Thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women have trekked through a biblical desert landscape, converging on the shores of the Jordan River in a march for peace.
The women, many of them dressed in white, descended through the arid hills leading to the river, where they erected a "peace tent" named for Hagar and Sarah, scriptural mothers of Ishmael and Isaac, the half-brother patriarchs of Muslims and Jews.
"We are women from the right, the left, Jews and Arabs, from the cities and the periphery and we have decided that we will stop the next war," said Marilyn Smadja, one of the founders of the organising group, Women Wage Peace.
The organisation was established after the 50-day Gaza war of 2014 when more than 2100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed. Israel put the number of its dead at 67 soldiers and six civilians.
Israeli and Palestinian women march in the desert near Beit HaArava in the Jordan Valley, Israel, near to Jericho, in the West Bank, 08 October 2017. Source: AAP
About 5000 women participated in Sunday's march, organisers said.
It began last month at several locations across Israel and will culminate in a rally later in the day outside the Jerusalem residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The march comes at a time when many analysts see little hope for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Palestinian and Israeli women take phone photographs of thousands of women taking part in a Peace march in the desert near Beit HaArava in the Jordan Valley Source: AAP
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is 82 and unpopular, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads what is seen as the most right-wing government in his country's history.
In 2015, Women Wage Peace members fasted in relays over 50 days, the length of the 2014 war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
"The men who have power believe only in war, but with the strength of women we can bring something else, something new," said Amira Zidan, an Arab Israeli mother of one of the organisation's founders.
Sunday's arrival in Jerusalem coincides with the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which commemorates the Jews' journey through the Sinai after their exodus from Egypt.
Earlier Sunday, thousands of Jews gathered at Jerusalem's Western Wall for a priestly blessing held during the holiday each year.
