Tribune. Once again, in this month of May, the violence in Israel and Palestine has imposed itself brutally in our lives with, as for years, repercussions in our daily lives and our relations here in France, in particular between people of faith, culture, or of Jewish and Muslim origin.
Each time, the same scenario is repeated. Hate propaganda, often made up of infox, is spreading. It sets social networks ablaze, where two radically opposed camps clash with hatred and intolerance, calling on us to join what is supposed to be “our” camp. An unbearable assignment, which fuels a withdrawal at work and which dangerously threatens our social cohesion. This “community” divide worries and preoccupies us. It feeds identity blocks, in a fragile context of social tensions, breeding ground for populism.
There is no longer any space for democratic and peaceful debate. Emotions and passions dominate, leaving no room for reason and listening to others.
Faced with a situation as dangerous as it is unacceptable, we, women of France, of all origins, of all philosophical, spiritual or atheistic faiths, have decided to unite. Like these Israeli and Palestinian, Jewish and Muslim women from the Women Wage Peace (WWP) movement, who are fighting together, hand in hand, to call for an end to the violence. If despite decades of war and misfortune, these women were able, in the heart of the blaze, to oppose deadly logics, it seems urgent to us that we, women of France, in our turn raise an army of “warriors of the peace “.
Nothing can ever justify hate
We refuse to fall into the trap set by the identitarians, the extremists and the communitarians. We refuse to allow the political conflict between Israelis and Palestinians to become, with us, in France, a war between communities. If there is anything to import here, it is not war but peace. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinions, but nothing can ever justify hatred, racism or anti-Semitism.
We are convinced that it is possible to establish a dialogue while agreeing to disagree. We have different stories, origins and sensibilities. We do not all have the same relationship to this conflict. But what unites us is much stronger than what can divide us.
We have a sense of the general interest, always above our particular interests, the sense of the “collective” which is the basis of this plural “us”. What is more, we are all driven by a deep desire for justice and peace. What then prevails is the indispensable sorority, fraternity, tolerance, which allows us to accept our differences, sometimes our contradictions, and above all to remain sensitive to the suffering of the other.
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