Hagar Rublev

Hagar Rublev was born in 1954 in Israel

Hagar Rublev was born in Israel on 9 January 1954. From an early age she took an interest in the Palestinians living in the territories held by Israel. From 1984 to 1987 she worked for the Palestine Liberation Organization in Paris.

On 9 January 1988 she was one of 8 women dressed in black who protested in Paris Square in West Jerusalem against the occupation. This was the start of Women in Black, which protested human rights violations in the territories occupied since 1967. The movement spread to other countries, and by late 1990 it had reached Germany, India, Australia and the United States.

Rublev supported a secular binational state for Israelis and Palestinians. A few years later she founded Bat Shalom, a feminist peace movement that brought Israeli and Palestinian women together. She was also an active supporter of lesbian rights.

Rublev died of a heart attack on 22 August 2000 while on holiday on the Greek island of Paros with her father Michel Rublev and friends.