JPIC Moment in Fraternity meeting - Part 3

Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
From the St. Francis of Assisi JPIC Committee
(Mike, Marion, Maureen & Charlie) March, 2018
 
Women at the Heart of Peace (Part 3)
Prayer of the Mothers
In the fall of 2017, thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women of the Women Wage Peace movement organized a 2-week march for peace through parts of Israel and the West Bank.  It ended with a rally in Jerusalem.
Sunday’s arrival in Jerusalem coincided with the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which commemorates the Jewish journey through the Sinai after their exodus from Egypt. In 2015, Women Wage Peace members fasted in relays over 50 days, the length of the 2014 war between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Use the link below to view a 5-minute video featuring the 2017 march. Throughout the video, a beautiful song, “Prayer of the Mothers”, is sung in Hebrew with accompanying English sub-titles. 

  Here are several stanzas from that song:
        Between the sky and the land
      there are people who want to live in            peace;
      don’t give up, keep dreaming
      of peace and prosperity.
 
      The walls of fear will some day melt
      and I will return from exile;
      my gates shall open
      to what is truly good.
 
      from the north to the south,
      from the west to the east,
      hear the prayer of the mothers:
      bring them peace,
      bring them peace.

Women from the 'Women Wage Peace' movement and Palestinians take part in a march near the Jordan River, in the West Bank on October 8, 2017. (Flash90)
Israeli and Palestinian activists were ending a two-week march Sunday through parts of Israel and the West Bank with a Jerusalem rally to demand a peace deal.
The Women Wage Peace movement organized the march, which began on September 24 and includes participants who have themselves been affected by violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
       (Excerpts from Development & Peace Fall 2017 Campaign material)