BACKGROUND:

On February 4th, 1997, two transport helicopters carrying troops into Israel's self-declared security zone in Southern Lebanon collided, killing all 73 soldiers aboard. In the aftermath of this terrible national tragedy, four women - Rachel Ben-Dor, Miri Sela, Ronit Nachmias, and Zahara Antavi, who had sons serving in Lebanon and who lived in Kibbutzim and towns in Northern Israel - held a small demonstration at Machaniyan Junction.

They protested the fact that the Israeli government, which had indicated its readiness to pull out of Lebanon in 1985, had done nothing in the intervening 12 years to return to within its international border and had allowed the occupation of Lebanon to continue. During this period hundreds of Israeli soldiers and untold Lebanese have been killed in this "silent war" which nobody in the government has been ready to acknowledge or to end. These women, who took the name The Four Mothers Movement, gained immediate media attention and their numbers quickly swelled, indicating the widespread dissatisfaction and frustration of a large cross-section of the country with the present status quo.

The Four Mothers Movement now has several hundred active members, and has collected over 25,000 signatures in a petition drive throughout the country, addressed at getting the government to leave Lebanon.

The Four Mothers Movement is unique in the country, a truly grassroots organization, not affiliated with any party, drawing supporters from across the political spectrum. While retaining the name The Four Mothers, the movement now includes a variety of concerned citizens: women and men, married and single, with or without children, students, and ex-soldiers, some of whom have themselves served in Lebanon.

WHAT THE MOVEMENT DEMANDS

The goal of the group is Israel's unilateral withdrawal from its self-declared security zone in Southern Lebanon. They seek to pressure the government to act upon its pledge of April 1, 1998 to abide by UN Resolution 425, which calls for this withdrawal.

ACTIVITIES

To stir public debate on the issue of withdrawal and attract new supporters, the Four Mothers Movement regularly demonstrates at key junctions in every part of the country. To insure that the all-too-frequent loss of life in Lebanon does not pass by unnoticed, supporters also demonstrate across from the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on the day another soldier is killed in the security zone.

To contradict the government argument that the continued presence in Lebanon is needed to protect the Northern communities, large demonstrations have been held in the North, drawing wide-spread support from Kibbutzim and towns in this area, which the security zone presumably is protecting. These demonstrations, including activities at the international border, such as unfurling green cloth to illustrate the call that Israel return to within the Green Line, planting a peace forest to symbolize the desire for peaceful borders and a return of normalcy to the area, have emphasized the goal of the movement: to bring Israeli soldiers back to within their own borders and to cease the state of war between the two countries.

There have also been activities throughout the country to further this end: large demonsrtations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, smaller ones at junctions throughout the country, meetings in homes, at which speakers argue the case for a withdrawal from Lebanon now.

Representatives of the Four Mothers continue to meet weekly with public officials and Knesset members. They have held intensive discussions with President Ezer Weizman, Prime Minister Netanyahu, ex-Defense Minister Itzchak Mordechai, most Cabinet Ministers, and over 80of the 120 members of the Knesset. At these meetings, they try to convince officials to speak out on the issue of Lebanon and to advocate withdrawal.

Members of the group have also met with Ambassadors serving in Israel in order to inform them of their work and seek their support. They have also met with international officials at the United States State Department, the United Nations, The British Foreign Office, and the French Foreign Office and have presented their materials and calls for withdrawal to President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, when they visited Israel.

EFFECTS OF MOVEMENT TO DATE:

The Four Mothers Movement has made its presence felt in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on April 1, 1998, cited public pressure as the reason that his government changed its stated policy and agreed to accept UN Resolution 425. As the major group advocating this position, the Four Mothers Movement takes a measure of credit for this change. Unfortunately, the government proclamation has not been followed by action, so the work of the Movement continues.

The visibility of the Four Mothers members across the country - at road junctions, demonstrations, and public forums- and the extensive coverage which the organization has received in the Israeli media has made the group a central fixture in the Israel peace camp.

We have also received widespread media coverage abroad. In depth stories on the Four Mothers Movement have appeared on BBC television and radio; CNN; WTN; Reuters print and television; Saat 1 Germany television; ABC television, National Public Radio, and Fox News in the United States; the Canadian Broadcasting system; and the Australian Broadcasting Company. Articles have appeared in leading newspapers and magazines around the world. International women's groups and peace organizations have also sent encouraging letters indicating their support.

A front page interview with our spokesperson appeared in The Daily Star, the Beirut English-language newspaper, and two long articles about the group have been published in the leading Arabic daily paper, Al Hayatt. Other Arabic-language papers have also written about the Four Mothers' work.