A debate with peace activists and 2024 Sakharov Prize finalists, Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun.
Co-hosted by MEPs Chloé Ridel and Thijs Reuten (S&D), Sophie Wilmès and Hilde Vautmans (Renew), this roundtable event will shed light on peacebuilding activities in Israel and Palestine, notably those carried out by two NGOs and Sakharov finalists, namely Women of the Sun and Women Wage Peace.
Reem Alhajajra co-founded Women of the Sun. Pascale Chen is involved in the Women Wage peace movement. Since 2014, both NGOs have been marching together, requesting political leaders to negotiate long-lasting peace, and highlighting the transformative role women and mothers can have in this regard.
Renowned peace activists from Israel and Palestine also participated in this exchange:
- Despite losing two of her friends to the attacks perpetrated on 7 October 2023, Rabbi Nava Hefetz has kept advocating for peace and the rights of Palestinians.
- As for Palestinian Huda Abu Arqoub, she has been leading a network of civil society organisations working in conflict transformation, development, and coexistence in the Middle East among Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, and Jews. She is also a leading supporter of Women Wage Peace.
- Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah both lost family members to the conflict. For more than ten years now, they have come together to share a message of peace, forgiveness and empathy.