PRAYER OF THE MOTHERS’ HONORS WOMEN MARCHING FOR PEACE

by Eleonora Pedron DEAD SEA.  “Prayer of the Mothers,”  is a song by singer-songwriter Yael Deckelbaum, which mixes in a message from Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, celebrating the “Women Wage Peace” movement.

The movement began during the summer of 2014’s Israeli-Gaza conflict, Operation Protective Edge, in which 73 Israelis and 2,200 Palestinians were killed in 50 days of fighting. On October 4, 2016, the peace movement began the two week “March of Hope.” In those two weeks thousands of Jewish and Arab Israeli women marched from the north of Israel to Jerusalem calling for a peace agreement that will be respectful, non-violent and accepted by both sides. On October 4, 2016, the peace movement began the two week “March of Hope.” In those two weeks thousands of Jewish and Arab Israeli women marched from the north of Israel to Jerusalem calling for a peace agreement that will be respectful, non-violent and accepted by both sides. The march culminated on October 19th with over 4,000 women holding a joint Jewish-Muslim prayer for peace in Qasr el Yahud, on the northern end of the Dead Sea.

That same evening the group gathered 15,000 of its members for a protest outside Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem in call for action.

In the video of the song writtwn by the Israelian singer-songwriter Yael Deckelbaum, Leymah Gbowee, who received the peace prize for rallying women to help end of the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003, offers a blessing for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and call for continuing the struggle to achieve that peace. “Peace is possible when women of integrity and faith stand up for the futures of their children,” said Gbowee.