For a Just Peace in the Middle East:
End the Occupation!
Justice for Palestinians
Women in Black
Twenty years after Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in the so-called Six-Day War in June 1967, the first Intifada, the first Palestinian uprising, broke out in December 1987. One month later, Israeli women gathered in public squares in Jerusalem, dressed in black, holding signs in the shape of black hands and white letters reading "Stop the Occupation" in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. They stood and still stand in the same place every week at the same time, silently protesting against the violence and injustice that has been done and continues to be done to the Palestinians.
Women in Black now hold vigils in approximately 30 countries worldwide, and in Germany, Women in Black is present in approximately 12 cities. Women in Black is not an organization, but a non-partisan and non-denominational movement who have in common a special form of vigil, which the women in Jerusalem developed and continue to practice today. A Women in Black movement has existed in Munich since 1990.
Since 1991, Women in Black has received numerous awards, including the Aachen Peace Prize in 1991, the Millennium Women's Peace Prize from UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) in 2001, and in 2002 Women in Black were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
What we stand for
“Human rights are indivisible! They apply to Israelis and Palestinians.”
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has been a state without a constitution and without defined borders, seeking to realise the project of a Jewish state through the expulsion, dispossession, and marginalization of the Palestinian population. On account of the Holocaust, it is granted a special position that allows it to view the securing of its existence solely through military means as "self-defence," to disregard existing international and human rights laws, even though it has signed them, and to disregard UN resolutions.
Political leaders have failed in dealing with the legal violations that have persisted for years. The international community is disregarding its own laws and resolutions by being bystanders. Therefore, civil society is called upon to act. Every individual is responsible and can become active in their own community by sharing information and participating in protest actions, for example, in the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, www.bdsmovement.net), which is gaining momentum worldwide. The BDS movement was founded in 2005 by 170 representatives of Palestinian civil society. It intends to remain active until Israel ends its occupation of the Palestinian territories, which has been ongoing since 1967, and complies with international law.
In order for political representatives to take action, a change in public awareness is necessary. Protest, condemnation, and education are not sufficient for this. What is needed is a political vision of Palestine/Israel based on international law and human rights, as a country in which all people live together in self-determination and with equal rights, regardless of how they organise themselves politically.
Our demands
“For a just peace in the Middle East”
An end to the occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem
Lifting of the blockade of Gaza and an end to the military offensive against the population
End of land expropriation through the construction of settlements in violation of international law
Demolition of the separation walls on Palestinian territory
Abolition of discriminatory laws against the Palestinian population in Israel (Nationality Law of 2018)
Recognition of the fundamental right of return and compensation for refugees
Ending the indefinite detention of political prisoners without charge (administrative detention)
Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel signed in 1991, including for Palestinian children
With these demands, we do not deny Israel's right to exist.
The indispensable prerequisite for lasting peace is a sincere desire for reaching an understanding, a willingness to acknowledge the injustices done to the Palestinians, to make amends, and to renounce an exclusively Jewish nation state in “Erez Israel” (from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River). Only then can peace talks worthy of the name take place. They must include all parties on an equal footing, including Hamas. There are already a number of initiatives/groups on both sides that have embarked on a path towards reconciliation and are independently seeking concrete solutions to the problems on the basis of mutual recognition (e.g. www.zochrot.org; www.badil.org; www.adalah.org/eng; Combatants for Peace: https://cfpeace.org; www.juedische-stimme.de). Their work needs to be made known and be supported.
We stand in solidarity with the grassroots movement for nonviolent resistance, in which Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists oppose the disenfranchisement and humiliation of Palestinians and prove through this cooperation on the ground that peace is possible.
Vigils in Munich
Every second and fourth Friday of the month, we hold a silent vigil to draw attention to the situation of the Palestinians and to inform the citizens of Munich.
About
Information pursuant to Section 5 of the German Telemedia Act (TMG)
Elfi Padovan
Tegelbergstr. 6
81545 Munich
089 6428 0965
Email: elfi.padovan@gmx.de
Further information
Liability for content
As a service provider, we are responsible for our own content on these pages in accordance with Section 7 (1) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG). However, according to Sections 8 to 10 of the German Telemedia Act (TMG), we are not obligated to monitor transmitted or stored third-party information or to investigate circumstances that indicate illegal activity.
Obligations to remove or block the use of information under general law remain unaffected. However, liability in this regard is only possible at the time of knowledge about a specific violation of law. Upon notification of such violations, we will remove such content immediately.
Liability for Links
Our website contains links to external third-party websites whose content we have no say in. We therefore cannot accept any liability for this external content. The respective provider or operator of the linked pages is always responsible for their content. The linked pages were checked for possible legal violations at the time of linking. No illegal content was identified at the time of linking.
However, permanent monitoring of the content of the linked pages is unreasonable without concrete evidence of a violation of law. Upon notification of violations of law, we will remove such links immediately.
Copyright
The content and works on these pages created by the website operators are subject to German copyright law. Reproduction, processing, distribution, and any type of exploitation outside the limits of copyright law require the written consent of the respective author or creator. Downloads and copies of this site are permitted for private, non-commercial use only.
To the extent that the content on this site was not created by the operator, the copyrights of third parties are respected. In particular, third-party content is marked as such. Should you nevertheless become aware of a copyright infringement, please notify us accordingly. Upon notification of any violations, we will remove such content immediately.
Dispute Resolution
The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR):
https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr
Our email address can be found above.
We are not obligated to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
Data Protection / Privacy Policy
This website collects personal data that serves as the basis for our website analytics. This includes:
Information about your browser, network, and device
Web pages you visited before coming to this site
Your IP address
This information may also include details about your use of this site, including:
Clicks
Internal links
Pages visited
Scrolling
Searches
Time stamps
We share this information with Squarespace, our website analytics provider, to learn about traffic and activity on this site.
This website uses cookies and similar technologies, which are small files or short pieces of text downloaded to a device when a visitor accesses a website or app. To learn about the cookies placed on your device, see The cookies Squarespace uses.
These functional and necessary cookies are always used because they allow Squarespace, our hosting platform, to securely deliver this site to you.
These analytics and performance cookies are only used on this site as described below if you accept our cookie banner. We use analytics cookies to gain insight into website traffic, site activity, and other data.
If you submit information to this website via a web form, we collect the data requested in the web form to track and respond to your submissions. We share this information with Squarespace, our online store hosting provider, so they can provide us with website services.
We may send you emails if you have subscribed to our newsletter. You can unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom of the email. We share your contact information with Squarespace, our email marketing provider, so that Squarespace can send these emails on our behalf.
This website uses font files from Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts. To display this website correctly, servers that store the font files may receive personal information about you. This includes:
Information about your browser, network, or device
Your IP address
This website is hosted by Squarespace. Squarespace collects personal information when you visit this website. This includes:
Information about your browser, network, and device
Webpages you visited before visiting this website
Your IP address
Squarespace needs the data to operate this website and to protect and improve its platform and services. Squarespace analyses the data in a depersonalised form.