JERUSALEM, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women took to the streets in Jerusalem on Sunday to call for a peace deal between the two sides.
The organizers of the event estimated that some 30,000 women had participated in the rally at the Independence Park in Jerusalem.
The demonstration, organized by the "Women Wage Peace" movement, was the last section of a two-week march that started on Sept. 24.
The entire march began in the southern city of Sderot and passed through the occupied West Bank.
Former Arab lawmaker Shakib Shanan, whose son was killed in an attack at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in July, urged decision makers to reach a peace deal.
"Although my heart is bleeding, I stand here tonight. We have suffered so much. Palestinian families and Israeli families have lost their loved ones ... I came here to say, we want to live," he said.
"In the name of this huge audience here and hundreds of thousands of Israelis, I call on Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu - enough! Sit already. We want peace," he said.
"Women Wage Peace" was established some three years ago to demand a peace deal that would end the bloody conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It includes some 24,000 members, with a mission statement saying "we will not stop until there is a peace agreement."
The movement was formed in the wake of Israel's 51-day "Protective Edge" military campaign in the Gaza Strip in 2014, which claimed the lives of at least 2,251 Palestinians, mostly children and women, as well as the lives of 72 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
The U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians reached a deadlock in 2014. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to bring the "ultimate deal" and dispatched envoys to the region several times, without any progress so far.
