In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8 of this year, Activestills paid tribute to more than a quarter century of anti-occupation activism by the Women in Black group in Israel.
Every Friday since 1988, the women have stood in the main squares of cities or at highway junctions with signs calling to end the Israeli Occupation. Often spat at, cursed or violently harassed by passersby, they have become a symbol of persistence.
Dafna Kaminer: “It was the time of the First Intifada, and we wanted to support the Palestinian struggle. So we decided that we would stand out there with signs calling to end the occupation. It was the simplest and most visual thing we could do.”
Edna Glukman: “In the beginning, the right-wing protesters started to attack us during the vigils. We sewed big black banners and with small white letters we wrote slogans against the occupation, as well as for justice, peace and women. By the time we began writing the word ‘women’ on our banners, it was already starting to become a women’s movement.”
Tamar Huffman: “You could say that we are a handful of women with a lot of opinions; it is definitely a feminist group. If we had a man on the board, he would probably be the one making decisions.”
Tamar Lehan: “I didn’t join for feminist reasons, but rather for the persistent and clear statement of the group. However, I think that it is very logical that it is a women’s group, since women are accustomed to doing hard work for long periods of time without seeking immediate results.”
Dafna Kaminer: “In times of unrest, we expect more verbal and sometimes physical violence. People curse at us as if we were the ones responsible for the situation, and not Israel’s policy makers. When things are more calm, people just walk by and say nothing. Like we are transparent or nonexistent.”