Thoughts by Others (that I like)

"As long as we appear in the Square, we carry a promise of change," Judith Warschawski - 24 years on the Jerusalem vigil of Women in Black. Week after Week We Demand: End the Occupation!

"On Friday, July 23rd, a dozen Jewish women, a dozen Palestinian women, one baby, and three Palestinian children took a trip from the West Bank in six private cars." We Do Not Obey: Women in the Footsteps of Ilana Hammerman.

"A human rights activist is killed like a dog, executed, dumped and humiliated," by Jasmina Tesanovic.

In the week that Natalya Estemirova was murdered in Chechnya, a dwindling but determined group of women vows to preserve her legacy, no matter the danger. Natasha's Heirs by Miriam Elder and Adrian Blomfield.

"The truth is that we are a state trapped in militarized patterns of action, a society addicted to militarized mindsets and the use of force." Criminalizing Dissent (For a Change) by Rela Mazali, New Profile

"...because what is at stake are the lives of Israeli youth against whom the state is waging this war." Israel's War Against Youth by Rela Mazali.

"Though Israeli law offers virtually no legal provision for Conscientious Objection, young people have found their own way to vote with their feet." New Profile Under Investigation by Rela Mazali and Ruth Hiller.

"My heart has been broken so many times, writes Alice Walker somewhere, that it feels like an open suitcase with the wind blowing through it…" Shiv'a in Gaza by Deb Reich.

"The refusal to recognise our existence has served the propaganda machine of Israel well, especially in times of war...There is a growing number of people ready to be considered 'traitors'." The Israeli Resistance by Hannah Safran.

"Even if Livni will not become prime minister, the 2009 elections proved that the combination of women and peace is a winning one; that male and female voters alike wanted a woman to take the reigns..." The Failure of the (Male) Left by Daphna Golan-Agnon.

Anti-war Statement by 21 Israeli women's organizations during the Gaza War in December-January 2008-09.

All were 18 when they made the hard choice: Say no to war and occupation, or say yes to prison. Meet some of the "shministim" - Israeli high school seniors who are willing to sit in prison for their beliefs. Women Who Refuse

"The state of Israel condemns and vilifies the voice of the Jewish mother, which is the voice of compassion, tolerance, and dialogue. The state of Israel does all it can to ensure that this voice will be muted and silenced forever." from In the State of Israel, the Jewish Mother is Disappearing by Nurit Peled-Elhanan.

"The military is present in the Israeli formal educational system, inside many families, and in the culture in general, on many levels. The militarization of kindergarten education can serve as a good case to demonstrate our point here." Militarism and Conscientious Objection in Israel by Ruth Hiller and Sergeiy Sandler.

"...the windowsills were full of plants thriving from good care. We sat across from each other and she sipped her coffee in between answers to my questions." Chapter 8 from Lucille Sherlick's Ph.D. dissertation, Israeli Women's Voices.

"The day of Jess’s conversion was also the day that Israel began its pitiless bombing of Lebanon and nearly three weeks into Israel’s violent assault on Gaza." From A Jewish Plea by Sara Roy.

An honor's thesis worth reading: Feminist Solidarity in Women’s Antiwar Activism by Nina Ulasowski.

"I am Jewish, Israeli, married, the mother of three sons, secular by choice, and a feminist peace activist out of conviction. I am a computer systems analyst, and live in Jerusalem." The Life of an Israeli Woman in a Culture of War by Nava Elyashar.

After months of being away, speaking abroad about the demonstrations against the wall and their importance, showing pictures of the demonstrators' creativity and courage, the army's brutality, suddenly I did not really want to be there." Back to Bil'in by Dalit Baum.

The enemy of my enemy is not my friend: Fundamentalist Non State Actors, Democracy and Human Rights by Marieme Helie Lucas.

"When half the population is not represented at the table where the fate of humanity is at stake, we cannot expect to sustain peace agreements..." Women, Peace, and Stability by Cora Weiss.

"I am working for the day when millions of people will show up and dismantle the checkpoints with their own hands and that’s that, finished..." on Founding MachsomWatch by Yehudit Kirstein-Keshet.

"I would like to dedicate these words to all the Palestinian boys and girls, and to all the Lebanese boys and girls, and to all the Iraqi boys and girls who have been massacred by mind-infected Israeli and American soldier boys, and who have recently joined my own little girl in the underground kingdom of dead children, which is growing under our feet as I speak." Education or Mind Infection by Nurit Peled-Elhanan.

"Israelis live today with a sense of failure. They search for the source of the "lapse" (mekhdal) – a term much used to describe the disaster of October 1973 (the "Yom Kippur War")." The First Post-Zionist War by Roni Ben Efrat.