Video: Women Wage Peace — “Prayer of the Mothers”
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First Published on Nov 15, 2016.
Yael Deckelbaum, Lubna Salame, Daniel Rubin, Miriam Tukan, Rana choir, the Hebrews of Dimona and singers from all sectors and religions of Israeli society.
The song “Prayer of the Mothers” was born out of an alliance between singer-songwriter Yael Deckelbaum and the group of courageous women who lead the movement “Women Wage Peace”. The movement arose in the summer of 2014 during the escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians and the military operation “Tzuk Eitan”.
On October 4, 2016, Jewish and Arab women began with the joint “March of Hope” project. Thousands of women marched from the north of Israel to Jerusalem in a call for peace. The call reached its peak on October 19th, in a march of at least 4,000 women — half of them Palestinian and half Israeli — in Qasr el Yahud on the northern Dead Sea. The very same evening 15,000 women protested in front of the Israeli prime minister’s house in Jerusalem.
The marches were joined by Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee who is famous for having led a peaceful force of women from both sides of the 2003 Liberian Civil War. In the song, Yael includes a recording of Leymah in which she sends her blessings to the Women Wage Peace movement.
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The song is performed in Hebrew and Arabic. Here’s the translation:
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Prayer of the Mothers
From the north to the south
From the west to the east
Hear the prayer of the mothers
Bring them peace
Bring them peace
A whisper of ocean wind
Is blowing from far away
And laundry is flapping
To the shadow of the wall
Between the sky and the land
There are people who want to live in peace
Don’t give up, keep dreaming
Of peace and prosperity
When will the walls of fear melt
When will I return from exile
And my gates will open
To what is truly good
Come on Sleep! – Another sunrise
Come on Sleep – And morning is here
We will slaughter – A mother sends
A pigeon for you – Along with a prayer
Fly pigeon, Don’t believe – Her child to school
We will laugh with the child – to the sound
So that he may sleep – of war
The walls of fear will some day melt
And I will return from exile
My gates shall open
To what is truly good
From the north to the south
From the west to the east
Hear the prayer of the mothers
Bring them peace
Bring them peace
Light is rising from the east
To the prayer of the mothers for peace
To view the complete lyrics, translation, and phonetic version of this song, click here.
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October 4, 2016 — The March of Hope: Thousands of Jewish and Arab women marched from the north of Israel to Jerusalem in a call for peace.
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