“The initiative stems from a desire to create a chain of solidarity between women around the world to call for peace, justice and equality”, explained Hanna Assouline, co-president of the “Warriors of the peace”, a movement of Jewish and Muslim women founded in France in 2022 and at the origin of the call. “These activists, including the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, met on Tuesday and Wednesday in the city of Essaouira, in southern Morocco, “to exchange, reflect together, learn from each other and feed on (their) commitments,” testified the director and peace activist. Among them, Israeli and Palestinian women or from Afghanistan, Syria, sub-Saharan African countries or Morocco.
“This gathering brings together women from all over the world. Each of them carries stories as difficult as each other. It is important today to recognize their strength,” said Huda Abu Arqoub, Palestinian director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). Their “cry from the heart” occurs “in a context of urgency vis-à-vis our planet, of war, of hatred, of the rise of extremism which threatens us all over the world”, pleaded Hanna Assouline. Backed by the United Nations, the call will result in the creation of a “Global Women’s Forum for Peace”. Symbolically, a human chain of “women for peace” is forming this Wednesday in front of the ramparts of the picturesque port of Essaouira, which cultivates a tradition of dialogue between Muslim and Jewish cultures. “I am happy to be among women of different cultures and religions in a city known for its tolerance and its values ??of coexistence,” said Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003. The meeting will end this Thursday with “a march for peace” to the Atlantic Ocean.
