Initiatives of Palestinian and Israeli women committed to peace in the Middle East are taking place in Argentina from 8 to 13 August. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano also attended one of the meetings. Other conferences are also planned in Uruguay.

Reem Al-Hajajreh (Palestinian Muslim, co-founder and director of Women of the Sun), Hyam Tannous (Arab Christian from Israel, member of the steering committee of Women for Peace) and Angela Scharf (Israeli Jew, external relations coordinator of Women for Peace) met in Buenos Aires from 5 to 13 August during their first visit to Latin America. These women shared their experiences of working for peace in the Middle East. Their meeting is organized by the Anne Frank Center for Latin America ("Centro Anna Frank Argentina para América Latina") and the Latin American Women for Peace Network "Mujeres Activan por la Paz - Red Iberoamericana".

Three women activists - a Muslim, a Christian and a Jewish woman - talked about how their personal journeys led them to cross borders and build bridges. They represent two movements that have been working together for years to build a peaceful alternative in the Middle East. Their message is clear: "Peace is possible, and it starts with concrete choices, even in the most hostile conditions." The two movements are working together through dialogue and cooperation to create a future based on equality and security for their children and future generations, proving that there are ways to overcome the divisions caused by the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Héctor Shalom, Director of the Anne Frank Centre for Latin America, referring to Reem Al-Hajajreh, said that "we need peace to save our children from death". He also added that "the world is full of leaders who bet on war. We, on the other hand, bet on those who choose peace in the midst of conflict".

Palestinian Reem Al-Hajajreh described what it is like to live in a refugee camp with more than 16 000 inhabitants. "The size of my house is 70 square metres, so I don't come from a very luxurious background," she began. But apart from the material aspects, her life has been marked above all by the constant violence: 'Every day we are subjected to attacks by the Israeli army. Every time they invade the camp, there are arrests, martyrdom [murders] and injuries." As a mother and social worker, fear has become her personal experience, "Every day we lose one of my son's friends. I have accompanied many mothers to the cemetery. I never imagined I would be in such a place."

This experience led her to found an organization dedicated to providing women with political and economic tools. "We believe that there is no other solution and that peace is the only way to prevent the loss of our children," she said. With this conviction, she decided to listen to Israeli women too: "They feel the same pain as we do. They too are victims of their governments. They send their children to the army from a young age and they are not prepared for it. They raise them without humanity, as if they were monsters'.

After nine months of meetings between Palestinian and Israeli women, a joint agreement was reached. "We believe that this agreement is like our child," said Reem Al-Hajajreh. "It took us a lot of effort to write it, but it was a success. We created a new language, a language that politicians don't use, saying that we must protect our children and that everyone deserves the same treatment, whether they live in Tel Aviv or in a refugee camp." And she ended with a sentence that sums up her entire message, "With peace, nothing is impossible."

Jewish Angela Scharf was born in Vienna to a family of Polish origin, affected by the Holocaust. At the age of 18, she moved to Israel, driven by a desire to live in a Jewish state. "At the time, I thought only Jews lived in Israel, but then I found out that wasn't the case, so I studied political science and Islamic studies." Angela Scharf, whose life has been marked by international experience and caring for her children and grandchildren, says she is committed to peace with her family in mind: "I am working for them to have a better future."

For five years, she has been responsible for diplomatic communications for Women for Peace, an Israeli organization founded in 2014 after the military operation in Gaza. Today, the movement has more than 50,000 members, including religious and non-religious women of different ideologies, who share the same goal: to convince governments to return to the negotiating table. "Any peaceful solution is acceptable to us. But women must be at the negotiating table. They must be part of it, they must be involved," Angela Scharf stressed. The organisation organises marches, joint events with Palestinian women activists, debates in the Israeli parliament and meetings with international leaders. One of its most important actions was the conclusion of an official alliance with the Palestinian Women of the Sun, with which it developed a joint agreement and called on the world to join it.

Christian Hyam Tannous presented her testimony in Hebrew. She was born in Israel to a Palestinian family and grew up in a mixed neighborhood with Jewish and Muslim neighbors. "I had various enriching experiences that taught me that we are all the same," she said. From a young age, she understood what it meant to live simultaneously with two different identities. "My heart is divided, not by choice, but because of history, politics and war." For two decades, she was an educational supervisor to more than four hundred professionals, Jewish and Arab, and learned, as she puts it, that "every change begins with a human relationship." When she retired in 2016, she joined Women for Peace.

Today, she is a member of the steering committee of the organisation and, together with other colleagues, she leads a programme on current affairs. From this position, she stresses the importance of working together with Women of the Sun: "Reem is worried about her son, Angela is worried about her daughter. No mother should ever visit her child's grave, no matter which side she is on." She recalls with deep emotion the meeting on 4 October 2023, which brought together more than 1,500 women in Jerusalem: "That day strengthened our courage, but three days later the world collapsed. I can't not cry, I can't bear the sight of a dying child or the cries of mothers who can't be heard."

Tannous made an urgent and very strong appeal: "We mothers do not want to bury more children. We cry together, we hold hands when we are at a loss for words. We are not willing to let others decide for us. We ask for a future." Finally, she looked out at the audience and said, "We are not victims, we are strength. If not us, then who? If not now, when?"

"L'Osservatore Romano" was present on Friday 8 August at a conference at the Honorable Cámera de Diputados de la Nación. The three women had previously given lectures at the Anne Frank Centre in Argentina, at the Buenos Aires City Council and at the Colegio Público de Abogacía in Buenos Aires. They will then travel to the province of Santiago del Estero, also in Argentina, and finally, on 12 August, they will travel to Uruguay, where they will be received by President Yamandú Orsi and participate in official events.

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