Hi Chris and Paul,

I was wondering whether one of you could use the following 
(or part of it) in either the "Weekly Commentary" or in the "Bulletin"?

Gila Svirsky is a very articulate Israeli peace activist and writer.
I particularly like what she has to say.

I took this from www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org website.
I first saw it broadcast in one of the many email lists that
I'm on.

       ...joe...

===================================

Gila writes about her participation at the Security Council Meeting
                                       
October 29, 2002
                                       
Friends,
 
 I had the good fortune to be invited, representing Women in Black, to address the
 UN Security Council last week on the subject of women at peace negotiations. This
 session was intended to spur compliance with Security Council Resolution 1325,
 which mandates the participation of women in all decision-making, including
 negotiations for peace. Also invited to speak were women peace activists from 3
 other countries -- Burundi, Uganda, and India -- and one representative of the
 organizing group, a coalition called the "NGO Working Group on Women, Peace
 and Security". At the very last minute, the Syrian delegation, currently members of
 the Security Council, objected to a presentation by Israel, and others objected to a
 women from Gujarat, India, who (they imagined correctly) would be critical of the
 Indian government. Despite two of us being 'disinvited', the lot of us filed into the
 Security Council conference room and seated ourselves opposite the 15 members
 (and their advisors) at the so-called "experts table". (It's striking, isn't it, that NOT
 shooting or throwing a bomb requires expertise.)

 When Indira Kajosevic of the "NGO Working Group" delivered her remarks, she
 cleverly presented summaries of the talks that the Indian woman and I had
 prepared, so I didn't feel altogether left out. But as the Security Council delegates
 discussed the issue -- oh, in complete agreement about equality for women,
 wouldn't you know -- I was sitting there wondering what would happen if I simply
 raised my hand, so I did. Almost at once the Chair recognized me, which
 astonished me and nearly left me speechless. After a fumbling beginning, I found
 my voice, distanced myself from the policies of the present Israeli government,
 talked about the accomplishments of women making peace with each other and the
 wisdom of including representatives of civil society (peace activists) at the
 negotiating table, and then said quietly that, actually, the conflict in the Middle
 East was not between Israelis and Palestinians. I should have paused longer for
 effect right here, but I waited as long as I thought I could without closing the
 window of opportunity. The conflict, I said softly, was actually between Israelis
 and Palestinians who long for peace, on one side, and Israelis and Palestinians who
 don't want peace, on the other. When I finished, the only speaker following me was
 the Syrian delegate, and -- to tell you the truth, my heart started to pound just
 then so I didn't hear a word -- I was later told that my final words headed off the
 usual Syrian broadside against Israel.

 The "NGO Working Group" had also done a great job of arranging a press
 conference, briefings of senior UN officials, and a public reception, so we did have
 opportunities to get the message across. I also had the privilege of participating in
 not one, but two New York vigils of Women in Black -- the so-called Wednesday
 and Thursday groups -- and was moved to think of the large and spontaneous
 movement that is building across the globe.

 The text I prepared in advance, never uttered in full, appears below. Many thanks
 to Ruth Linden for her help in polishing and paring it down to 5 short minutes. I
 do think they got the message, though.
 
 Back home and more relaxed, 
                     Gila Svirsky

======================================================================                                       
 
Address to the Security Council of the United Nations 
 Gila Svirsky, Women in Black and Coalition of Women for Peace
 23 October 2002
  
 Your Excellencies,

  Allow me to begin by telling you about the secret meetings held between
 Palestinians and Israelis that began 15 years ago. These meetings were secret
 because it was illegal for Israelis and forbidden for Palestinians to meet in those
 years. A number of groups were then getting together, but only one group persisted
 over time - resolutely grappling with the most difficult issues - and crafted an
 agreement that was signed and publicized several years before the Oslo Accords.
 Above all this agreement declared establishment of a free, independent and secure
 state of Palestine side-by-side with a free, independent and secure state of Israel
 as the core of a political settlement.

  As profound as this moment could have been in the history of the Middle East,
 very few people heard about it. Why? Because the agreement was written by
 women. You may wonder whether the agreement was rejected for other reasons,
 perhaps because it was a radical statement dreamed up by utopians or marginal
 people. But these women were neither marginal nor radical. Each delegation
 included prominent political leaders - members of parliament, government
 ministers, an ambassador, and a party head.

  As for the content of the agreement, most of its principles have now become
 matters of consensus among both Israelis and Palestinians. Despite the current
 magnitude of brutality - or perhaps because of it - surveys consistently show that a
 decisive two-thirds of Israeli Jews would support a peace agreement that includes
 Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories, evacuation of most Israeli
 settlements, and creation of a Palestinian state. Most Palestinians hold the very
 same views. Indeed, only extremist political leaders on both sides fail to
 understand that these principles will ultimately set the terms of peace between
 our nations.

  Clearly, the agreement was both pragmatic and moderate. In fact, had the women
 who wrote it been internationally recognized negotiators, the two Intifadas that
 followed might have been prevented. This is but one example of the need to
 implement and enforce Security Council Resolution 1325.

  At the grassroots level women have also been at the forefront of peacemaking. In
 1988 women in Israel founded the movement now known as Women in Black.
 Dressed in black to mourn the victims on all sides, Women in Black has kept a
 one-hour vigil every single Friday for the past 15 years. On street corners
 throughout Israel, Arab and Jewish women hold signs demanding an end to the
 Israeli occupation and pursuit of a just peace. 

  The Women in Black movement quickly and spontaneously spread around the
 globe as a public forum for women to say "no" to war and injustice. In Italy Women
 in Black protest the Israeli occupation and the violence of organized crime.
 Women in Black in Bangalore, India call for an end to abuse by religious
 fundamentalists. During the war in the Balkans Women in Black, Yugoslavia set an
 inspirational example of interethnic cooperation. Today, Women in Black
 throughout the world are engaged in a struggle to prevent a war from being
 launched against Iraq. For their remarkable work, the international movement of
 Women in Black, represented by the movements in Yugoslavia and Israel, were
 nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace and won the Millennium Peace Prize
 awarded by UNIFEM [the UN Development Fund for Women].

  In Israel, the women's peace movement extends well beyond Women in Black. We
 are Bat Shalom, the organization formed to promote the principles of the pre-Oslo
 peace agreement described earlier. We are New Profile, women seeking to end the
 militarization of Israeli society. We are Machsom Watch, women preventing human
 rights violations at checkpoints. We are the Movement of Democratic Women,
 Jewish and Palestinian women citizens of Israel struggling for peace and justice.
 These and other organizations, joined together in the Coalition of Women for a Just
 Peace, are united in relentless effort to bring the bloodshed to an end.

  The women's peace movement in Israel is absolutely breathtaking: It is alive with
 new ideas, indefatigable as women have always been, and at the vanguard of
 creative thinking about how to get to peace. Israeli and Palestinian women march
 together under the banner "We refuse to be enemies". Indeed, the Israeli and
 Palestinian women's peace movements have already made peace: on paper, in our
 hearts, in the lessons we teach our children, and in the behavior we model. We are
 allies for peace, united in our struggle against extremists and warmongers on all
 sides.

  Is it not preposterous that not a single Israeli woman, and only one Palestinian
 woman, have held leadership roles at a Middle East peace summit? Instead, the
 negotiators have been men with portfolios of brutal crimes against each other -
 military men who have honed the art of war and who measure their success by the
 unconditional surrender of the other. Is it any wonder that we are still locked in
 combat?

  Ultimately this occupation, like every other in history, will come to an end. The
 general parameters of that ending are already drawn and in agreement. What we
 need now is leadership committed to swiftly concluding this era awash in blood,
 leadership that understands the price we pay in death and destruction for every
 hour of delay. What we need now is leadership with expertise at reconciliation and
 rapprochement. What we need now is women.

                                  Thank you. 

==============================================

from Coalition of Women for a Just Peace website
 http://www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org