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Women, Peace and Security Initiatives: Occupied Palestinian Territories
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In-Country

Urgent Call to Stop Spiralling Middle East Violence
August 3, 2006 - Statement by Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM; Convenor, International Women's Commission for a Just and Sustainable Palestinian-Israeli Peace (IWC)

For full statement please click here

FIRE marathon broadcast "Voices of Resistance" features women's perspectives on Middle East conflicts
August 2, 2006
Women’s voices and perspectives in reaction to the military aggression in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel will be the focus of a marathon live broadcast via Internet entitled, “Voices of Resistance” on Friday, August 4, produced in Spanish and English by FIRE – Feminist International Radio Endeavour/Radio Internacional Feminista in Costa Rica. The 8-hour live broadcast, which begins at 10 am (Costa Rica/RMT) will be repeated three times during a 24-hour streaming schedule. Listeners may tune in by going to the FIRE website at: www.radiofeminista.net. FIRE is also inviting audience members to write or call during the program to express solidarity with women in the Middle East conflicts. For each email, FIRE will send $5 to women’s organizations that work in those conflict zones; and $10 for each phone call.

For more information please click here

Arab NGO Network for Development Calls upon its friends and supporters all around the world
Today, July 30th, another massacre was committed in Lebanon: More than sixty civilians, among them 37 children, were killed by Israeli bombs while they were sleeping in shelters in the village of Qana. They died not very far away from the mass grave holding the bodies of 106 civilians burned by a previous Israeli attack in April 1996 inside a shelter provided by a UN battalion

For full statement click here

Appeal letter from Peacewomen across the globe
19 July 2006
On behalf of all the International Coordinators and Board Members of Peace Women Across the Globe
(formerly 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005), we join the International Women’s Commission
for Just and Sustainable Peace, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, other human
rights and women’s rights organizations, and the wider international community in demanding the end to all
military operations and violence in Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel

To read the full letter click here

INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU CALLS FOR RAPID DEPLOYMENT OF
DIPLOMATS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
We cannot bear to watch the continuous carnage. We cannot bear to hear the screams of children. We cannot bear to stand by as the United Nations and the G 8 abrogate their responsibilities to stop a war that should never have been started.

To read the full statement click here

Civilians in Gaza in need of protection
July 2, 2006 (Kvinna till Kvinna)
13 Agencies call for immediate and unobstructed access to provide for basic human needs in Gaza.
For common statement click here

End the Suffering of Palestinian Women
Women are paying a high price in the ongoing conflict. Among the thousands of deaths, hundreds of women have been killed by Palestinian armed groups and by Israeli forces. All government authorities have a duty to protect the rights of women. Amnesty International calls on both sides to recognize their respective responsibilities to end the suffering of Palestinian women. Take Action with Amnesty International

Palestinians decry 'honour killings'
June 13, 2005
Several hundred Palestinian women have held a silent protest in the West Bank town of Ram Allah, demanding legislation to protect women from so-called honour killings. For full story, click here.

The Occupation, patriarchy, and violence against women
May 12, 2005
Within a period of a month, five women, Shadia Jidawi from Tulkarem, Yusra Al ‘Azamy from Gaza, Faten Habash from Ramallah, Rudaina Shukirat (pregnant 8 months), and her sister, Amany Shukirat from Jabal Mukaber, were killed for challenging patriarchal norms. For press release visit Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling.

Make the Wall Fall
November 9, 2003
The Palestine Monitor call individuals world-wide to celebrate the International Day of Solidarity against the new Israeli Apartheid Wall. The purpose is to raise awareness in each community about the impact and significance of this new Apartheid Wall. For more information visit The Palestine Monitor.

Women against the seperation wall
September 16, 2003
Palestinian and Jews women gathered in the building site in Abu-Dis to protest against the wall. Women’s are encouraged to participate to document the work that is being done in the area. For more information visit Bat Shalom of the Jerusalem Link.

Palestinian and Israeli Women Vigil Against the Occupation
September 9, 2003
The Jerusalem Link, comprising two women's organizations, Bat Shalom on the Israeli side, and the Jerusalem Center for Women on the Palestinian side, organized the Palestinian and Israeli Women Vigil Against the Ocuupation. Wearing white shirts as a sign of peace, they met at the Sha, ar Hachadash (The New Gate) on September 9, 2003. The Vigil occured under the slogans of Separation Wall =Ghetto, Not Security, No Peace without Priosioner Release. For more information visit Bat Shalom of the Jerusalem Link.

Women’s Action Against the Wall
September 6, 2003
Almost 500 Israeli, Palestinian and International women, including a delegation from the Code Pink U.S.A., organized the Women’s Action Against the Wall. The demonstration had been organized by the Coalition of Women for Peace, on the Israeli side, and the women of the Tulkarm branch of the People’s Party, on the Palestinian side. On Septemer 6, 2003 they met near Tulkarm, a Palestinian town in the West Bank, calling for an end to the Wall and the root cause of the conflict, the occupation, and to offer an alternative of peaceful negotiations for a shared future. For more information visit Coalition of Women for Peace.

Land Day 2003: Women Living Under the Threat of Transfer
March, 2003
The Jewish and Arab women of Bat Shalom jointly observed Land Day for the second year in a row. The central symbols of Land Day are the expropriation of land and the erasure of identity. The focus was specifically on how women experience the State of Israel’s recent attempts to separate Palestinian Arabs from their land, through house destruction, the refusal to recognize many Arab villages all over the country, and the erecting of barriers to family unification through revocation and refusal of citizenship for Palestinian Arabs and their spouses from the Occupied Territories. For more information visit Bat Shalom of the Jerusalem Link.

Open Letter: Call up to Build Up a Just and Durable Peace for Palestinian People
October 21, 2002
Palestinian women members and friends of Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD) call individuals worldwide to urge the international community to put the occupied Palestine under immediate international protection, to implement the Fourth of Geneva Convention in the occupied territories, to stand up and raise their voice to support the right struggle of Palestinian people, and to pressure their government to Israeli unconditional withdrawal from Palestinian territories and implementing the United Nations resolutions regarding the Palestinian cause. To read the Open Letter click here. For more information visit the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development.

The Apartheid Wall Campaign
October, 2002
The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network’s (PENGON) launched the Apartheid Wall Campaign aiming to stop the Wall. The campaign calls for the immediate cessation of the building of the Wall, the dismantling of all parts of the Wall and its related zones already built, the return of lands confiscated for the path of the Wall, and the compensation of damages and lost income due to the destruction of land and property. to sign the Stop the Wall petition click here. For more information visit The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network’s (PENGON).

The Evil Fence: Palestinian Ghetto and Israeli Disaster
October, 2002
The Israeli organization Bat Shalom, launched the initiative "The Evil Fence: Palestinian Ghetto and Israeli Disaster". In response to this initiative a new coalition of organizations, including Bat Shalom, Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, Kvisa Schora and Gush Shalom, was formed against the Wall. Since then, Bat Shalom has been organizing and participating in diffrent activities such as, marchs and demomstrations against the Wall. For more information visit Bat Shalom of the Jerusalem Link.

Sukkat Bat Shalom (Peace Tent)
September 25, 2002
Israeli and Palestinian women organized a two day simposium on “Women Crossing the Borders of Oppression and Racism” for the second year in a row. Relevant speakers discussed different perspectives on racism and dehumanization. Each day during the simposium, two vigils against the occupation and the racism were realized by the women. For more information visit Bat Shalom of the Jerusalem Link.

Peaceful March Agaisnt Israeli Occupation
March 24, 2001
The Palestinian NGO Network, The Palestinian Trade Unions in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, The General Union of Charitable Societies and The General Union of Arab Institutions "Ittijah" organized a peaceful march to protest against the Israeli occupation and the closures or chekpoints, which have been imposed by the Israeli military forces as a form of collective punishment. The set up of 90 new checkpoints by the Israeli forces all over the West Bank and Gaza, deprived people of their right for movement, education and even the most basic right of life. The aim of the march was to pass the checkpoints and pressure the Israeli military by using peaceful demonstrations. During this demonstration four women from the Palestinian Working Women's Society were injured by the Israelis forces. For more information visit the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development.

International

The International Human Rights March in Palestine and Israel
December 20, 2003 to January 14, 2004
The Coalition of Women for Peace in Israeel, and the the General Union of Palestinian Women together with the Jerusalem Center for Women support this initiative launched by Human Rights March. During this 3-week period, Jewish and Arab women have planned an itinerary that will include daily: a march (walk) to advocate peace and human rights, discussions with individuals and organizations that are part of civil society, and cultural and musical exchange. Women will be walking through both Israel and Palestine, splitting the days about evenly between them. To join the march visit Human Rights March.

Third North American Conference
October, 10 to 12, 2003
The Palestine Solidarity Movement at Rutgers University is organizing the Third North American Conference. Since Rutgers Administration is acting to cancel the conference, the Palestine Solidarity Movement calls individuals to sign a petition to demand Rutgers University to reinstate the Conference in campus. The petition is available at (http://www.divestmentconference.com/index2.html). As part of the Conference, as a demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian people, an expression of our denied rights to be heard, and a clear confrontation for justice and liberation against the Zionist forces, who support slaughter, terror and eradication of the Palestinian people, a Mass Rally will be held on October 11, 2003. For registration, endorsement, donation, conference schedule and more click here. For more information visit the Palestine Solidarity Movement.

End the Ilegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East
September, 2001
The World Council of Churches launched in 2001 the ecumenical campaign "End the illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East". The aim is to mobilize member churches and ecumenical partners to join their actions together to work for an end to the occupation helping create a viable Palestinian state, and working for a negotiated, secure and just peace. World Council of Churches calls individuals, churches and other groups and organisations to join the campaign. For more information visit World Council of Churches.

Arms Embargo Campaign
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign urges the United Kingdom government to stop sending arms to Israel, and impose trade restrictions on Israel, starting with an arms embargo, until Israel ends its occupation and respects all UN resolutions. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign ask individuals to write to Jack Straw, Patricia Hewitt and their MP. To send a letter or for more information visit the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Freedom and Justice for Samar and Jawad
On 11 December 1996, Samar Alami, a Lebanese Palestinian woman, and Jawad Botmeh, a Palestinian man, were wrongfully convicted of conspiracy in relation to the bombings of the Israeli Embassy and Balfour House in London in 1994. Both have been sentenced to an extraordinary twenty years in prison, after which they face deportation. Freedom and Justice for Samar & Jawad is determined to fight this miscarriage of justice by explaining why it is believed that Samar and Jawad are innocent of these charges, providing information about the case, and giving you an opportunity to help the efforts to free them. To sign the petition click here. For more information visit Freedom and Justice for Samar & Jawad.