers--who previously had serious, frowning faces. They were shocked. One wiped tears from his eyes. They backed away a little. A group of Palestinian women and children surged through the corner of the barricade. The soldiers put up little resistance to them. About a dozen got through and began chanting and clapping. It was very tense.

After about a 30 minute standoff, people began to retreat. A Palestinian woman took the barricade and began pulling it away with her; others joined in. The soldiers became very angry and pulled it back and yelled. Some people got tangled in the barbed wire...it is hard to even describe this. But the women succeeded in pulling the entire barricade away with them.

My group began to move away, back to the buses. Things were escalating. I stayed behind, concerned about violence that erupts when less people are there. The children gathered up stones and began throwing them. That's when the tear gassing began. Luckily, I was prepared with an onion and a handkerchief. The children would run and get more stones. About 8 tear gas canisters were thrown at us as we moved away.

Everyone made it home safely. Tonight, I asked the organizers if we could have an impromptu session to discuss the action, and our big one tomorrow. The organizers here are wonderful and were glad for the initative, and I'm honored that they've asked for my help in some small coordination tasks. The impromptu session went very well, with two of us facilitating and everyone respectfully sharing their feelings about the action. I think we are better prepared for tomorrow's action, which I can't share anything publicly until afterwards, but it is an amazing action both symbolically and practically.

Tomorrow is my last day....I will be sad to leave. Palestinians are known for the hospitality, and I have many invitations to stay. The women here have been really incredible--you can't believe the level of organizing and detail, and the political savviness!!!

Thanks again for all your support and listening. I have many stories to tell upon my return...

Peace in our lifetime, Sayrah

3 . Almost 1,000 Women, Israeli's Palestinians and Internationals Join in a Human Chain Across Infamous Checkpoint

Dear Friends,

Our last big feminist peace action today went beautifully, and came at the right time, as Jerusalem is covered in orange. Orange is the color people wear to say they support the settlers and don't want the illegal settlements withdrawn. Orange is the color they wear, parading around the Palestinian part of Jerusalem, defiantly reminding them who is in power. Orange ribbons are tied to cars everywhere, escorted by Israeli police cars with flashing blue lights, through the Muslim quarters of East Jerusalem. This is the week of the settlement withdrawal, and the city of Jerusalem is being flooded with orange, daring a Palestinian to respond, looking for a fight.

Almost 1,000 of us---international women at the peace conference, Israeli men and women against the occupation, and Palestinian women living the hell of occupation, planned a nonviolent action today, an action rich not only in powerful symbolilsm, but practical solidarity.

Qalandiya checkpoint is the route between Jerusalem and the West Bank. It is a busy, hot dehumanizing place, as it is the route Palestinians take to get between the two areas. We made a human chain at the checkpoint today, dressed in black, with signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English callilng for a just peace and an end to occupation.

The human chain, beginning with Israelis in Jerusalem, extended with internationals through the checkpoint reached the Palestinian women in the West Bank. And for an hour, we stood together through the barrier, singing.

As Palestinians made their way through the long walk of the checkpoint, they were surprised to see us---Indian women linked with Mexican women linked with Italian women linked with Nigerian women linked with American women linked with French women....smiling with our signs of support, serenading them with soft songs in many languages.

People thanked us, some sang along with us as they walked through. Most just looked shocked, especially the mothers with their children. The Palestinian vendors who set up small tables of food and water, were delighted at our presence, and took some of our signs and hung them above every table, under the watchful eyes of the Israeli soldiers. A small, brave act of resistance.

The songs would roll down our human chain from the West Bank to Jerusalem. "We Shall Overcome" was the favorite, as it is a slow strong tune that almost every woman knew, and the verses would change and catch on down the line: "we shall live in peace" "we'll walk hand in hand" "we shall live in freedom". In the US, this song is often overused, but at this moment, it seemed most people recognized it and its tone was just right.

The Qalandiya checkpoint, for that hour, became a new space that did not belong to the soldiers. Our bodies and voices made the space seamless, and I hope it lightened the steps and the heavy loads the Palestinains carried through the checkpoint that day. We did have to end the action though, when the IDF threatened to arrest the Palestinian women if we did not all leave.

The main conclusion of the conference that I take away is the great need for the international community to get involved. Israelis and Palestinain peace activsits are doing amazing work, but as long as international laws are disregarded, as long as the rest the world is apathetic, the conflict will continue, and people wil continue to suffer and die.

As I stood--an international at the checkpoint--linking the Israeli and Palestinian women together with my body, I understood quite clearly the accountability I have as an American to continue to work with them to end this conflict.

And as the children walked by me, normalized by the violence and oppression and surprised by our lullabies, my mother's heart knew what I must do. Please, please get involved--this is the message of the brave Palestinian and Israeli women who organized the women's peace conference.

Love, Sayrah

PS I will update you on speaking engagements I am giving about the conference and what you can do as an American to help end the conflict. Go to: http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english/join_activities/join_activities/