Our Work In
We mourn the Palestinian and Israelis who have been horrifically killed in the escalating violence, with more deaths announced each day. We will continue to support our partners, including those inside Palestine, who are providing emergency medical care and psychosocial support as casualties mount.
We uphold that true, lasting peace and justice can only come from an end to Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies that have deprived and dehumanized Palestinians for generations. These policies have also made peace for Israelis and Palestinians impossible. Peace cannot coexist with or grow from occupation.
TAKE ACTION: call your member of Congress and demand that they endorse the call for a ceasefire.
Update May 21, 2024
On the ICC Request for Arrest Warrants
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has submitted a request for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. This is a major move by the ICC, representing a significant international effort to seek individual accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the context of the “Situation in the State of Palestine,” which the ICC is officially investigating. By including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, this marks the first time that the ICC has targeted the leadership of a US ally.
As an international human rights organization, MADRE asserts the vital importance of seeking justice through international law, carrying out credible investigations, and building institutions that can hold leaders responsible for the atrocities they commit or command. We call on the ICC to ensure that its investigation includes efforts to seek accountability for crimes committed both before and after October 7 and that it consults closely with women’s organizations as it seeks to identify victims and witnesses. Palestinian women and children have faced particular and devastating impacts of this war, from drastic increases in stillbirths and miscarriages to the brutal reality of children starving to death.
The US and Israel have been among the very few nations that refused to become signatories to the ICC and reject any international mandate to investigate and prosecute the involvement of their nationals in genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Israel has carried out months of forced displacement, starvation, and mass killing in Gaza – an assault funded and armed by the US – which the International Court of Justice has found “plausible” to be defined as genocide. The ICC’s application for arrest warrants is an important measure to counter impunity for such actions. Already, President Biden issued a blanket rejection of this ICC action as “outrageous,” and the Court is facing threats of retaliation by the US Congress. We denounce such efforts to undermine the independence and effectiveness of international legal institutions. All victims of international crimes–whether Israeli civilians killed or taken hostage on October 7, or Palestinian civilians facing persecution, bombing, and starvation–deserve meaningful justice. The strength and credibility of international law and human rights standards depends upon their just, even application.
As MADRE continues our efforts to deliver aid to people inside Gaza and the West Bank through our longstanding relationships with community-based groups, we amplify the demand for a permanent ceasefire and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid. Once again, we assert that peace ultimately depends on an end to occupation and apartheid, justice for survivors of violence, and safety and human rights for all.
Read our prior statements on the conflict in Palestine here.
Midwives of Peace
When we are pregnant, we dream of bringing a great life into the world. We dream of wellbeing and a healthy lifestyle for our children. Religious fanaticism and militant political parties are not a part of that dream. We are mothers, wives, and daughters, and we don’t want our children to pay the price of war.
We are Midwives of Peace. We are Palestinians, Israelis, Israeli Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians. We believe in peace and in each other. We have empathy for the suffering of all and stand together in compassion, working together towards peace.
We are women and caregivers. We are there with mothers when they deliver their newborns. We see women struggle, sweat, curse and cry and we know the strength and wisdom that women bring to the world.
We have been meeting together for fifteen years. Our group has survived many ups and downs during times of conflict, and we have often feared that the group would be affected by the tensions. But we have consistently kept the lines of communication open, and our friendship has enabled us to overcome the fragility of the hostility between our nations.
On October 7, our world was shattered by the Hamas attack. We witnessed an event that was unlike anything any of us had dreamt of in our most horrific nightmares. In the days after, the retaliation of the Israeli army in Gaza was relentless and terrifying. The suffering was, and still is, heart-breaking.
At first, members of the group from both sides buried themselves in their own shock and pain. Some members left the group. Slowly, things began to change. When the shock began to thaw, we understood that there was no way to really understand the pain of the other, and that all reactions are legitimate. With time, we were able to remember why we joined this group 15 years ago, and that we still love and respect each other very much.
We met on Zoom, and expressed our emotions out loud, making space for a wide range of experiences. We understood that no one has a monopoly on suffering, and that we are all in pain, each in their one way and for their own reasons.
Aisha, one of our founding members, encouraged us with this analogy: “We are like an olive tree, rooted very strongly in the earth. We need to save our tree by understanding all the branches. One year the harvest is good, one year it is not. We can make the tree stronger by taking care of its roots. We are strong; we are women. We can take care of each other, trust one another and talk about our emotions.”
With all that we have been through, we still believe in peace and respect for all. We all have deep wounds that need to heal.
We are praying for the wisdom of a political solution to allow for peace and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis.
We pray for the emergence of a new kind of leadership that will pave the path to a new kind of communication and thriving coexistence as neighbors.
We are hopeful that all this pain and suffering will end soon.
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society
MADRE’s local partner the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) is a community-based organization that provides health services to women, children, the disabled, and the poor in rural villages, refugee camps, and urban centers in Palestine.
YOUR SUPPORT IN ACTION
As the current emergency evolves, we are mobilizing quickly to provide urgent aid. Despite Israel’s complete siege of Palestine, including blocking people’s access to food and water, our partners in Palestine are providing emergency medical care and psychosocial support as casualties mount from military attacks. Our decades of work in Palestine and our local partners' deep networks mean your support will reach those who need it most.
SUPPORT OUR EMERGENCY WORKAlexandros Michailidis
In early 2023, the Israeli government escalated violence in occupied territories, raining bombs, tear gas, and gunfire on Palestinian neighborhoods. Thanks to our supporters, MADRE was able to supply Palestinian communities with the funds they need for emergency medical treatment and mental health support.
In the West Bank, Israeli military roadblocks and restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement prevent people experiencing pregnancy and childbirth from reaching hospitals and accessing reproductive health care. MADRE supports a grassroots group of Palestinian and Israeli midwives, to demand an end to the occupation that prevents pregnant people from accessing essential health care.
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