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MEDIA CONTACT: Sharon Dickman 585.275.4128
October 13, 2003
Despite the killings and desecration of the land that's holy to the world's
religions, Israeli and Palestinian women are working for peace. Failed negotiations
and stalled Mideast plans by government leaders do not deter them, says University
of Rochester anthropologist Ayala Emmett.
In a new preface to Our Sisters' Promised Land: Women, Politics, and Israeli-Palestinian
Coexistence, Emmett cries out for attention to those who stay vigilant and
represent the majority of Israelis who support Israeli recognition of Palestinian
self-government and coexistence. "Do we want to hear this message?"
she asks. "If we don't, it's to our detriment."
Emmett researched the public and private peace activities of women in 1990 and
1993 in Israel, the place of her birth. "They agreed to talk to me because
they understood that the media's focus on the official story ignored, overlooked,
or dismissed peace efforts." The same is true today.
Our Sisters' Promised Land (University of Michigan Press, $22.95 paperback)
is now out in a second edition. Emmett, associate professor of anthropology
at Rochester, says that in the current tense political situation in the Middle
East, this new edition is an opportunity to re-introduce her ethnographic study
of women's peace activism. Emmett says she carries a "sacred obligation"
to share the cultural information she has received from the women. "That
kind of reciprocity is very much part of our discipline of anthropology,"
she says.
When her book was published in 1996, it was the first to examine Israeli politics
by focusing on women's claims that they represent the silent majority supporting
peace. Emmett chose women for her study because she believes that "attention
to the margins--where women peace activists are--reveals aspects of political
life that, despite their significance, have been ignored." Rather than
their numbers being depleted, new peace groups have emerged since then, Emmett
says.
She agrees that the Mideast image of "endless violence has its own dire
political consequences because it lends support to those who for years have
been promoting the view that conflict is 'in' and peace is 'out.' " With
the media focused primarily on the political elite, people who dispute the government's
contention that there are no partners for peace have difficulty connecting to
those outside Israel and the occupied territories. "There's been a lack
of attention to grassroots peace efforts for decades, and this is more true
now," she says.
The University of Rochester (www.rochester.edu) is one of the nation's leading private universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering is complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, and the Memorial Art Gallery.
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