Vivian Silver helped create Women Wage Peace, a grassroots movement advocating for a mutually … [+]
This story is part of a series called “Israeli, Palestinian Women: The Only Way Forward Is Together.” The series highlights Israeli and Palestinian women about their connection to Israel/Palestine, and how they are working to improve relations, and promote equality and coexistence between both groups of people. See the links at the bottom of this article for each article of the series.
In 2009, Vivian Silver went hiking through fields near her home in Israel. Suddenly, the booming sounds of a warplane permeated through the air, and the next thing she knew, a bomb was falling.
And then, a second bomb fell; and then a third.
“I thought, oh my God, I guess, a war just started, and I’ve got to get out of here,” Silver said.
Silver felt an unshakeable fear and darted towards her home that was several miles away; on the way, sirens could be heard in the distance alerting Israelis to take cover, and her cell phone was blaring with the same alarm.
“I was half an hour away from any place safe,” Silver said. “So, what could I do other than run back?”
Situations like this have been Silver’s reality for the last three decades — since she moved into her home on a kibbutz that’s less than three miles from the Israel/Gaza border. (A kibbutz is a communal settlement in Israel, typically a farm.)
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Silver has lived through constant attacks and experienced four wars between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group that runs Gaza and that the United States classifies as a terrorist organization. But despite her own trauma, Silver, now 72, has spent the last four decades working to end the Israeli/Palestinian conflict while advocating for co-existence and harmony between the two groups.
Living Next To Gaza
For years, Silver was the director of the Arab Jewish Center For Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation, an organization operating cross-border projects between Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. She collaborated with peace-minded groups in the Palestinian-run areas and even brought her children on occasion to visit.
But then the second intifada began, or the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation, and it turned violent and deadly. Then, Hamas overtook Gaza in 2007, stopping all communication and interaction between Palestinians in Gaza and Israelis.
Silver would never be able to step foot inside Gaza again. Instead, she would now be in the direct line of fire of Hamas’ rockets and aggression.
“In 2009, the [Israeli] government only built shelters for communities that were four kilometers from the border. The community I live in is four and a half kilometers from the border, so we didn’t have shelters then,” Silver explained. “Now we do, so psychologically we feel better, and we feel safer, and in fact, we are safer, we’re a lot safer than the people in Gaza.”
“But, you know my neighbors further east to me are seven kilometers from the border, and they’re attacked just as much as we are, but they don’t have shelters, so it’s just a mess.”
All the wars Silver lived through have been horrific, but she says the 2014 Gaza war was particularly ruthless. It began when Hamas and Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israeli cities for ten days straight. The Israeli military responded with an aerial bombardment that resulted in a 50 day bloody and deadly conflict.
“It’s living under the horror of what the wars have brought — the endless killing and maiming and psychological maiming of adults and children, and destruction on both sides,” she said. “And what has changed? What has war brought us? And that’s the feeling of futility — war is not the answer.”
Women Wage Peace
After the 2014 conflict finally ended, Silver and other Israeli women came together with the hope of creating lasting change. They started a grassroots movement and an organization called Women Wage Peace.
Women Wage Peace includes Jewish and Arab Israeli women who find themselves on all sides of the political and religious spectrum. They don’t advocate for a specific solution but instead for a mutually binding non-violent agreement between Israelis and Palestinians with women at the forefront in all aspects of the negotiation.
The movement has expanded and now includes 40,000 women located in 95 different areas around Israel. Every Monday, they protest at the Knesset (Israeli government), wearing white and turquoise so government officials can identify them easily. They host peace building webinars, protests, and marches around the country and conduct peace building activities. Women Wage Peace focuses on being in the public eye
“The paradigm that we’ve been living under for all these years is that only war will bring us peace, and that has been proven false time and time again,” Silver said. “We can’t put up with this anymore. We can’t be sacrificing our families for no purpose because there is no purpose to this.”
“I hope that both sides realize that nothing will come out of war, other than continued destruction. And that if our leaders care about their people, then they’re going to have to change the paradigm.”
“We made peace with Jordan, and we made peace with Egypt when Israelis didn’t think it would happen. And the same thing can happen with Palestine. And that’s what I expect, and that’s what I’m working for. That’s what I’m putting my life on the line for.”
The next project for the movement is a cross-border project with Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza; they hope this project is the catalyst for change, and encourages both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to come to a summit and reach an agreement.
“We are working top-down and bottom-up. If enough people on the ground are pressing the government, believing that it’s possible, the government will have no choice but to listen to the people,” Silver said.
“But we need the masses on our side, and we need to stop demonizing our enemies; we need to humanize them.”
2021 Gaza War
Silver says over the years leading up to today, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has only grown worse.
The 2021 Gaza war left 243 Palestinians dead, including 100 women and children, and 12 Israelis, including two children. Aside from the deaths, thousands were injured. And in Israel, clashes and violence broke out between Jews and Israeli Arabs in mixed cities.
After the war, both sides claimed “victory.”
“Hamas can brag about winning this last war, but their people are in horrific shape right now,” Silver said. “They don’t eat; they have no electricity, they have no clean water, they don’t have sewage, their situation is a disaster — a humanitarian disaster.”
“And as much as I would like to take responsibility for that, there is a context of this war. And, and it’s not the simple equation of the oppressed and the oppressors.”
“It’s not a question of balance, you know, because we have fewer people who were killed or maimed, and they have so many more. The issue is, when are we going to come to our senses and stop this? When are we going to privilege life over land?”
Whenever there is an escalation between Israel and Hamas, Silver said Women Wage Peace’s work is impacted; but they don’t have the luxury of sinking into despair.
“What can I tell you? It’s a struggle,” she said. “I mean for those of us who have dedicated our lives to living here or were born here, and this is home and have no intention of leaving, we feel an obligation to make this place a better place to live for everybody.”
A Child, A Pail, and Uncomplicating Complicated Tensions
Silver reminisced about when her children were toddlers and when she worked as a construction project manager on her kibbutz. At the time, Palestinian laborers would travel from the West Bank, a Palestinian territory, to the kibbutz to work for her, and her children got to know some of them. One man, in particular, named Nassar, became a friend of the family. But after the second intifada, the Palestinian laborers were forbidden from crossing into Israel.
“My son noticed that one of the workers wasn’t here, and he said, ‘Where is Nassar?’ And I said, ‘Nassar doesn’t have a permit to come over now.’ And he said, ‘Why not?’ I said, ‘Well, there’s been a big conflict between the Palestinians in Gaza and Palestinians in general, and the Israelis,’ and he says, ‘Well, what’s it over?'” Silver said.
“I said, ‘The conflict is over land.’ So he goes, looks for a pail, and fills it up with earth, and in Hebrew, land, and earth are the same word. And he says, ‘Here, give it to Nassar so he can come back.'”
“And I thought, you know, it can be as simple as that—out of the mouths of babes. Why do we make it so much more complicated than it has to be?”
Previous articles:
Israeli And Palestinian Women: The Only Way Forward Is Together
Lama Abuarquob, Palestinian Activist, On Israel/Palestine: Hope Land Will Be For Everybody
Arab Israeli Educator On Israel/Palestine: We Must Invest In Our Community Inside Israel
How Israel Shaped Ruth Mayer And Her Hope For Her Homeland’s Future
