“We were able to create a new language: we believe that peace is the only solution.”

Women for Peace and Women of the Sun were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024. For four years, with the signing of the "Call of Mothers" proposal, these two organizations, one from Israel and the other from the West Bank, have been working together to find a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The representatives who were on the tour, which departed from Argentina to Uruguay, are:

Angela Scharf, the Foreign Relations team coordinator for Women for Peace, is an Israeli woman who studied Political Science and the Middle East at the University of Jerusalem and has lived in South Korea, Germany, and Belgium.

Also from Women for Peace is Hyam Tannous, a member of the steering committee. She is an Arab Christian Israeli. From 2000 to 2016, she led a nonviolence program for all Jewish and Arab schools in northern Israel.

And Reem Al-Hajajreh, co-founder and director of Mujeres del Sol. Born in Bethlehem, she is a Muslim and advocates for female empowerment. She is the mother of three children.

A new language. “People don't know what's happening, not even in the conflict zones. The war is between people who speak Hebrew and Arabic. No one understands what's happening in the West Bank or Gaza, because everything is broadcast in Arabic. It's the same in reverse: what happens in Israel happens in Hebrew, and people don't know Hebrew. What I discovered is that we don't know anything about each other,” Israeli Christian Hyam Tannous paints this worrying picture.

Without clear knowledge of what's happening, how can peace be achieved? Angela Scharf agrees: "The problem is that the press tends to pick sides."

“We were able to create a new language,” says Reem Al-Hajajreh. “I tried to listen to the other side, the people of Israel, to understand what they think, and we achieved dialogue. Israeli women are mothers, and I am a mother too; we all want our children to live in peace.” “Of course, it was difficult to express myself in this way; it was very difficult for me to implement this new idea: that we want to live in peace with the Israelis. But at the same time, I had the support of my children,” says Al-Hajajreh.

Pairs. “The point here is that we don't have to be pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli, we have to be pro-Palestinian,” says Tannous. “In Israel, we have many Arab educators and academics, although the biggest problem and difference in coexistence is that Arabs don't serve in the army. So that becomes somewhat complicated,” he reveals.

“In Israel, everyone has equal rights: there are Arabs in Parliament, the majority of doctors in Israel are Arab, as are the nurses. But they feel like second-class citizens,” says Angela Scharf. That's why “we build bridges, we help people from both sides become ambassadors of peace in their communities,” she adds.

Women of peace. “We believe it is important that the peace process includes women. This conflict shows that we need true peace solutions. The spiral of violence must finally end,” says Scharf. “We truly believe that peace is the only solution to prevent the loss of our children. There is no other solution,” agrees Al-Hajajreh.

Women Wage Peace, or Mujeres Activan por la Paz in Spanish, is an Israeli organization founded in 2014. It brings together more than 50,000 women of different religions and political views.

Women of the Sun is based in the West Bank. It was founded in 2021 by a group of women committed to peace. The organization sealed its relationship with Women Wage Peace with the signing of the Mothers' Call pact. Both organizations were nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.