The tragic loss of Senator Paul Wellstone has deeply touched all those who knew him as a principled voice that never shied away from speaking the truth. Described as the "soul of the Senate" by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Wellstone passionately fought everyday for a core set of principles and values, even at the cost of his political career. Words such as courage, integrity, honesty and decency are stressed by all those who knew him. The sincere grief across the state of Minnesota and the country as a whole is a testament to his legacy as Senator.
Paul Wellstone, 58, died when his campaign plane crashed in freezing rain near Eveleth, Minnesota; where he was due to attend a funeral. Wellstone's high school sweetheart and wife of 39 years, Sheila, 58; their daughter Marcia Markuson, 33; and three aides and two pilots also died in the crash. He was a lone liberal voice in an increasingly moderate Senate who was unflinchingly dedicated to often unpopular causes. "He was dedicated to helping the little guy, in a business dominated by the big guys," said his campaign manager, Jeff Blodgett, as scores of weeping supporters spontaneously gathered. Senator Wellstone made an effort to meet and remember the names of elevator operators, waiters, police officers and other workers in the Capitol and expressed his appreciation for all their hard work.
Wellstone was a former wrestler and despite recently disclosing he had multiple sclerosis, he held the records at the Capitol Police gym in Washington for the most push ups and pull-ups. After receiving his doctorate in political science from the University of North Carolina he became a professor at Carleton College. He stepped into politics in 1982 when he ran for Minnesota state auditor, but lost to Arne Carlson. However, he surprised everyone, when in 1990 he defeated incumbent Boschwitz to become Senator.
Throughout his two terms in office, Wellstone often was on the short end of 99-1 votes opposing President Bush's Iraqi invasion resolution in 1991 to President Clinton's welfare reform. Always letting his conscience guide the votes he cast and the policies he espoused, he told a reporter after recently voting against military action in Iraq, "what would really hurt is if I was giving speeches and I didn't even believe what I was saying." He was a tireless champion of those left out of prosperity, fighting for affordable healthcare, raising the minimum wage, drug treatment programs, corporate reform and public financing campaigns. He served as a national spokesman for labor, the environment and the poor.
Senator Wellstone also served as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East and South Asian affairs. As a result he regularly met with Palestinian leaders and passionately sought ways to support peaceful dialogue and a fair solution to the Palestinian - Israeli conflict. While Wellstone was proud of his Jewish identity, he did not let this stand in the way of his unwavering desire for justice and often criticized Israel's policies, even at the risk of incurring the wrath of the pro-Israel Lobby. Wellstone refused to sign letters to the president put forth by the pro-Israel lobby, such as a letters sent in July, 1999, to the president expressing disappointment with the administration for delaying moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and another letter in April, 2001, urging the president to reassess U.S. relations with the Palestinians.
"In Paul Wellstone, our nation has lost a thoughtful and tireless legislator, a selfless public servant, and a passionate advocate for justice, human rights and peace in this world. ... Always, always for Paul, what came first were duty to country and a heartfelt commitment to the well-being of ordinary men, women and children worldwide. Paul Wellstone was a stand-up guy. He used the power of his office for good. His memory will forever be a blessing to all of us who knew him. And his work will continue to be a blessing to countless thousands of people across the globe who never met him, but whose lives will be forever bettered by his work." We here at MIFTAH, couldn't agree more with Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks and are truly saddened by the gaping void Senator Wellstone's loss has created.
We offer our condolences to his two sons, David and Mark, and to the rest of his family in this most difficult time.
Urgent Appeal to stop the ongoing Israeli Genocide and Sexual Violence in Gaza
Date posted: March 26, 2024
By MIFTAH
This is an urgent and repeated appeal to the world to immediately intervene, in light of the recent stories of rape and sexual violence against Palestinian women by Israeli occupation forces during Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Palestinian women are being displaced, tortured, killed and forcibly disappeared, while the world sits idle. Silence and inaction in the wake of these horrifying crimes amount to complicity.
Over the past few days, more horrifying testimonies and stories have emerged from Gaza of sadistic acts by Israeli soldiers, including torture, rape, and mass field executions at hospitals where civilians are seeking shelter, medical treatment and refuge.
Palestinian civil society and UN experts have sounded the alarm multiple times and reported cases of rape and sexual violence before and during this genocide. These reports continue to be deliberately and inexcusably ignored, including by prominent and otherwise vocal feminist organizations and figures.
The deafening silence of “Western” feminists and mainstream media in particular is deliberate and inexcusable, as opposed to their earlier outrage over Israeli allegations and misinformation, used to justify this genocide.
Many Palestinian women and girls who are survivors of rape and sexual violence are hesitant to come forward, due to the social stigma in a conservative society and the belief that Israel will not be held accountable for such crimes.
Israel is committing the most horrific war crimes, and weaponizing rape and sexual violence against Palestinians as part of its genocide in Gaza and assault on the Palestinian people as a whole, throughout all of Palestine. This is the result of decades of impunity, preferential treatment and lack of international accountability by the international community. Words are not enough to describe or stop this horror; action is needed.
We conclude this SOS appeal by reminding our sisters and allies around the world that our rights, our dignity, and our humanity are indivisible. Forsaking Palestinian victims now for political convenience would be an unforgivable betrayal to decades of sacrifice and feminist struggle.
We call for:
- The international community must employ all available tools of international accountability, including political and economic sanctions, to bring an immediate and lasting ceasefire and provision of unconditional humanitarian aid.
- States must immediately impose an arms embargo on Israel and honor their moral and legal obligations, including those pronounced in the Genocide Convention.
- States need to investigate and prosecute Israeli soldiers with dual citizenship implicated in these atrocities.
- The Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict must honor her mandate and launch an immediate investigation into the ongoing atrocities.
- Feminists around the world must sound the alarm globally on the unspeakable human rights violations taking place in Gaza, namely the sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian women and girls.
- Journalists and media outlets must do their due diligence in reporting on these stories through fair and unbiased coverage.
Signatories:
- American Federation of Ramallah Palestine
- Association of women’s Action
- AWMR Italia - Donne della Regione Mediterranea
- Bisan Center for Research and Development
- Community Development and Media Center
- Cultura è libertà una campagna per la Palestina
- Enjaz Foundation for development
- Filastiniyat
- Human Rights and Democracy Media Center SHAMS
- Institute of Women's Studies
- Not to forget women society
- Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA)
- Palestinian Women's Action committee
- Rete Femminista Marche Molto+di194
- Rural Women Development Society
- Sinal do Vale
- Singola
- Teaching Palestine: Pedagogical Praxis and the Indivisibility of Justice
- The center for defense of liberties and civil rights “Hurryyat”
- The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy - MIFTAH
- The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development-PWWSD
- The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in Southwest Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA)
- Union of Palestinian Women Committees
- Wattan media network
- Women Media and Development
- Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- رابطة المرأة العراقية
- شبكة المستقبل الديمقراطية العراقية
Where are the rights of Palestinian Women on International Women’s Day?
Date posted: March 07, 2024
By Palestinian NGO Forum to Combat Violence against Women
We, at the Palestinian NGO Forum to Combat Violence against Women and all Arab women’s and rights organizations raise our voices loud and clear on the eve of March 8, to say: “Stop the onslaught and crimes against women and children in Gaza. Stop the crime of genocide, the crime of starvation and forced displacement”. So far, this aggression has resulted in the killing of 31,000 Palestinians, over 70% of whom are women and children. Two women are killed every hour , in addition to many others still under the rubble. There are women whose fate is unknown, after being taken away by occupation forces.
Who will restore normalcy for us Palestinian women after these atrocities?
We have always held activities on March 8. We had a long list of rights we demanded and others we were able to achieve. However today, as the women of Gaza are being annihilated, we stand the length and breadth of our homeland and our Arab nations, angry, in a state of revolution and in deep mourning. Our demand today is to halt the genocide in the Gaza Strip and to halt the reproductive genocide against our women. We declare this day the day of Palestinian women, as they stand hungry in long queues, waiting for insufficient aid, terrified of the skies above them, filled with missiles of death. This is for the women whose bodies are exhausted, in camps for the displaced and in shelter centers, for those raped in prison and for their naked bodies stripped at checkpoints. It is for the menstruating women who cannot find sanitary products and for those with high-risk pregnancies who are starving, displaced and bombed. It is for the women whose wombs may be removed for the simplest of medical complications and those whose privacy has been violated because of overcrowded tents and displacement. It is for the mothers who could die at any moment and for all women whose Palestinianism has crucified humanity at the altar, amid deafening Arab silence, boundless American support and the complicity of several European countries.
Nevertheless, we continue to appreciate all forms of Arab and international support and solidarity with the Palestinian cause, which shows respect for our people’s dignity. Widening this solidarity will further reaffirm the justness of our cause. Hence, we await more action and movements in solidarity of our right to demand an immediate end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem, to forge our way forward towards freedom, self-determination and the establishment of an independent and fully-sovereign Palestinian state.
Today, we Palestinian and Arab women, reaffirm the following on March 8 and every day forward:
- To put pressure on Israel to immediately halt its aggression and to hold its leaders accountable for their crimes in violation of international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention and all international laws and treaties, towards delegitimizing this occupying entity.
- To open the Rafah Crossing and all crossings to allow aid in and the wounded out for treatment
- To dismantle the land corridor linking Israel with some Arab countries supplying it with goods
Long Live Palestinian Women, who stand steadfast and resistant in the face of the Zionist aggression We speak in the voices of Gaza’s women and say:
Halt the genocide…halt the onslaught immediately!
MIFTAH calls for international accountability for heinous Israeli crimes
Date posted: February 22, 2024
By MIFTAH
In a recent statement, nearly five months into the Israeli genocide in Gaza, several UN experts confirmed the various reports and testimonies that have been coming from Palestinian women and human rights organizations for months now. In Gaza, women have been kidnapped and forcibly disappeared and placed in dire conditions in undisclosed locations. In the occupied West Bank, released prisoners testified on the horrific realities inside Israeli prisons and the widespread torture and ill-treatment where sexual violence is used as a weapon employed against both women and men. The targeting of women and girls with such atrocious crimes is targeting the most vulnerable, in an attempt to break and degrade the society as a whole.
The inaction and failure of the international community to stop Israeli crimes, namely the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and other heinous crimes all across Palestine for decades now has emboldened Israel to act with impunity. This allows Israel to continue committing horrific crimes against Palestinian women and girls, namely rape and other forms of sexual violence and torture.
The silence of “Western” feminists has also been appalling, given their earlier outrage about unsubstantiated Israeli allegations which were used to justify and commit the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
First and foremost, we demand an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional provision of humanitarian aid. In order to put an end to such heinous crimes and impunity, we reiterate the need for an independent international investigation into all crimes, especially sexual violence, followed by international accountability for the perpetrators.
