Fonda completes peace visit in Palestine

Actress Jane Fonda visited a refugee camp and a hospital in the West Bank on Saturday, capping a three-day visit to the region aimed at promoting peace.

Fonda, who was celebrating her 65th birthday, passed through a West Bank crossing point of Qalqiliya, trudging through mud and clutching a bouquet of red roses given to her by a Palestinian women’s group.

She toured West Bank villages and nearby Jewish settlements and was led through a Palestinian refugee camp near Ramallah in a day-long tour by the Jerusalem Centre for Women.

It was the final visit of a trip organised by a global movement to stop violence against women. The movement, called V-Day, was inspired by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues and its playwright, Eve Ensler. Ensler accompanied Fonda and led discussions with Palestinian women.

“This is the focal point of so many conflicts,” Fonda said. “Both sides aren’t hearing each other’s narratives, and maybe that’s our role as artists.”

In an emotional moment, Fonda and Ensler met with Fatima al-Kasba, 37, who lost two sons in fighting. Kasba said her sons, Yasser, 12, and Samer, 15, were killed a little over a month apart by the Israeli army. Fonda embraced Kasba, both women in tears, as the mother of five described the pain of losing her children and her hopes for peace.

Later, Fonda and Ensler toured the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Centre, where victims of violence and spinal cord injuries are treated and provided with physiotherapy.

Fonda, a two-time Oscar winner and fitness guru, said she had been to Israel and the West Bank in 1980, but what she saw today was dramatically different.

She said she was most surprised by the number and proximity of Jewish settlements to the Palestinian population.