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Saturday, July 11, 10:30 AM, at Badia Fiorentina, in conversation with Prof. Claudia Mazzucato: Bushra Awad and Robi Damelin of the Parents Circle Family Forum
Bushra Awad, a Palestinian, and Robi Damelin, an Israeli: two women separated by conflict but united by the same tragedy—the loss of a child to that very conflict.
Two mothers sharing the same abyss of inconsolable grief. Through their experience within the Parents Circle Family Forum, their suffering gradually managed to break free from the chains of hatred, giving rise to a journey of understanding, solidarity, and friendship. The extraordinary nature of their meeting is reconstructed in meticulous detail by journalist Anne Guion in the book Our Tears Are the Same Color (Edizioni Terra Santa).
Here are their stories:
Bushra Awad
Bushra Awad was born in Beit Ummar, near Hebron, in the West Bank. Married at a very young age, she went on to have eight children. The eldest, Mahmoud, carried all her hopes and expectations: he was a studious, generous boy, determined to help his family financially to the point of working while attending high school, all amidst the constant tensions of the occupation regime in the West Bank.
On January 25, 2008, tensions reached a critical climax during yet another raid by the Israeli army in Beit Ummar to demolish the homes of two Palestinians. Protests erupted, and 17-year-old Mahmoud left the house without his mother’s knowledge. While out on the street, he was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. Bushra rushed to the hospital in Hebron, convinced she would find him wounded, only to discover that her son was dead.
For years, she lived in an abyss of pain. As she herself recalls:
“After Mahmoud’s death, my heart was full of revenge, sadness, pain, and endless suffering.”
She withdrew into herself, neglected her family, and wished only to join her lost son.
The turning point came when a friend invited her to meet an Israeli woman, Robi Damelin, who had also lost her son, David, killed by a Palestinian sniper. Bushra’s initial reaction was rejection: how could she shake hands with someone belonging to the people she held responsible for her son’s death? Later, she reconsidered, and one day felt the desire to meet this woman. It was an encounter that would completely change her life: seeing Robi weep in front of Mahmoud’s photograph, she realized that grief knows no borders.
“Our tears are the same tears. Our pain is the same.” This phrase sealed Bushra’s path to awareness and made her widely known. From that moment on, she became an active member of the Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), an organization bringing together Israeli and Palestinian families who, after losing a loved one in the conflict, chose to meet and join forces to promote dialogue, reconciliation, and an end to violence.
For the past few years, Bushra has served as the coordinator of the Women’s Committee within the association, and in this role, she is frequently invited to international conferences, universities, interfaith meetings, and diplomatic initiatives. Her testimony as a Palestinian mother offers a rare perspective: that of a person who refuses to be just a victim, and who, while reaffirming the demand to end the occupation and claiming the recognition of her people’s rights, rejects revenge as a response to pain.
For Bushra Awad, recognizing the humanity of the other is the first step toward breaking the endless cycle of violence.
Robi Damelin
Robi Damelin was born in 1945 in Johannesburg, South Africa, into a family opposed to the apartheid regime, and she was active in the anti-segregation movement from a young age. In 1967, she moved to Israel, where she raised a family and dedicated herself to her career, though not without some misgivings about Israeli society.
Everything changed on March 3, 2002, during the Second Intifada, when her 28-year-old son, David Damelin—an officer in the Israeli army reserves—was killed by a Palestinian sniper while serving in the West Bank. Despite being a reservist, David was deeply involved in peace movements, and his death was a devastating experience that could have led Robi to hate the entire Palestinian population. Instead, the opposite happened: Robi chose to join the many parents who had experienced the same grief and entered the Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF). After a few years, she became the international spokesperson and director of international relations for the entire organization.
She has spoken before bodies such as the European Parliament, numerous international universities, and major forums dedicated to conflict prevention and non-violent dispute resolution.
One of the most significant steps in her journey was her decision to write a letter to the family of the sniper who killed her son—a gesture that puts her definition of reconciliation into practice: it does not mean forgetting, but rather interrupting the cycle of violence.
“No revenge and no hatred can ever bring back the son I lost,” Robi said shortly after David’s death. “Reconciliation is not a luxury; it is a necessity for building a lasting peace.”
Her story proves that even the deepest pain can be transformed into a civic commitment capable of building bridges between hostile communities.
In 2014, Robi Damelin was named a Women PeaceMaker by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, and in 2015, she was selected as one of the Women of Impact by the Women in the World program. Her story is the subject of the documentary One Day After Peace, which has helped share her message with an international audience.
