WUNRN
http://www.siawi.org/article9860.html
UK – JEWISH-MUSLIM WOMEN’S NETWORK IS LAUNCHED WITH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
At Nisa-Nashim’s first meeting, co-chair says current violence in Jerusalem makes breaking down barriers even more important
By Harriet Sherwood Religion Correspondent
15 October 2015 -
About 150 people attended the launch of Nisa–Nashim – meaning women in Arabic
and Hebrew – at the Islamia Girls’ school in north London on Wednesday, against
the backdrop of worsening violence in Jerusalem. Melanie Dawes,
the senior civil servant at the department for communities and local
government, told the meeting she was “proud of the diversity in this country’s
communities”. The government has supported the network with a £30,000 grant.
Julie Siddiqi, the
Muslim co-chair of the network, told the Guardian: “The timing makes this more
important, not less – it encourages and motivates us more.”
Laura Marks, the
Jewish co-chair, said: “Obviously there is some suspicion, especially this week
when things are so awful in the Middle East. Some people will say, what’s the
point, but we have to try.”
The network has
three principal aims: to bring women from the two communities together, to
promote women’s leadership and be “active in wider society”. Marks said: “We
need to show that Jews and Muslims have more in common than that which drives
us apart. Women are genuinely looking for ways to engage
with one another, and reach out to do something. Nisa–Nashim gives us
permission and confidence.”
Among initial
activities, the network has organised educational visits to mosques and
synagogues, hosted kosher-halal meals, launched a business network and is
supporting programmes to help refugees.
Addressing the launch meeting, Siddiqi said current tensions and violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories meant it was “even more important for people like us to be doing what we’re doing”. Referring to “my Jewish sisters”, she added: “The more friendships develop, the more we grow and learn together, the more I understand that those trying to divide us will not succeed."