Action Aid Palestine and Alianza Por La Solidaridad Wednesday organized a webinar that highlighted the forms of survival and resistance of Palestinian women living under Israeli occupation.
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, Action Aid Palestine (AAP) and Alianza Por La Solidaridad (ApS) organized an online webinar entitled Feminist insights on Women’s Peace and Security under Israeli occupation: Palestinian: women’s daily struggles to build accountability and end impunity with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
Attended by over 90 panelists concerned with issues of impunity and accountability in international law, women’s rights, human rights, and security and peace issues generally, and Palestine specifically, the webinar aimed to highlight the impact of policies and measures of the Israeli military occupation in Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) on women. It presented the struggle and daily life of women in the refugee camps of Jenin and Shu’fat, the struggle and work of Palestinian women in Gaza, as well as the role and activism of Palestinian young women from inside Israel.
The panelists included Hanan Ashrawi, former Minister of Higher Education and Research and former Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member, Tony Abu Akleh, brother of slain Al-Jazeera Correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, Jihad Abu Zenaid, former PLC member and an activist from Shu’fat refugee camp, Aya Zinati, a young activist from Israel, Farha Abu Heja, Director of Kay La Nansa Organization from Jenin refugees camp, Amal Syam, Director of the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza, in addition to Hurria Dofesh, a resident of the Tel-Rumeida neighborhood who endure the daily attacks of settlers.
They took turns discussing the challenges to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which provides a comprehensive women’s human rights agenda that addresses issues of development, peace and security.
‘The Palestinian people are deprived of the protection of international law and international humanitarian law, and we do not see that there is a rule of law despite the issuance of UNSCR 1325,’ Ashrawi said in her opening remarks.
Describing the situation of Palestinian women, Ashrawi said: ‘We are a people deprived of our rights and sovereignty, we lack control over our resources, and there is no control over our lives. ]In contrast[, Israel enjoys impunity and ]is granted[ immunity, and this system has proven its weakness and failure to protect the marginalized groups and women. This system still exists while the world still turns a blind eye to it’.
Relating to the situation of Palestinian mothers in Jerusalem, Abu Zneid shared the experience of Palestinian mothers who receive home arrest orders. Most of such children who received home arrest orders are under the age of 14. In these cases, their mothers serve as the jailer guard. During the period of the court order, such children are not allowed to leave for school or access healthcare facilities without supervision.
Abu Zneid also shared the various violations imposed on Palestinian women living in Jerusalem, such as house demolitions, lack of security, lack of freedom of movement, and the imposition laws that deny the right of families to live together. She ended her intervention by saying: ‘Palestinian women, not only in Jerusalem dream and wish every day to see their children returning home safe’.
Zinati highlighted the realities of Palestinian women and shared her experiences in alternative tourism by organizing tours to villages and towns whose women and residents share their experiences and daily life. ‘Israeli practices and policies are not always based on the law. Those laws are being legislated arbitrarily without real legal monitoring. We recognize that those laws do not establish our rights,’ she said.
She added that women also suffer from many forms of persecution, political persecution that is more directed towards digital activities and political activism in the public sphere. It has been proved that the digital rights of Palestinian women, among other sectors, are systematically violated. The findings of a report by Hamleh in 2022 show that there have been 1,119 documented cases of digital rights violations. Zinati ended her intervention by saying: ‘Women bear the greatest burden of house demolitions and poor infrastructure in Arab neighborhoods and villages’.
Abu Akleh highlighted the issue of holding Israel accountable in the case of killing and targeting his sister Shereen Abu Akleh, the renowned Al Jazeera correspondent, and attacking her funeral. He said: “The main reason for Israel’s continued targeting and killing of journalists, home demolitions, and other practices is the lack of accountability. It is time to hold Israel accountable’.
He shared with the audience that the Abu Akleh family has headed to many international bodies, and they only response they have received is that Israel enjoys immunity and Israel’s security is used to justify its practices. He asserted that despite the many international investigations confirming that Shireen was targeted by the Israeli army, still there are no even efforts to hold the occupation accountable. He concluded: ‘Israel must be held accountable for its occupation, and we will continue to seek justice for Shireen, but the most important thing is holding the occupation accountable.”
Shedding light on the daily life of Palestinian women in Jenin refugee camp as they have to endure the loss of their family members due to the Israeli attacks, Abu Al-Haija said that this reality causes a state of uncertainty for women who are anxious all the time about the fate of their families and children ‘as they sleep and wake up to the sound of sirens and Israeli army aggressions.’ She concluded by saying: ‘Women play an important role in this context in preserving community cohesion’.
Highlighting the challenges on the ground arising from Israeli occupation violations to the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in the Palestinian context, specifically in Gaza, Syam explained how Gaza has gone through five wars and a 17-year-old blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation which is affecting all aspects of life, while pointing to United Nations 2012 report warning that by 2020 Gaza will be a place not suitable for humans to live in.
The situation in Gaza, she said: ‘impedes women’s economic participation in the labor market, and their access to treatment and good health care. This situation causes high rates of poverty, unemployment, and hardships, creating an environment viable for gender-based violence’. Referring to the fact that UNSCR 1325 calls for activating women’s participation in the peace and reconstruction processes, she pointed that Palestinian women are still excluded from reconciliation dialogues between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas and reconstruction committees. ‘There is also the matter of the fragmentation of the women’s movement as the Israeli occupation impedes the movement between Gaza and the West Bank,’ she concluded.
Sharing the daily life reality in Tel Rumeida neighborhood, a frequent scene of settler attacks, Dofesh testified that ‘There is a restriction on women’s freedom of movement, as women are constantly stopped at the checkpoint. We live a life full of anxiety and fear about the lives of our sons and daughters while they are on their way to the checkpoint. We are also detained for hours when the checkpoint is closed for Israeli security reasons. However, we have the hope of steadfastness and existence’.
Israeli illegal settlers infested the neighborhood in 1984 and started to expand with the support of the Israeli occupation and under military protection. The life of the Palestinian society living in the area is hard, particularly that they lack any kind of protection in the face of settlers’ armed violence, which is supported by Israeli forces, and that the neighborhood is the only place where colonial settlements lie at the heart of Palestinian population.
All panelists ended their interventions with a note of hope, demanding that international duty bearers make the Israeli occupation accountable for its violations of all international resolutions, covenants and human rights documents, and take concrete steps towards remedying such violations that essentially as a step towards bringing an end to the occupation.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency