Women of a Certain Age

WCA NEWS from Gaza

Yonatan Shapira:  “I want to shout as loud as I can and ask everyone to join us in this struggle, Palestinians and Israelis who want to stop the bloodshed. The massacre will not stop unless people from all over the world will wake up, join us and call for boycott, divestment and sanctions on the Israeli government” Full story here.

From Sameh A. Habeeb, photojournalist, humanitarian & peace activist in Gaza Strip

Day 6 of Israeli War On Gaza
More suffocating bombings claim lives of children, women
Gaza Strip,1, January, 2009- The scale of Israeli war escalated  today by hitting more targets in various places across occupied Gaza. The army opened the new year with more military fatal actions in Gaza leaving more people dead. Trauma cases raise up and more people are suffering from the air raids. Full story, click here

Israeli Gunboats Ram “Dignity”

(Lebanon, Tuesday 30 December) - Today the Free Gaza ship “Dignity” carefully made its way to safe harbor in Tyre, Lebanon’s southern-most port city, after receiving serious structural damage when Israeli warships rammed its bow and the port side. Waiting to greet the passengers and crew were thousands of Lebanese who came out to show their solidarity with this attempt to deliver volunteer doctors and desperately needed medical supplies to war-ravaged Gaza. The Lebanese government has pledged to provide a forensic analysis of what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives. For the complete story, click here.

Open Letter from Samia Khoury

Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 6:29 PM
Subject: John Berger

Dear All,

I was at a loss for words to express all the brutality of the Israeli attack on Gaza.  The following  message of the  distinguished and courageous British writer and art critic, John Berger came to my rescue. Read John’s article here.

Please visit our “News & Updates” page for the latest news from Gaza, or click here

We Are Women of a Certain Age

Formed to travel to Palestine in 2004, Women of a Certain Age continues to advocate for Palestinian human rights. We are proud to have WCA members who are active in Adalah-NY, Brooklyn for Peace, Code Pink, the Granny Peace Brigades, the Green Party, ISM, MECR, UFPJ, Women in Black, and more. Our list of friends is a growing community, and we encourage others to work with us. As mothers, grandmothers and daughters, we believe in the power and responsibility each one of us has to effect change. In the summer of 2004, we traveled to the Occupied Palestinian West Bank. We stood beside women and men who, like us, wish to live in a just world at peace. We met with Palestinians whose voices have not been heard outside the walls of occupation.We traveled to learn and returned to educate and inform our family, friends, co-workers, indeed, our fellow citizens to the true and terrible nature of the Israeli occupation.

We traveled because we cannot remain silent in the face of such obvious injustice. We cannot remain silent when Israel builds an Apartheid wall that divides a people, that tears asunder villages from fields, people from their livelihoods. We cannot remain silent when illegal settlements are maintained and expanded onto other people’s lands. We cannot remain silent as the Israeli army enforces the Occupation with walls, fences, razor wire, checkpoints, roadblocks, tear gas, bullets and bombs fired from helicopters upon innocent people. We cannot remain silent when Israeli bulldozers (made in the USA) raze Palestinian homes creating thousands of new refugees in a land of refugees.

While some of our members had over 60 years of experience as activists, for others it was an introduction to direct action. Our group was varied; teachers, social workers, artists and lawyers, Jews, Christians, Muslims and secularists. Each brought a different contribution to the group. Two women brought their daughters. Some documented the trip in photos, video and diaries.

As individuals we had a desire to see things first hand, but the group provided the impetus. We hope that as Women of a Certain Age we might inspire others to do the same. Here are some ways to travel to Israel/Palestine: Alternative Tourism Group, Birthright Unplugged, Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, Fellowship of Reconciliation, International Solidarity Movement, International Women’s Peace Service, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and more. If you’re new to this and you’d like to form a group like ours, write to us, we’d be happy to share our experience.