United States history, both textbook and Hollywood versions, is rife with
war stories. Who doesn't know about the "Indian wars" between
the European
settlers and the peoples already here when they arrived? However, who
DOES
know that four centuries ago, women of the Iroquois nation met to demand an
end to intertribal warfare?
Nor does what passes for history report that in 1915 some 1400 women
suffragists from warring and neutral nations crossed enemy lines and
torpedoed waters to gather at The Hague. They were welcomed by Dr.
Aletta
Jacobs of the host country, the Netherlands, to this "international
congress of women to protest against war, and to discuss ways and means
whereby war shall become an impossibility in the future."
The participants unanimously passed 20 resolutions, including one calling
for a continuous mediating conference of neutral nations. Two teams of
women traveled to 13 European capitals and to Washington, DC, urging
officials to implement their proposal. Jane Addams, the esteemed U.S.
social worker who was later vilified for her peace activities, described a
meeting she and Dr. Jacobs had with a "large, grizzled formidable man.
When we had finished our presentation and he said nothing, I remarked, 'It
perhaps seems very foolish that women should go about in this way.'....He
banged his fist on the table. 'Foolish?' he said. 'Not at all.
These are
the first sensible words that have been uttered in this room for ten
months.'"
Throughout history "enemy" women have crossed geographical, cultural
and
ideological borders in search of peace. The latest examples persist in
the
face of the violence unleashed three weeks ago by Ariel Sharon's visit to
Muslim holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, which resulted from
the Hague Congress, has an Israeli section composed of both Arab and Jewish
women. They are supporting the Palestinian section in hosting
WILPF's
International Congress in East Jerusalem next year.
Another organization is the Jerusalem Link, formed in 1993 to coordinate
two independent women's centers: Bat Shalom - The Jerusalem Women's Action
Center, located in West Jerusalem, and Marcaz al-Quds la l-Nissah - the
Jerusalem Center for Women, located in East Jerusalem. "As Israeli
and
Palestinian women of The Jerusalem Link, we work together toward a real
peace - not merely a treaty of mutual deterrence, but a culture of peace
and cooperation between our peoples."
An Israeli group called "New Profile" sent out this message a week
ago:
"Let the women talk! We know that two peoples CAN live in this
land....It
was women who led the way to end the terrible and pointless war in Lebanon.
We the women can find an end to this terrible cycle of violence too.
Let
the women talk....We want each and every person to have rights, to have the
right to be heard, to choose how to live in peace and dignity. We want
to
share the resources of this land, its water, its vines, its holy places.
Jerusalem can be shared, this whole area can be shared between two
independent, proud, equal peoples....Let the international community form a
group of women from all around the world to become the women's peace
corp-an international mediating body of women friends who will listen,
facilitate, help us save ourselves. Let the women talk. Move
the men
aside. They did a bad job here. They talk of power, force and
security.
We know that our security is to be good neighbors....We do not want to
raise our children to war.... Before it is too late-let the women
talk."
Foolish that women should go about in this way? Not at all! These
are as
sensible as any words that have been uttered since men first locked cudgels
and scratched their mighty conquests on cave walls. Unfortunately, you
won't find them on the nightly news, in your morning paper, or at the
summit in Egypt.