Jerusalem, ISRAEL. November 15-16, 2007.  Two days of ground-breaking events just took place in the Old City of Jerusalem at a time of tension with many worried about the future of Jerusalem and pending political talks in the US next week.  The TRUST WIN (Women's Interfaith Network) enabled 50 Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Druze women -- Palestinians and Israelis -- to come to the Old City of Jerusalem and to visit each other's holy sites and teachers -- most for the first time.

  Women from villages that have tension and strife between them traveled together, toured together, ate together, prayed together, danced and sang together, and slept together.  At the end of the Pilgrimage they expressed enthusiasm to continue social contacts together.  They were joined by Molly Mayfied, visiting Peace X Peace Specialist for the MENA region which is collaborating with these activities.


 
They were welcomed by Jerusalem Jewish women to the Four Sepharadic Synagogues in the Jewish Quarter and sat in the men's prayer area while women leaders from the different religions addressed them from the pulpit  and Jewish women explained their customs and practices.  Several Jewish women said the most moving aspect for them was to see not only women speaking from the pulpit, but women of different religions arm in arm. 


They offered prayers at the Kotel (the Western Wall) together -- some of the non Jews visiting there for the first time amidst the sometimes puzzled, sometimes frightened, sometimes welcoming responses.  They toured through the Arab market and bought scarves together -- attracting questions from even the vendors who wanted to understand what group had brought them together.


Abdul Aziz Bukhari, Sheik of the Naqshabandi Sufi Center, taught the women about Sufism and it's practices -- including it's reverence for women.  Later his wife addressed the women saying that even though she had just returned from burying her father in Gaza, she came to be with us and share her teachings because she recognizes the importance of women bringing a change to the world. 

Dinner provided an opportunity for intimate interaction and a marvelous meal in a restaurant in the Christian Quarter where some of the women were staying.  European women came over to find out about us because they said "What we are witnessing is so different from what we see in the media." and asked to visit with us when they bring tours in the future.  

Later at the Austrian Hospice where others were staying in the Muslim Quarter, there was a party in their beautifully restored European Salon.  Spontaneous singing and dancing began and lasted late into the night.  But early the next morning women were out shopping and visiting the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre, before a guided tour at the Islamic Museum with an emphasis on the work of Turkish women creating kilim carpets.   The women parted tearfully with promises, invitations, and requests to soon be together again. 
 
They were all very grateful to the US Embassy and US donors to TRUST - Emun for their generous grants, as well as to the Austrian Hospice for donating their services.  All of the donors expressed not only their financial support  for  what we're doing, but their belief in the importance of women coming together to build peace. 

And there were times of tension and conflict that came up during the Pilgrimage, but the women quickly managed to negotiate and listen deeply to each other's needs, so that mutual solutions could be found to all of the difficulties.  It was hard work, but it IS the work, and we were all grateful for the opportunity to learn from and with each other -- and everyone felt strengthened by the sisterhood.  The success of the pilgrimage was based on the hard work and deep love of the Northern coordinators who are leaders in their own communities -- Ibtisam Mahamid and Siham Halabi, as well as the steadfast devotion of the TRUST WIN coodinators, Michelle Katz and Rula Salameh.