1_March 2019, Ramallah – On the occasion of the International Women’s Day (8 March), a week-long joint campaign “My Rights, Our Power” was launched today in Palestine to raise awareness on women’s fundamental human rights. The joint effort, with participation from over 30 national and international partners from civil society organizations, media outlets, and international development agencies, targets youth, women, and men in various geographic areas in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza to promote women’s human rights in Palestine.

The campaign comes at a crucial moment when the anticipated adoption of the Family Protection Bill is at a standstill, raising concerns among national and international stakeholders about the consequences of such delay on safeguarding women’s fundamental human rights in Palestine. According to the Palestine report of the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), nearly one in five Palestinian men (17 percent) surveyed said they had perpetrated act of physical intimate partner violence against female partners, while 21 per cent of women surveyed reported having experienced such violence.

“Family violence, usually committed by a family member who has social or economic power over others in the family, causes enormous pain and suffering to all members of the family, especially the women and children,” said a spokesperson from civil society, which has vigorously initiated the development of the Family Protection Bill (FPB), and has strongly pushed its adoption since 2004.

“The violation of women’s human rights manifests in various levels and should be also understood from economic, cultural, and social aspects,” the spokesperson added, highlighting the lack of opportunities and freedom of choice, as well as limited access to justice and services that women in Palestine still experience.

The joint campaign aims to raise awareness of the general public, especially youth, women, and men on women’s fundamental rights in line with international standards and embedded in the Family Protection Bill draft endorsed by the previous Cabinet at the end of December 2018. Five key messages, addressing women’s right to a life free of violence, right to achieve justice and seek help in case of violation of such life, as well as the right to equal opportunities and right to make one’s own choices, will be distributed through various channels such as radio, social media, helpline (121), outreach activities, and on-site events. The closing event of the joint campaign will take place on 8 March in Jerusalem and will celebrate women’s achievements using TED-style talks, followed by art performances.

“My Rights, Our Power” joint campaign is part of the global International Women’s Day 2019 campaign under the theme of “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”. The theme focuses on innovative ways in which we can advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, particularly in the areas of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure, echoing the theme of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 63) taking place in New York on 11-22 March 2019.

The participating organizations of the “My Rights, Our Power” are (in alphabetical order): 17 Palestinian women’s organizations represented by Al-Muntada (coalition), British Consulate-General, Business Women Forum, CARE International, Consulate General of Sweden, Consulate General of Belgium, EUPOL COPPS, EU Representative Office, FAO, General Union of Palestinian Women, Government of Japan, CowaterSogema/GROW Project, International Labour Organization, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Ma’an TV, MIFTAH, Netherlands Representative Office, Nisaa FM, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development, Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association, Representative Office of Canada, Representative Office of Denmark, SAWA, Sawasya II, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, Sports for Life, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Representative Office of Norway, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNOPS, UN Women, Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling, Women’s Studies Center.

For more information, please contact Eunjin Jeong at UN Women via eunjin.jeong@unwomen.org or 059 2321 308, Majd Beltaji at UNESCO via m.beltaji@unesco.org or 059 4501 506.

Mr. President,

We thank France for organizing this important meeting and extend our appreciation to the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General, the Executive Director of UN Women, the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security and the Secretary-General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie for their efforts and important briefings.

The issue before us is of relevance not only for half the planet, but to all, given the role and contribution of women in the fields of peace and security and the untapped potential that could be unleashed by mainstreaming their participation. Since the adoption by consensus of resolution 1325 by this Council, a lot has happened, and yet we are still far from the goal of full and equal participation, including in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, and from ensuring the protection and empowerment of women. Gender equality and non-discrimination remain prerequisites for the fulfilment of the purposes and principles of this organization and all of our lofty, collective commitments, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The State of Palestine welcomes the Secretary General’s report and his commitment to implementing the women and peace and security agenda, including by placing gender at the centre of his prevention platform and surge in diplomacy. We appreciate all efforts by the UN in this regard, including by UN Women, OHCHR and UNDP, notably in the field of human rights, capacity building, employment and rule of law. We urge UN bodies, notably those operating in Palestine, including the Special Representative, to intensify their engagement and collaboration with women organizations.

Mr. President,

I wish to highlight some of Palestine’s own important efforts in this regard. The Palestinian women’s movement is one of the oldest and strongest in the region and beyond, with institutional and representative structures established as early as the 19th century. Within the PLO, the General Union of Palestinian Women was among the first unions to be established. A coordination of women frameworks within PLO political parties and other organizations has also been established as the “Women’s Affairs Technical Committee” in the aftermath of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference.

There have been many achievements thereafter. Among them: In 2012, Palestine inaugurated a High-Level National Committee for the implementation of resolution 1325, led by the Ministry of Women Affairs in partnership with relevant Ministries and NGOs. In 2016, the State of Palestine was among the 68 countries and areas that adopted a National Action Plan on women, peace and security.

This Action Plan (2017-2019), adopted by both the Government and civil society organizations, identifies three primary objectives: 1. ensuring protection for women and girls both domestically and in the face of the Israeli occupation; 2. ensuring accountability through national and international mechanisms, with a particular focus on crimes and violations committed by the occupation; and 3. furthering women’s political participation in decision making at the national and international level. The State of Palestine also joined core IHL and human rights instruments, including CEDAW, without reservations. Women’s participation and empowerment are also important and cross-cutting objectives in the context of the National Policy Agenda (2017-2022).

We are, however, conscious that, despite all these efforts, much more work remains to be done. Only in 2009 was a women elected to the highest executive body of the PLO. Quotas are still decisive in allowing women’s election to Parliament and local councils. And while women organizations were among the strongest advocates of national reconciliation, they have been unfairly absent from reconciliation talks. The relevant legislative framework applicable in Palestine is also outdated and must be revised to ensure consistency with Palestine’s international commitments and obligations and avail women the protection and rights they are entitled to and the opportunities they deserve.

Mr. President,

The Palestinian women’s movement since its establishment over a century ago pursued the struggle on two fronts – the struggle for the independence of Palestine and the struggle for women’s rights and empowerment – a dual struggle the movement continues to pursue to this day. The Israeli occupation remains the main source of the violations of our women’s rights and their vulnerability and violence against their person. We have repeatedly called for protection of the Palestinian people, especially women and children. We have also called for accountability, a key element of resolution 1325, the first resolution to address the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women, as the only way to put an end to violations and crimes.

While Palestine stands ready to do its part to advance women rights and the role of women in the fields of peace and security, it is clear that the enjoyment of these rights in our country necessitates ending the Israeli occupation. We will thus continue to work for an end of the occupation and true progress on the path to independence, justice and peace, with the equal and full involvement of women, leading to an independent State of Palestine ensuring human rights for all its citizens without discrimination.

On the occasion of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office to Palestine, the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325, which consists of twelve different Palestinian women’s organisations, is urging the Prosecutor’s Office to take concrete actions towards investigating war crimes committed against Palestinians. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom remains deeply concerned with the complete impunity of Israeli war crimes and firmly supports the Coalition’s call for a just accountability mechanism for Palestinian victims. WILPF also calls on the international community to recognise and fully support Palestinian women’s organisations substantial role in paving the paths to justice, accountability and peace. Read the statement of the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325 below.

We, the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325,welcome the visit of the delegation of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office as a step in the right direction. But we are deeply disappointed that the purpose of this visit was restricted to preliminary examination, while Palestinian victims of Israeli war crimes, including women, continue to suffer and urgently await justice and an end to Israel impunity.

We do not understand the decision to exclude the Gaza Strip from this visit, when Gaza has been the site of the most war crimes and where women have been most systematically impacted by Israeli collective punishment policies; a prolonged imposed siege and a severe humanitarian deterioration resulting from Israeli military aggressions .

We are further disappointed that women who have been systematically impacted, and their women’s organisations, have been excluded from the delegation’s agenda.

We call upon all future delegations of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office to include on their agenda meetings with women’s organisations and women who have experienced direct and indirect impacts of Israeli crimes.

We, the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325, have seen in UNSCR 1325, 2242, and other UN Resolutions a commitment to hold the Israeli perpetrators accountable for their war crimes.

We look to the ICC as the most important mechanism to end impunity for all war crimes committed, finally bringing justice for the Palestinian people. Yet, we are very concerned that the preliminary examinations will be an endless process.

Therefore, we urge, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of the ICC, to conclude the preliminary examination and move to investigations into Israeli war crimes, bringing justice to Palestinians.

We have paid the price of non-accountability and impunity of Israeli war crimes for too long. “Delaying justice is justice denied.”

Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325: The General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD), MIFTAH, Filastinyat, Women Media and Development (TAM), Women Stu Dies Center, Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WACLAC), the National, YWCA of Palestine, Center for Women’s Legal Research and Consulting (CWLRC), the Culture and Free thought Association(CWLRC) and Women’s Affairs Center (GWAC).

Occupied Palestine

October 11, 2016

International organizations decided to prevent their workers from entering Gaza Strip until further notice. Those who are currently staying in Gaza are prohibited from walking the streets of Gaza… This is not a joke, nor is it Israeli propaganda. The UN organizations and others took this decision because they are concerned about their employees, not from the Israeli bombs, which have stopped completely in the last few months, rather; they fear being kidnapped by Palestinians.

While Sharon is driving to turn Gaza into a big prison, some of the Authority leaders claim that they are able to manage Gaza affairs after ending (!) the oppressive occupation. They, also, allege that they are fully prepared to take over the settlements after the evacuation of settlers.

There are others who raise the victory signs and boasting - on TV satellite stations - their joy and happiness of being freed and victorious, even though the settlements in the West Bank are increasing!

Anyone watching and listening thinks we are on the verge of establishing an independent state with full sovereignty; with nothing remaining but arrival of elections to elect the new government.

Are they not aware that there is no meaning for the word "law" in the Gaza Strip; and there is no interpretation for the word "security" in the Palestinian land dictionary? Even if this exists in the minds of some, it does not have any real application on the ground. The reality is that; Gaza strip is controlled from outside by Israel and inside by groups intertwined with security forces and tribes, where weapons and money are distributed in this powerful network created in the last four years and is fueled and empowered at the expense of the central authority.

Meanwhile, it seems that our security forces were mainly trained to protect the president's and other official parades.

Amidst this reality, the Attorney General and the Supreme Judge were attacked and neither are able to move freely - without tightened security - in the "safe" streets of Gaza.

In all this, there are two explanations; either the police or security forces are not aware of the crimes of killing and kidnapping, or they are but do nothing.

Then, who rules Gaza?

Are they the security forces? The armed tribes? The militant Militias? The business companies? Or is it all of these powers together? It is certainly not the central Palestinian Authority. It seems that we are following Somalia. Somalia is divided into armed feudal estates, in which every leader is ruling a certain area, while others do not dare to enter such areas without a permit.

We are joyful of the evacuation of the Israeli settlements, and the blow to the Zionist colonial enterprise which has victimized both Jews and Palestinians. But we fear that we entered the path of civil war from its widest doors, not necessarily between Hamas and Fatah, but rather; between the various armed feudal groups. The feudality of money, weapons, and tribalism became the ruling powers in Gaza. The central Authority has decayed to a degree of helplessness. I am not surprised to know that someone is considering forming an armed militia to protect his family, and business, as he is left with no choice but to follow the same path. He may even need to prove his power by kidnapping one foreigner, and then negotiate with the authority to twist its arm, roll its dignity in the dust, and pluck out its legitimacy. It will not then be impossible that new leaders emerge from the new militias demanding the full control over their own feudalities, after liberating them! It might be also possible that one day the leaders of the militias agree on establishing a federal regime amongst between khan Younis, Rafah, Gaza, Deir El-Balah, Beit Hanon, and Jabalia.

And then we pray for "unity" after "liberation"!!!

After the storm that hit Rafah had subsided, I went there trying to find my way through the rubble, to tend the wounds, and to meet the children's eyes.

Amidst the devastation, I found the daring Israeli journalist, Amira Hass. I asked her, "How do you interpret all this?" With sadness and anger in her eyes, she replied, "It is difficult for a journalist to make a diagnosis. What is needed is a psychiatrist."

Amira Hass knows what she is talking about. She means that Israel does not only suffer from insecurity, but also, from a pathology that allowed its government to use brutality, killing, and destruction to a terrifying degree. Israel suffers from the disorder of the untreated victim who suddenly possesses power and much power.

This pathology was expressed bravely by Israeli minister Lapid, who said that the scene of an elderly Palestinian woman amidst the rubble in Rafah reminded him of his grandmother in the Nazi detention camps.

This is exactly the tragedy of Israel - it was a dream of the Nazi victims to be free and secure. Instead, Israel became a disordered case threatening its own existence with destruction. And that what was alarmingly expressed by the former Knesset speaker Abraham Burg in his famous article in which he warned of the fate of Zionism. (The Daily telegraph 28 March 2004).

In tortured and destroyed Rafah, I was taken aback by a man angrily swearing at the minister of health, the governor, and security forces chiefs! In Rafah also, some attacked the Red Cross and the UNRWA chief who came to announce their indignation against the crimes and to affirm their solidarity with Rafah. I could not justify this 'rage' as a reaction to what happened.

I say that we have become dependent on others, yet, at the same time we hold a grudge against them. We need the Arabs and ask for their assistance, but again, we blame them or even accuse them of collaborating with the enemies! We beat their ministers, we curse their presidents, while everyone knows that we depend on them and on external aid almost completely. We do not refrain from asking for help, but, we go further, and accuse the helpers of spying and short givings.

We came back from Rafah, with my mind full of conflicting thoughts, and my heart torn apart by pain and anger. On our way to Gaza, we stopped at Abu-Howley crossing in the middle of Gaza Strip. Hundreds of cars were lined up on the street, the pavements, and the surrounding fields. Everyone was trying to jump over others to pass as if saying, "I'm first, forget the rest..." The scene was of extreme chaos, a road that permits one car at a time. But, tens of cars from all directions lurch forward frantically to take that space. The traffic stopped and we waited for hours. I thought the Israelis had closed the crossing as they usually do. We waited in surrender and rage for four hours until we were informed that the Israelis had not closed the crossing, but, the anarchy of Palestinian cars from both directions resulted in clogging the road. That was one of the symptoms of the Palestinian disorder. Everybody wants to pass before the other and could not care less about order or law, even though each person knows that in disrupting order he is increasing chaos and thwarting his own passage.

Similarly, the young men in Rafah, who expressed their grudges or resentment about everything, wish to exercise their own power. They believe that they hold the whole truth while the rest are worthless and can be accused of treason.

Like the Chaos at Abu Howley crossing, luck and corruption gives friends and loyal people all the passage to high positions in the Palestinian Authority. Some Director Generals do not even have primary education (I have names)! State land is given to individuals whether through connections or as a reward for their loyalty. Some gangsters have built houses on state land because they are "protected".

While the catastrophe in Rafah was unfolding, the newspapers flood us each day with news about appointing a new minister or promoting someone to be a deputy minister. We all know that all these things are done through intermediaries to settle accounts, or in pursuit of personal interests, not based upon competency, merit, or in the interests of serving the country. Sadly, it seems that such promotions give some body a false feeling of power.

Israel may be sick, afflicted in its core by racism and arrogance of power after a long history of anti Semitism, humiliation and persecution. We are sick as well. We suffer from social and psychological disorders and much of what we see around us is a manifestation of some.

The long history of foreign rule, the 'Nakba' (1948 uprooting), and particularly the brutal Israeli occupation are the main causes of our suffering. But, the original disorder is the tribal culture and the preference for family over the interests of the nation. The tribal heritage has led to corruption of Palestinian rule, where 'connections' and favoritism intervene in almost everything, starting from asking for a girl's hand to asking to become a minister.

The tribal mentality does not acknowledge the law. It respects power. It imposes domination by the power of numbers, fire and by corruption of leaders. As a result, the social peace becomes a hostage caught between our clans and factions; Factions which are contemporary examples of tribes, each claims the monopoly of the truth and all refuse, despite Sharon's campaign of destruction, to unify their vision and strategic thinking. People are scared, not only of Israel, but of Palestinian arms. We are witness to the breakdown of the entire system before the very eyes of the citizens who are terrified of what is further to come…

The Palestinian Authority has failed because it came as an expression of a chronic disorder. Any other authority will fail if they become part of the same and living off corruption. How to treat our disorders, who is to treat Israel's disorders, is a question for all!!

The US has been lobbying the world for military action against Iraq for violating UN Security Council Resolutions for the past few months. However, the 30 September 2002 was the day when President George W. Bush of the USA violated UN Security Council Resolutions by signing the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2003, which effectively recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

This new American law comes on the 3rd anniversary of the “Al-Aqsa” Intifada that was triggered by Ariel Sharon’s visit to Al-Haram El-Sharief in Jerusalem on 28 September 2000. Furthermore, it is well known that the issue of Jerusalem was the main sticking point that led to the failure of the Camp David negotiations in 2000, and prevented reaching a political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Any unilateral decision attempting to define sovereignty over the city will have regrettable effects and forecast a religious war in the region and other parts of the world. Therefore, Jerusalem must remain a symbol of harmony and peace, and open to the followers of all religions for worship and prayer. No side must be allowed to enforce its domination over the city.

The new American law puts the whole region on a crater. And the last thing the region needs is an uncalculated measure to ignite the fuse in the whole region.

Strangely, this new law comes after a long history in which successive American Administrations, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions, considered east Jerusalem occupied Palestinian land. Coming at a time in which more Muslim countries are targeted, this law gives the “war on terrorism” a distinct religious streak.

We call upon the American Administration to freeze this law and refuse to apply it, and upon sensible decision-makers in the US to consider all the consequences of their decisions. Also, we call upon the UN, EC, international human rights organizations, and advocates of peace and justice to protest this law and work towards stopping its implementation. This is necessary to ensure justice, peace, security, and preserve the lives of people in the region and rest of the world.