The probability is small that Sharon will die during his tenure as prime minister of Israel. He may then be honored with a state funeral. It is certain that he will not receive the expression of respect from the whole world in a measure close to the almost universal respect given internationally to the memory of Arafat. It is very doubtful that a silence of one minute will be observed at the United Nation, as it has been for Arafat

This deserves attention. Arafat was not a recognized head of state. There was no international obligation to honor the dead man to the extent he has been. He was neither a head of state de jure nor a head of state de facto. He was not the head of a government in exile. At most, he was the Chairman of an authority, the Palestinian authority. In reality, he was not even that. He was a prisoner in a part of a building.

The respect and the honor he received internationally, and which was no less than that given to a head of state, must have been given to him in a different quality. It is clear that he had other merits. The man honored so much at his death was perceived as personifying his people. And in order to be able to personify his people, he must have had exceptional qualities. In honoring him the whole world was honoring the individual, and the people he personified.

Olaf Palm died assassinated while being the prime minister of Sweden. He was honored in his death as the exceptional individual he was, as the prime minister he was, and as the victim of assassination. Still, he was not perceived as personifying his people.

In a given sense, Arafat can be compared to Charles de Gaule who personified the French people while France was occupied by Germany. Arafat can also be compared to Jeanne d'Arc, who mobilized the energies of the French people resisting the English invasion. Arafat was respected not only for personifying the Palestinian people, but for having been able to personify his people.

And this man, now universally honored and respected, had been treated with such injustice, disrespect and inhumanity by the Israeli authorities. It is clear therefore that all that respect and honor given posthumously to Arafat, represent that much condemnation of Israel, that much disrespect and dishonor for Israel.

It is therefore clear that, by refusing to Arafat the burial in Jerusalem, Israel puts itself on the ban of the world public opinion. This applies to Bush who supported Israel in its treatment of Arafat.

The group of international cyclists and organisers of The Peace Cycle had the honour of meeting President Arafat just a few weeks ago, in his compound in Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank. We felt privileged to meet the man who has for decades symbolised the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

President Arafat spoke to us passionately about the suffering of his people and their longing for peace, both of which we had been witness to during our time in the West Bank. We had seen for ourselves the heartbreaking conditions in which the Palestinian people are forced to live, and how the occupation destroys lives. Yet we were amazed to see something even more powerful and enduring than anything the occupation can affect - we saw hope, courage, and a refusal to hate. We met a people who are yearning for the chance to live at peace with their neighbours and who are crying out to the world to help them achieve this justly.

President Arafat was unfairly accused by Israel and the U.S. of being an obstacle to peace, when it was he who presided over the compromise of giving up 78 per cent of the land on which the Palestinian people had lived for generations. Can there really be a greater obstacle to peace than a military occupation which is condemned worldwide as being the cause of thousands of innocent deaths, both Palestinian and Israeli? Until President Bush recognises Israel's illegal occupation as being what truly prevents peace, he is making himself the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East.

We feel deeply saddened by the death of President Arafat and by the sense of loss which the Palestinian people will be feeling. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Palestinian people, who we know to be people of immense warmth and generosity. We will continue to work for an end to the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as the first and crucial step to real and lasting peace for all Palestinians and Israelis.

After close to two weeks of intrigue, speculation and rumour following his admittance into a French military hospital, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died.

Arafat was rightly seen as the father of the Palestinian people, a historic figure who, in the wake of the devastation of the 1948 war, played a central role in building a national movement from the remnants of the Palestinian society in its diaspora throughout the Arab world and beyond. In this context, Arafat served as the father of contemporary Palestinian national consciousness, an achievement and legacy acknowledged by friend and foe alike.

In the 1980s, Arafat was instrumental in building a consensus in the Palestinian national movement in favour of resolving the conflict with Israel on the basis of two states living side by side in peace, and making this the official goal of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

This culminated in his being jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East” in 1994.

For the last four years of his life, Arafat was shunned by both Israelis and Americans and was personally blamed for the failure of the Camp David talks in 2000. Confined to a few rooms in his Muqata, the once globetrotting Arafat was vilified for rejecting Israel's “generous offer” and accused of deliberately starting the second Palestinian Intifada.

In truth, accepting Israel's offer was out of the question. The Oslo process had seen a doubling of Israel's West Bank settler population, a marked decrease in Palestinian standards of living and a growing disillusionment with prospects of an independent and viable Palestinian state. On the heels of this, for Arafat to accept a Palestinian state with no control over airspace and borders, dissected by Israeli-only roads, with sovereignty over only parts of Arab East Jerusalem and no compromise whatsoever over the refugee issue was impossible.

But Arafat was not blameless for the predicament the Palestinians find themselves in today. In common with most contemporary Arab political leaders, his system of governance was based on a patronage system on a massive scale. Corruption was endemic, and while Arafat cannot be accused of keeping any money for himself, living an obviously Spartan lifestyle, there is no doubt he turned a blind eye while other Palestinian leaders amassed questionable fortunes. In 2003, the IMF reported that almost $1 billion in income had never reached the treasury during the 1990s. Arafat also stubbornly resisted appointing either a successor or sharing power in any meaningful sense. While it is indisputable that both the US and Israel bear responsibility for the first Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen's short-lived tenure, it is true that Arafat also bears some responsibility.

The question now is how to move forward. Arafat's death reshuffles the political deck and it is up to the Palestinians now to recognise the power structure they operate in and play their new cards as wisely as possible.

The first task is national unity and an orderly transition of power. Palestinian leaders must define achievable and honest goals and communicate them to their people, after four years of an Intifada that has not brought Palestinians any closer to their dreams of an independent state.

Responsibility does not fall on the Palestinians alone, however. With control over their daily lives largely in Israeli hands, Israel must allow all the necessary conditions for an election to occur. This includes affording Palestinians free movement and abiding fully by a comprehensive ceasefire. Above all, Israel must agree to resume talks aimed at ending the conflict by ending the occupation.

With Arafat now gone, Israel can no longer claim there is no Palestinian partner to talk to.

This political process also requires a seriously reengaged United States. With Arafat's death coinciding with the reelection of President George Bush to a second term, the time is ripe for solving what British Prime Minister Tony Blair called “the single most pressing political challenge in our world today”. After his reelection, Bush once again expressed his commitment to establishing a Palestinian state, and it is high time that American policies begin to concur with this goal.

Seriously addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not only in the interest of the Palestinians, who yearn for liberation and statehood, but also very much in the interests of Israel's security and America's “war against terrorism”. This convergence of interests must now be exploited by all parties. The alternative is continued bloodshed for both Palestinians and Israelis, and further isolation for Israel in the international community, as it faces a more radicalised and embittered Palestinian population and growing demands for a one-state solution.

As Israel's closest ally, the US would face even more violence and hostility from a growing list of enemies in the region and the wider Muslim world.

While Arafat may not have lived to see the establishment of a Palestinian state, his dream remains in the best interests of not only those who loved him but also of those who despised him. Therefore, even as he passes from the scene, the future may be his creation after all.

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:

1. American Federation of Ramallah Palestine
2. Association of women’s Action
3. AWMR Italia - Donne della Regione Mediterranea
4. Bisan Center for Research and Development
5. Community Development and Media Center
6. Cultura è libertà una campagna per la Palestina
7. Enjaz Foundation for development
8. Filastiniyat
9. Human Rights and Democracy Media Center SHAMS
10. Institute of Women's Studies
11. Not to forget women society
12. Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA)
13. Palestinian Women's Action committee
14. Rete Femminista Marche Molto+di194
15. Rural Women Development Society
16. Sinal do Vale
17. Singola
18. Teaching Palestine: Pedagogical Praxis and the Indivisibility of Justice
19. The center for defense of liberties and civil rights “Hurryyat”
20. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy - MIFTAH
21. The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development-PWWSD
22. The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in Southwest Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA)
23. Union of Palestinian Women Committees
24. Wattan media network
25. Women Media and Development
26. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
27. رابطة المرأة العراقية
28. شبكة المستقبل الديمقراطية العراقية

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!

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.