The Women in Black

They are called the Women in Black. One month after the first Palestinian Intifada broke out in 1988, a group of women launched the simplest form of protest. Stand at the same major traffic intersection, at the same time each Friday, wearing black and holding signs with messages such as Stop the Occupation. Their request is simple: no more violence.

Since the 1980s, Women in Black has become an international movement, taking on different issues in different countries, but always preaching the same uncompromising commitment to a world free of violence.

I met these women during my trip to Israel in 2006. I stood on the street corner and watched drivers roll down their windows and yell obscenities at the women who were silently holding signs of peace. Some drivers flashed their middle fingers. Some honked. None of the Women in Black seemed fazed by the hostility. It happened every week.

Across the street, a small group gathered with signs of their own. They too, appeared at this same Jerusalem intersection every Friday to protest against the Women in Black’s call for an end to violence. This group was vocal, using bullhorns and their own shouts to drown out the traffic and ensure the women across the street heard their opposition. Again, the Women in Black did nothing but silently hold their signs for peace a little higher into the air. 

The Women in Black are composed of both Israeli and Palestinian women. Weaving through the sea of black, it was impossible for me to distinguish an Israeli woman from a Palestinian, which is, of course, the point. The Women in Black are drawn together because they share one important thing in common. Israeli or Palestinian, most of the women have lost at least one family member to the violence. Some have lost many. It is this shared grief, and the desire for others to never know this grief themselves, that brings the Women in Black here each week.

“That’s why we stand here every Friday,” one woman told me. “It’s a step towards no more death of any kind. No more corpses. No more violence. No more.”