[Onthebarricades] Global peace protests

[Andy]

*  PHILIPPINES:  Mass protests against US presence
*  IRAQI KURDISTAN:  Mass protests against Turkish border invasion
*  TANZANIA:  Muslims protest Bush visit
*  UKRAINE:  Protests against NATO membership in Kiev, Crimea
*  UK:  Protest at Sheffield army recruitment centre, three arrested
*  POLAND:  Anti-war protest
*  NEW ZEALAND:  Protest targets spy base
*  UK/DIEGO GARCIA:  People's Navy targets occupied island
*  ISRAEL:  On 20th anniversary, Women in Black continue to protest

 http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/19/7145/

Published on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 by Associated Press
Thousands of Protesters Greet US War Games in Philippines
by Teresa Cerjano
MANILA, Philippines - Demonstrators calling for US troops to withdraw from 
the Philippines protested the start of annual joint military exercises 
Monday, with hundreds of American troops heading to southern islands where 
al-Qaeda-linked militants operate.
The two-week drills - called Balikatan, or "shoulder-to-shoulder" - bring 
together 6,000 US and 2,000 Filipino troops at a time when Philippine forces 
are battling militants from the Abu Sayyaf and its allies from the 
Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terror network.
About 30 protesters from the left-wing coalition Bayan burned a US flag and 
chanted "US troops out now!" outside the gate of the military headquarters 
in Manila, where US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, Philippine Foreign Secretary 
Alberto Romulo and top military officials led the opening ceremony.
Rallies also were held in at least four southern cities to demand US troops 
leave because of alleged involvement in combat operations - prohibited by 
Philippine law - and human rights abuses, activists said.
In Cagayan de Oro, police estimated the crowd at 3,000, including priests 
and nuns who joined lawmakers and Muslim activists, although rally 
organizers said more than 5,000 joined the protest march.
Representatives Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza of the Bayan Muna and Garbriela 
partylist, respectively, led the protest march early Monday which had the 
city's traffic paralyzed for hours.
Disputing the government's claim that the holding of the Balikatan exercises 
was based on the provisions of the Visiting Forces Agreement, Ocampo said 
that there was no provision in the agreement allowing for successive 
military exercises.
"Continued or successive joint military exercises violate the Constitution 
and even the provisions of VFA. And as we see now, these are not even joint 
exercises but a one-sided conduct of civic actions by American troops," 
Ocampo said.
Maza also lambasted the government for allowing American troops to conduct 
civic action in the country, saying the humanitarian mission was just a 
cover.
"These humanitarian missions are just an excuse to allow US troops to enter 
our communities and pursue their real agenda of justifying their war against 
terrorism," she said.
Maza warned that the presence of US troops in Mindanao will lead to more 
human rights abuses, especially against women and children.
Nuns, priests, and students joined farmer's groups in the protest, bearing 
anti-US placards and chanting slogans calling President Gloria 
Macapagal-Arroyo a terrorist.
In Davao City, around 3,000 protesters belonging to Bayan and the Out US 
Troops-Mindanao Coalition marched through the streets demanding the 
immediate pull-out of American soldiers from Mindanao.
Protests were also held in Pikit, North Cotabato, and Davao City.
Zainab Ampatuan, chair of the partylist Suara Bangsamoro (Voice of the Moro 
People), told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that the contingent 
coming from Kidapawan City was harassed by government troops along the 
highway in Pagalungan town in Maguindanao.
"They accused us of failing to secure a permit from them. We were able to 
secure from the local government of Pikit," Ampatuan said.
She said that activists from Kidapawan City were forced to abandon their 
chartered vehicles and had to walk going to the venue of rally in the town 
proper of Pikit.
Ampatuan estimated the number of protesters in Pikit at 7,000.
"Instead of these exercises, we are calling the government to resume the 
peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. We fear that hostilities 
may happen considering that Philippines and US troops will hold their 
humanitarian missions in controlled areas of the MILF," Ampatuan said.
US troops will conduct medical missions and repair schools in Mindanao, 
where Muslim rebels have waged a decades-long separatist insurgency, US 
officials said.
The areas include Jolo island, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold, and central 
Mindanao, a base of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country's biggest 
separatist group, now holding peace talks with the government.
Tensions flared recently on Jolo after villagers accused the military of 
killing seven civilians and an off-duty soldier during operations to hunt 
down suspected terrorists.
Rawina Wahid, whose husband was killed in the raid early this month, said 
she was tied up and put on a naval boat with several US soldiers on board.
President Arroyo has ordered an investigation into the deaths. Last week, US 
Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson denied American soldiers took part in 
any combat operations.
Military chief General Hermogenes Esperon said the emphasis of the 
exercises, which have been held since 1981, has shifted to humanitarian 
assistance, part of efforts to win over local Muslim populations.
America's soft counterterrorism approach here has won praise in contrast to 
mounting criticism of US-led incursions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A manhunt continues on Jolo for Abu Sayyaf commanders and two top Indonesian 
militants wanted for alleged involvement in the 2002 nightclub bombings that 
killed 202 people on Indonesia's Bali island.
The Abu Sayyaf, blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, has 
been blamed for deadly bomb attacks, beheadings and high-profile 
kidnappings, including of Americans.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/25AC0DF1-EFFE-4186-9B58-C2EF354AD7D5.htm

Kurds protest against raids on PKK

The protesters said they were acting as human shields to prevent assaults on 
bases in neighbouring Iraq

Members of a pro-Kurdish political party have set up camp near Turkey's 
border with Iraq to protest against military raids on Kurdistan Workers' 
Party (PKK) fighters.

About 150 activists from the Democratic Society party (DSP) arrived on 
Tuesday at Mount Cudi in Sirnak province to demand a peaceful solution to 
the conflict.

In the overnight gathering, Kurdish parliamentarians and supporters slept in 
tents and danced around a camp fire at dawn.

The protesters said they were acting as human shields to prevent assaults on 
bases in neighbouring Iraq.

They urged the Turkish parliament to rescind the authorisation that it gave 
to the government to carry out cross-border raids against the PKK, saying 
the fighters in turn should refrain from hostilities.

Emine Ayla, one protester and member of parliament, told the crowd from the 
top of a bus: "We don't need another 30 years or another 30,000 deaths to 
understand that the policy of violence doesn't solve the Kurdish problem."

Ayla also called for an improvement in the "living and health conditions" of 
Abdullah Ocalan, the founder of the PKK who is serving a life sentence.

In defiance of Turkish law, some people in the crowd held posters that 
showed Ocalan's image.

Ocalan's welfare is a concern for DSP party members, reflecting the sway 
that the imprisoned leader holds over many Kurds.

Military service

The DSP party won 20 seats in the 550-seat legislature in last year's 
general elections, leading to hopes that the many disaffected Kurds in 
Turkey were poised to play a meaningful political role.

But the mood has soured since then, with prosecutors seeking to close down 
the party because of reported subversive activity.

On Wednesday, the leader of the party, Nurettin Demirtas, went on trial on 
charges that he used forged health documents to avoid military service.

Demirtas, who was jailed for 10 years for PKK membership and denies the 
current charges, faces up to five years in prison.

Most Turkish men must serve in the army for up to 15 months, and many do 
their service in zones where Kurdish fighters are active.

Car bomb

In related news, two police officers were wounded in a bomb explosion in 
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the Anatolia news agency reported on 
Wednesday.

A roadside bomb was set off by remote control as a police vehicle was 
driving past late on Tuesday in the town of Yuksekova, in Hakkari province 
bordering both Iraq and Iran, the report said.

One of the officers in the car sustained serious injuries.

No group immediately claimed carrying out the attack, but the PKK is active 
in the region.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, has threatened retaliation 
following Turkish air raids on its bases in northern Iraq.

Since December 16, the Turkish army says it has carried out five air raids 
against PKK positions in northern Iraq as well as a ground operation to stop 
a group of fighters trying to enter Turkey.

The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast and 
east since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

http://www.haaba.com/news/2008/02/15/7-91947/hundreds-of-tanzanian-muslims-protest-bush-visit.html

Hundreds of Tanzanian Muslims protest Bush visit
Friday, 15 February 2008
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 15, 2008 (AFP) - Hundred of Tanzanian Muslims on Friday 
held a demonstration in the streets of Dar Es Salaam to protest against US 
President George W. Bush's upcoming visit to the country.
Some carried placards with anti-Bush slogans and others burnt US flags, an 
AFP correspondent reported.
Security has been stepped up in the seaside city ahead of Bush's visit but 
police did not intervene and no violence was reported.
'Bush is a cruel leader. It is sad that Tanzania has allowed his visit,' 
said Juma Ramadhani, one of the demonstrators.
Bush is expected Saturday in Tanzania as part of a five-nation tour of 
Africa. President Jakaya Kikwete has urged the nation to give the US 
president a warm welcome.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080125/97723298.html

Anti-NATO membership protest in Ukrainian capital
13:04|25/ 01/ 2008

KIEV, January 25 (RIA Novosti) - An estimated 1,000 people took to the 
streets of the Ukrainian capital on Friday to protest against moves by the 
country's leadership to join NATO.
Some 30 MPs from opposition parties also disrupted parliamentary work in a 
further show of opposition to President Viktor Yushchenko's intention to 
seek membership in the Western military alliance for Ukraine, a one-time 
Soviet republic and the largest country completely in Europe.
The protesters in Kiev chanted slogans such as "NATO is slavery for Slavs" 
and "No to NATO!"
Last week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko handed a request for 
Ukraine to join NATO's Membership Action Plan to the alliance's secretary 
general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Action Plan is a necessary step on the 
path to eventual full membership of the organization.
Earlier on Friday, members of the Party of Regions and the Communist Party 
of Ukraine called on the country's leadership to recall the request for NATO 
membership, claiming that such a step was only possible after a referendum.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko previously stated that a decision on whether 
Ukraine should take up any future NATO offer to join the alliance would only 
be taken after a national referendum.
Ukraine's leadership hopes that a decision on its membership application 
will be taken in early April in Bucharest during a NATO summit meeting.
A recent poll carried out by Ukraine's Democratic Initiatives foundation 
reported that over 50% of Ukrainians would vote against joining NATO. In the 
survey, 51.9% of respondents said they viewed NATO as an "aggressive 
imperialist bloc that would draw Ukraine into military conflicts."

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080316/101421182.html

Crimean residents protest Ukraine's move towards NATO membership
17:27|16/ 03/ 2008

SIMFEROPOL, March 16 (RIA Novosti) - Residents of Ukraine's Black Sea 
autonomy of Crimea are holding a rally on Sunday to protest the country's 
move towards NATO membership.
In January, Ukraine's pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime 
Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Parliamentary Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk sent a 
letter to the alliance's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer saying they 
hoped that the country could join the NATO Membership Action Plan.
However, the opposition Party of Regions led by former prime minister Viktor 
Yanukovych and the Communist Party blocked parliamentary work for over a 
month in protest against the move, demanding a referendum on the matter. 
Recent opinion polls showed that over 50% of Ukrainians would vote against 
joining NATO.
Parliament recently reopened for work after a compromise decision was 
reached on the possibility of holding a referendum on the issue.
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has threatened to target nuclear 
missiles on Ukraine if it joined NATO. The ex-Soviet republic of Georgia is 
also seeking membership in the organization.
Western countries have been cautious about the two countries' NATO bids, 
unwilling to further anger Russia, already irritated by and wary of the 
alliance's ongoing eastward expansion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/7249500.stm

Three charged over army protest
Three men have been charged with trespassing offences after a protest at an 
Army recruitment office in Sheffield.
The demonstration took place outside the Church Street Army branch to mark 
the fourth anniversary of London's anti-war march.
On Saturday, two men, aged 23 and 25, appeared before Sheffield magistrates 
and were remanded into custody.
A third man, aged 21, was due to appear in court on Monday.
A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said the men were arrested following 
the protest on Friday and had been charged with aggravated trespass.

http://www.poland.pl/news/article,Anti_war_protest_march_through_Warsaw,id,319408.htm

Anti war protest march through Warsaw
2008-03-16, 08:40
The march was staged against the instalment of US anti missile shields in 
Poland and the participation of Polish troops in the Iraq and Afghanistan 
missions.
The protesters marched through the city centre, carrying banners with 
slogans 'We do not want to be a traget' or 'Stop the occupation of Iraq'. 
The organiser of the action, Filip Ilkowski from the Initiative "Stop to War', 
said that the 5th anniversary of the intervention of the coalition units in 
Iraq will be celebrated with anti war demonstrations. The anniversary falls 
on March 20th and protest actions are prepared by all anti war organisations 
in the world.
Poland has some 900 soldiers stationed in Iraq at present, while in 
Afghanistan there are some 1200 with 400 more planned to be sent there in 
the near future.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10488872

Protest targets spy base
5:00AM Saturday January 26, 2008
By Jarrod Booker

The Waihopai satellite base collects information from around the world to 
share overseas. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A small band of protesters know they will be ignored as they march on New 
Zealand's top-secret Waihopai "spy base" today.
Just like every other year, their calls for the closure of the facility that 
"leaves blood on New Zealanders' hands" will be met with deafening silence 
from those behind the high-security perimeter fence.
But protest organiser Murray Horton will not be put off. "We keep going as 
long as the bloody place is there ... to at least remind people about it.
"If we didn't go, even in our small and insignificant numbers, that place 
would get zero coverage.
"It just would not even register, which is the idea."
Situated in a remote Marlborough valley, the Waihopai satellite 
communications interception station quietly goes about collecting 
information from airwaves throughout the world that can be shared with other 
nations.
The base's opponents argue that it is primarily feeding information to the 
United States in support of wars New Zealanders do not support. There is 
another base at Tangimoana, near Bulls.
But the secretive Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), which 
operates the base, rejects this.
A bureau spokesman told the Weekend Herald: "The station is wholly owned and 
operated by the GCSB on behalf of the New Zealand Government to serve New 
Zealand's own needs for foreign intelligence to inform our Government's 
decision-making processes.
"The GCSB, and by extension the Waihopai facility, operate exclusively in 
support of ... Government policy."
Mr Horton, of the Anti Bases Campaign group, says United States-led wars 
such as that in Afghanistan rely heavily on electronic intelligence 
collected around the world.
Today's protest is part of a global day of action against foreign military 
bases by networks around the world.
Among the protesters expected are veteran activists such as Green Party MP 
Keith Locke and John Minto, of Global Peace and Justice Auckland.
The intelligence game
* The secretive Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) collects 
"intelligence" on New Zealand's behalf, and is responsible for guarding the 
country's secret information.
* Its budget for the current financial year is $39.288 million and it 
employs about 370 staff.
* The GCSB's head office is in Wellington and it operates 
intelligence-gathering posts at Waihopai, in Marlborough, and at Tangimoana, 
near Bulls.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/12/humanrights.military

British campaigners arrested at sea in Diego Garcia protest
· 'People's Navy' veterans detained by UK authorities
· Move to highlight military use and plight of islanders
Duncan Campbell
The Guardian,
Wednesday March 12 2008
Article history
About this article
Close
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday March 12 2008 on p6 of 
the UK news section. It was last updated at 01:29 on March 12 2008.

Diego Garcia. Photograph: US Dept of Defense/PA
Two British human rights campaigners have been arrested at sea off Diego 
Garcia in the Indian Ocean after protesting against the island's use in 
British and US military operations. The two men were demonstrating against 
the island's admitted use by the US for rendition flights and the historic 
removal of the Chagos islanders from their homes nearly 40 years ago.
Peter Bouquet, 59, originally from Devon, and Jon Castle, 56, originally 
from Guernsey, were detained by UK authorities after allegedly failing to 
leave the waters around Diego Garcia on board their vessel, Musichana. Both 
men are former captains of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior and veterans of 
environmental and human rights direct actions around the world.
They are currently part of a group called the People's Navy which has been 
seeking to highlight the plight of the Chagossians and to protest against 
the military use of the islands, which form part of the British Indian Ocean 
Territory. In a statement before their arrest, the men said that they wanted 
to show "the serious nature of our concerns about the plight of the 
Chagossians and about ... military activities on Diego Garcia".
The pair hope to draw attention to the cause of the Chagos islanders, who 
were removed by the UK in 1971 to make way for the base, following an 
agreement with the US, and have still not been able to return permanently, 
despite victories in high court actions in London. The statement said the 
protest was also against the recent use of Diego Garcia by the US for the 
transportation of prisoners being "rendered ... without regard to even the 
most basic and accepted concepts of justice". It added that although some 
Chagossians had been allowed to return temporarily to clean and restore 
graveyards, they should be allowed to return permanently.
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed last night that two men had been 
detained "after entering the waters illegally". He added that an 
investigation was continuing. Bouquet, a former member of the merchant navy, 
made his first protest against whaling off Iceland more than 30 years ago. 
Castle has been involved mainly in environmental campaigns. Both men said 
that they were motivated by Quaker ideals "that you should bear witness to a 
crime, even if you cannot stop it happening".
The arrests come in a week in which MPs and human rights groups have 
demanded an independent inquiry into the use of Diego Garcia by the CIA. 
Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Office minister, has spoken to Manfred 
Novak, the UN's special investigator on torture, about the alleged use of 
Diego Garcia as a detention centre for holding US suspects.
Last month, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, admitted to MPs that, 
contrary to earlier assurances, two CIA flights had landed at the base, each 
with a detainee on board. It has also been alleged that detainees have been 
interrogated at the base, although the foreign secretary has denied the 
claims.

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/01/20/stories/2008012050050200.htm

Two decades of protest and hope
ADITI BHADURI
As it moves into its third decade, Women In Black has progressed from its 
initial protest of Israeli occupation of Palestine.

I love Israel, but that does not give Israelis the right to go and settle in 
territories that don't belong to us. Gila Svirsky

Photo: AFP

Long vigils: A protest that also m0arked the 20th anniversary of the 
pacifist group.
It was on a typical winter's day in Jerusalem that I first met Gila Svirsky. 
It was a rainy chilly gloomy day, the second intifadah or Palestinian 
uprising had just broken out a few months ago, and the place was tense and 
foreboding. Though it was an extremely busy day for her, Gila still made 
time to pick me up from the old city. The old city of Jerusalem is where the 
great Israeli-Palestinian divide begins. Though the holiest sites of the 
three Abrahamic faiths converge here and the place is under Israeli rule, 
Jews from outside the old city are still hesitant to visit it. And when they 
do, like Gila did, they insist on meeting only near the Jaffa gate, the 
entrance to the Christian and Armenian quarters, even if the other gates are 
closer. And so over a delicious breakfast of humous and pitta bread 
accompanied by cardamom-laced kahwa at an old Syrian Christian restaurant in 
the Christian quarters of the old city of Jerusalem, I got to know Gila 
Svirsky, the public face of the Women In Black (WIB).
It began exactly 20 years ago, in December 1987, soon after the first 
Intifadah or Uprising broke out in the occupied Palestinian territories 
against Israel's military occupation. A small group of Jewish women from 
Jerusalem like Dafna Amit, Mimi Ash, Ruth Cohen and Hagar Roublev - 
left-wing activists, a mix of professors, teachers, and women -decided to 
launch a simple protest to express their belief in peace and demand that 
Israel end its occupation of Palestinian lands.
Determined stance
Once a week at the same location - Paris square in central Jerusalem and a 
major traffic intersection - they'd dress in black to symbolise the 
suffering and tragedy of both Israelis and Palestinians and raise their 
trademark "black hands" placard bearing a single line 'End the Occupation' 
written in Arabic, English and Hebrew. Grim and determined, they vowed to 
stand there till Israel gave them what they wanted. Their inspiration came 
from the "Black Sash Movement" of South Africa where white women fought 
apartheid and whose trademark had been the black sash each wore to express 
their disgust with the racist system.
Gila Svirsky, the current unofficial leader and head of the WIB, joined the 
movement in January 1988. Born and raised in an orthodox Jewish family in 
the U.S., Gila moved to Israel some 40 years ago. A grandmother at 61 (she 
hopes her grandsons will not serve in the Israeli army), she stands six feet 
tall and straight. Under a shock of white hair and glasses, her eyes twinkle 
and she explains, "I love Israel, but that does not give Israelis the right 
to go and settle in territories that don't belong to us; our occupation of 
Palestinians is wrong. I protest against it to save our country from the 
corruption of the occupation." Her sentiments are echoed by other members, 
though many like Maya Rosenfeld, a lecturer at the Hebrew University of 
Jerusalem, or Ditta Bitterman, a Tel Aviv based architect, were born and 
brought up in Israel. The movement spread to other locations like Tel Aviv, 
Haifa and Nazareth. Soon, women were standing in 40 different locations 
throughout Israel.
Growing links
The vigils attracted Arab women - both Christian and Muslim - citizens of 
Israel too. Nabiola Espanioli and Khulood Badawi, two renowned Israeli Arab 
activists are some of the best known Arab members of the WIB.
Soon after, the Israeli women heard of "solidarity vigils" in Canada and the 
USA: women in black - both Jewish and Palestinian, carrying similar 
hand-shaped placards bearing slogans "Palestinian and Jewish women United" 
and "Two Peoples, Two States".
The Women in Black began to flower in many European cities and, at the turn 
of the last decade, they took off with "a life of their own", meaning that 
many of these groups now had nothing to do with the Israeli occupation but 
began taking up and protesting against local issues relevant to each 
individual group. In Italy, the WIB protested against Mafia violence; in 
Germany, they protested against neo-Nazism and xenophobia; and in Belgrade 
and Zagreb, they condemned the war, the mass rape of women and ethnic 
strife, setting an example of inter-ethnic cooperation among themselves. In 
London, the WIB protested against Operation Iraqi Freedom; now they protest 
the allied occupation of that country. Today the International Movement of 
the Women In Black forms an integral part of all global feminist and peace 
movement and studies. Feminists like Cynthia Cockburn and Haifa Zangana feel 
proud to be associated with it. But it is the Israeli Women in Black that 
claims matriarchal superiority.
At a vigil

When I accompanied Gila to the meeting on Friday, it was drizzling and cold. 
A group of sombre-faced women and men, all dressed in black stood keeping 
vigil, marking the 14th anniversary of the movement. Each held a black 
hand-shaped emblazoned with "End the Occupation". A lone Palestinian woman 
had made it to the vigil and together with a Jewish woman held a banner that 
said "we refuse to be enemies"' - a simple but potent resolve. Passers-by 
reacted. Some gave the group the thumbs-up sign; others abuse. Two motorists 
slowed down and silently held out a picture of Rehovam Zeevi, the Israel 
minister who had recently been shot dead by a Palestinian. The police stood 
guard, since the vigils haven't always been smooth sailing - the women have 
often been threatened and sometimes assaulted, accused of being traitors. 
WIB members had also been arrested once when they lay down across from the 
entrance to the defence ministry to illustrate what a closure for 
Palestinians was like.
Arab women have been at the receiving end too. WIB has also forged relations 
with Palestinian women in the West Bank. Kawther Salam, a Palestinian 
journalist and resident of Hebron, one of the partners in the West Bank has 
been disdained as a "traitor and Jew lover" by many Palestinians. 
Ideological differences between the Israeli and Palestinian women have often 
surfaced too.
A few years later, after that winter's Friday, I found myself back in 
Jerusalem. It was the August of the Gaza withdrawal and the weather was 
decidedly hot and sticky. And again on a Friday afternoon, this time a 
scorching one, I found groups of women dressed in black keep their weekly 
vigil there. Because of the Gaza withdrawal, opposed by most Jerusalemites, 
the mood in Jerusalem was resentful. There were more jeers than cheers. 
"Traitors, Arab lovers" were hurled more angrily at the WIB. Resolute, the 
women stood there, not forgetting or forsaking their tryst with destiny.
Recently the WIB completed 20 years of its existence and its Friday vigil on 
December 28, 2007 marked its 20th anniversary. Five hundred people 
participated, all talking and promising to not lose hope, and reaching out 
across the lines that divide. There is a hint of optimism as people in 
Israel are now more than ever aware that the occupation has to end and it 
has to end soon.
Rough journey
It has been a rough journey, but there have been some encouraging moments. 
There are solidarity movements in some 150 cities across the globe. The 
Israeli movement won the Aachen Peace Prize (1991) , the peace award of San 
Giovanni d' Asso in Italy (1994), and the Jewish Peace Fellowship's 
Peacemaker Award" (2001). In 2001 the International Movement of Women in 
Black won the Millennium Peace Prize awarded by the UN Development Fund for 
Women. The Israeli and Serbian groups were also candidates for the 2001 
Nobel Peace Prize.
2008 sees the movement steps into its third decade. But as Gila, proud yet 
despondent, says, "I hope we don't have to have these vigils for too long. I 
hope this occupation soon ends and there are two states - Israel and 
Palestine - existing side by side.'
Around the World
www.acttogether.org/index.htm - Act Together: Women Against Sanctions and 
War on Iraq.
www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org - Coalition of Women for a Just Peace.
www.donneinnero.org - Women in Black, Italy.
www.womeninblackoz.com - Women in Black, Australia.
www.zeneucrnom.org.yu - Women in Black, Yugoslavia.
www.wib-zeneucrnom-belgrade.org - Women in Black, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
www.camwib.org.uk Women in Black, Cambridge, U.K.
www.neww.org - aims to empower women and girls throughout Central and 
Eastern Europe, and NIS and the Russian Federation and the West.
www.womeninmourningandoutrage.com - a justice project created by women of 
colour who oppose brutality, discrimination and acts of hate. 
www.grandmothersforpeace.org - Grandmothers for Peace, a non-profit 
organisation, was formed in May of 1982 at the height of the Cold War.
www.madre.org - supports community development and training that enables 
women to play leadership roles in their homes, communities, countries and 
the international arena.
www.batshalom.org - Bat Shalom of the Jerusalem Link is a feminist centre 
for peace and social justice working with a Palestinian women's centre to 
achieve peace.
For more info see www.womeninblack.net/index