| The Israeli and
Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace are two groups of close relatives of
those who have died in the ongoing violence between Israelis and
Palestinians. In Israel they are the Parents' Circle (200 families). In the
Palestinian Authority they are part of the National Movement for Change (150
families). Together, they are the Families Forum, representing those who
have paid the highest price for the absence of peace. |
 On
March 19 members of the Bereaved Families for Peace arrived in New York City
from Tel Aviv, en route also to Washington, DC and to Boston. They came with
a ceremony for peace and a plea to the world for help. Their message at the
United Nations Plaza began with the statement: Better Have Pains of Peace
Than Agonies of War. It was accompanied with a display of
1,050 coffins covered in flags. 800 of the coffins were draped with
Palestinian flags and 250 were draped with Israeli flags. The number of
coffins for each side represented the actual ratio of Palestinian and
Israeli casualties. They called upon the United States (the last
remaining super power), the European Union and the United Nations to take
concrete steps to end the violence by pressuring the parties to return to
the negotiating table. |
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Words from the parents:
"Under our feet there is an ever-growing
kingdom of dead children. Some people ask how I can accept condolences
from 'the other side'. For me the two sides are not the Palestinians and
the Jews. For me the two sides are those who desire peace and those who
clamor for violence and war." |
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"We need the voices of motherhood and
fatherhood! We are the only ones who can tell you there is no enlightened
killing of children. The death of a child is the death of the whole world.
The voices of politicians, economics and oil are not the voices of parents!"
"We have found a family with each other.
Because of this some consider us unpatriotic.
But this is the most patriotic thing we can
do." |
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"We refuse to let our grief harden
into hatred and actions of retaliation. Instead, we are turning, in
compassion and reconciliation, to each other - Palestinians and Israelis -
with the hearts of parents who want to join our voices and hands so that
there will be no more bloodshed and no more lives of children wasted."
"All of us, we cry together. As we
come from the place of pain together, we want to say to our leaders: 'We
lost our children, and we can come together in peace. Why can't you? We lost
a lot, yet we are building a bridge together, and we say to you: 'Enough!
Help us NOW - not in the future. Stop shouting and start talking!'"
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