Women's day in Palestine

[barb162]

March 10, 2006

Women's day in Palestine

By: Daoud Kuttab *

While Palestinians have regularly celebrated the International Women's Day on March 8, celebrations this year had a different taste. The victory of the conservative Islamic movement Hamas has reinvigorated Palestinian civil society in general and the women's movement in particular. This year's pro-women march in Ramallah, which ended with a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas, was well attended, by nearly a thousand women, interestingly many of them with headscarves.

As if to reflect where the coming battleground will be, the women were unable to gain a similar positive response from the legislative council which was in session that day. A long discussion ensued inside the Palestinian parliament about what to do with the demonstrating women. Finally a decision was taken to send a delegation to join the celebrations on women's day, but it took some more time to agree on how long the session should be suspended for the parliament's representatives to participate in the event and return. The request for a two-hour break was cut in half and a parliamentary delegation made up of some of the key women representatives left to attend. But the plan didn't succeed, as the mostly Islamic delegates (since the Fateh MPs had earlier walked out of the parliament for a different reason) quickly returned in protest.

Samira Haliqa, a Hamas representative from the Hebron area, informed her colleagues that the delegation decided to boycott the women's day march because some of the protesters had raised placards calling for legislation that will abolition polygamy, which is permitted according to Sharia as Haliqa said.

Palestinian women trying to reach the legislative council's offices in Gaza (where representatives were participating in the Ramallah-based session via videoconferencing) were also blocked. After persistent attempts, the parliament's closed doors were opened when a number of independent women representatives intervened. The protesting women were allowed in, but they were not given an audience with their elected representatives. The following day, the Hamas prime minister-designate, Ismael Haniyeh, was quoted in the press as being in support of women's rights.

snip
http://www.amin.org/eng/uncat/2006/mar/mar10-0.html

[Tom Joad]

1. Women in Palestine. Remember Palestinian women in prison.

"I cannot completely understand Palestinian women or their suffering. I don't know how I would have survived such humiliation, such disrespect from the whole world. All I know is that the voice of mothers has been suffocated for too long in this war-stricken planet. . . . This I know and it is very little. But it is enough for me to remember these women are my sisters, and that they deserve that I should cry for them, and fight for them."
-- Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan, 2005 International Women's Day Address to the European Parliament

See this story and photos.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/nessan080306.html

[pelsar]

2. you avoided the post......

women in palestine under hamas...or is that an "internal matter" not worthy of discussion?

i wonder if this is now going to be typical of any discussion involving internal palestenain society....avoiding it, even if it means using information that is years old to "blame israel"....

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Tom actually read the article...

"Politically, there is no disagreement about the overriding desire of Palestinians of both genders to be free of occupation and land theft. In this respect, the Palestinian Ministry for Women issued a statement saying that 117 women are currently held in Israeli jails, all arrested since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada. Among them, 60 have been sentenced, 51 are awaiting trial and six are held administratively without trial or charge. Five of the detained women are under the age of 18."

Maybe you should contact the author of the article and tell them off for daring to speak about issues concerning women that you deem not worthy of discussion?

Violet...

[pelsar]

4. the jist of the article....

was womens issues and hamas today.....is it never going to be discussed here?...always sidetracked?

[Violet_Crumble]

5. The article was about women's issues and it included not just Hamas...

Or do you disagree with the author and think that any issues that involve Israel aren't worth discussing?

Violet...

[pelsar]

7. palestenain women......

seem never to be discussed yet are part of the conflict....the article was mainly about their posistion and the way they are related to....yet it seems to be a non issue here....why is that?

[Violet_Crumble]

11. Palestinian women are discussed a lot...

..and I've read some very good stuff about them. Many point out that there's quite a few issues that confront Palestinian women, and this one was good in that it didn't present Palestinian womens issues as being only one issue...

The problem I see in this forum in particular is that there's a few folk here who are interested in the problems faced by Palestinian women only if those problems are being caused by Palestinians. They cherry-pick issues and present it as something where only one issue is the problem, and go out of their way to ignore or defend issues caused by the occupation. I don't think those sort of folk care at all about Palestinian women at all, but are using them cynically to further their own agenda...

Violet...

[barb162]

15. So what did you think of the women against polygamy?

I have got to really hand it to these women hoping to protect the rights they have gained thus far and going for more rights, such as the anti-polygamy issue.



"...some of the protesters had raised placards calling for legislation that will abolition polygamy..."

[pelsar]

28. never discussed here...

i cant recall a single serious discussion about the problems that palestenain women face within their own society...nor with the problems that they face with the Hamas coming to power.....how they're treated also has an affect on the conflict...since i see womens rights as a pillar of a civil society its of paticular interest to me..perhaps you might want to link me to those discussions here?

[Tom Joad]

8. Whatever the problems of Palestinian women. Under Hamas,

Fateh, Republicans, Democrats, whatever, women who are in prison, who undergo torture, who must live under illegal occupation, suffer the most.

I don't think there is a woman in Palestine whose first order of business is not to end the occupation.

What, Pelsar, you think when you walk in the Occupied Territories, M-16 over your shoulder, Palestinian women think of you as a liberator? Ever notice the lack of flowers thrown for you? Ever notice that women throw the stones too? Ever notice when the shooting starts that there are Palestinian women who die as well?

[pelsar]

9. i'm very aware of the situation.....

but actually your wrong, in intifada II the women are not present as its not the popular uprising of intifada I. Your also mistaken as to the "first order of business". Already there have been voices out of gaza complaining about the hamas and that at least under israeli occupation there was at least personal security.. (editor of the Gaza major newspaper several months ago).

If Hamas does the iranian version of govt, gays, women, secular, christians will have a new far worse version of occupation that they can imagine...and worse, all the nice "anglos who pretend to care" will no longer be in sight or heard.(or will you start condeming such a govt? and will you go out there to protect the secular gays)

and the occupation hardly keeps one from discussing the problems that palestenian women have today....or is there some reason their social problems that are relevant to their society cant be discussed?

[Tom Joad]

10. You are talking about some hypothetical future, and

I think we should consider present day realities.

I know that Palestinian women have their own complaints with the status quo, as do Israeli women, incidentally, regarding their status within their societies.

It isn't about supporting political structures, Hamas, Fateh, PFLP or anything else, it is about supporting a people's right to be liberated from a oppressive and deadly occupation that is supported by my own governments funding.

I actually have confidence that Palestinian women can create their own liberation.

[barb162]

12. Status quo? What status quo? It's gonna get a lot worse and soon

with those Hamas types in power

[Tom Joad]

22. Just out of curiosity, have you ever in your life spoken to a

Palestinian woman?

[pelsar]

24. your avoiding it ...

you seem to spend a lot of text avoiding issues that demand considering options...bear with me....polititicians and statesman and military people attempt not to be surprised by considering what may or may not happen.(we do that in our own lives as well when we apply for college and jobs...)

Iran wasnt supposed to hang and shoot the democratic/liberal activists that help got rid of the shaw...but they sure did, Gays probably didnt think they would have a death sentence over their heads once the shaw was gone. Women under the Taliban probably didnt dream that going to school would be illegal....once the russians were gone.

these things happen, revolutions do go wrong and in fact can make things worse....and it can happen to the palestenians, voting in hamas was probably not such a brilliant move (it may turn out to be or it may not)...

so be hypothetical....lets just say we get Iran 2 in palestine.....what will the "toms" of the world then do?..be brave, make a real statement a real commitment as opposed to a "cliche"...sometimes in life the choices are between bad and worse.

if you would like we can discuss the problems israeli women face as well, but as one of the most liberated women in the world today... they're problems are mininscule compared to palestenain women, if Hamas does the religious thing

but lets start with them first......(i've noticed that its always avoided here, i've been trying for years to get a discussion going about them...why is that?)..have courage...be brave....

[barb162]

19. you're so right!

[barb162]

17. I doubt if any secular Palestinian women are throwing flowers for

Hamas

[barb162]

14. Seems so, doesn't it

[barb162]

13. remember the honor killings

[Wordie]

6. And now, the *rest* of the story...

Press leaks have also indicated that two women will be part of the first Hamas-led government: Khaleda Jarrar, a secular, stubborn defender of women's rights elected on the platform of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is said to be slated for the Women's Ministry, while Bir Zeit University Professor Khaula Shakshir is being considered for the important ministry of education.

The statute and role of women in the upcoming Hamas era will be very interesting. The number of women representatives in the Palestinian Legislative Council has jumped from 5 to 17 thanks to the current election law that forced parties to list at least one woman in the first three spots and in every following five spots. The 17 women representatives reflect Palestine more than any previous council, with six from Hamas, eight from Fateh (they went beyond the quota), a PFLP representative, as well as independents. Representatives also span the spectrum in education, socio-economic statute and religious affiliation.

The council includes women with their heads uncovered as well as women with different degrees of head covering. It includes a number of women with PhDs, a medical doctor, as well as working mothers and political activists. The women MPs include wives, sisters and mothers of prisoners and individuals killed in the conflict with the Israelis. Style and dress aside, Palestinian women have their work cut out for them.

Politically, there is no disagreement about the overriding desire of Palestinians of both genders to be free of occupation and land theft. In this respect, the Palestinian Ministry for Women issued a statement saying that 117 women are currently held in Israeli jails, all arrested since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada. Among them, 60 have been sentenced, 51 are awaiting trial and six are held administratively without trial or charge. Five of the detained women are under the age of 18.

[Tom Joad]

16. Speech on Int'l Womens Day. 2005

http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=7535§ionID=91

Speech On International Women's Day, The European Parliament
by Nurit Peled-Elhanan; March 27, 2005


Thank you for inviting me to this day.
It is always an honour and a pleasure to be here, among you.
However, I must admit I believe you should have invited a Palestinian woman at my stead, because the women who suffer most from violence in my county are the Palestinian women.

<snip>
Islam in itself, like Judaism in itself and Christianity in itself, is not a threat to me or to anyone. American imperialism is, European indifference and co-operation is and Israeli racist and cruel regime of occupation is. It is racism, educational propaganda and inculcated xenophobia that convince Israeli soldiers to order Palestinian women at gun-point to strip in front of their children for security reasons, it is the deepest disrespect for the other that allow American soldiers to rape Iraqi women, that give license to Israeli jailers to keep young women in inhuman conditions, without necessary hygienic aids, without electricity in the winter, without clean water or clean mattresses and to separate them from their breast-fed babies and toddlers. To bar their way to hospitals, to block their way to education, to confiscate their lands, to uproot their trees and prevent them from cultivating their fields.


I cannot completely understand Palestinian women or their suffering. I don’t know how I would have survived such humiliation, such disrespect from the whole world. All I know is that the voice of mothers has been suffocated for too long in this war-stricken planet.

More....

[Tom Joad]

18. Palestinian Women Continue to Suffer Under Israeli Occupation

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2006/29-2006.htm

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

As women throughout the world commemorate International Women's Day on 8 March 2006, Palestinian women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) continue to suffer as a result of attacks by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and violence against women in society.

Throughout the OPT, Palestinian women suffer as a result of violations of human rights perpetrated by IOF, including killings, house demolitions and arbitrary arrests. They often have to endure extra hardship when their houses are demolished or their husbands are unable to provide adequate living conditions for their families, as a result of measures taken by IOF. Palestinian women are also often direct victims of the Israeli occupation: they are killed, injured, arrested and have their land and homes destroyed. IOF have not excluded Palestinian women from suppression and attacks directed against all Palestinian civilians.

With regard to violence against women in society, there has been an increase in the number of women who are subject to physical, psychological and sexual violence.

Despite the hardships endured under IOF practices and as result of violence against women in society, political participation of Palestinian women has developed significantly. Women's participation in the latest Palestinian legislative elections, which were held on 25 January 2006, was high. The quota system outlined in the electoral law, which demands a minimum level of female representation, contributed to the success of 17 women in these elections, who are now members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Women constitute 12% of the total number of PLC members. Although women's representation in the PLC is higher than that seen in other Arab parliaments, Palestinian women aspire towards wider political participation and more effective representation in political bodies in the future.

PCHR sends special regards to all Palestinian women and draws particular attention to the responsibilities of Palestinian women, PLC members and the Palestinian women’s movement with regard to maintaining the achievements of Palestinian women to date and ensuring the safeguard of women’s rights under law.

[Tom Joad]

20. Degradation of Palestinian Women Prisoners in the Prisons of Occupation

http://sumoud.tao.ca/?q=node/view/461

Ahmad Fayyad
18 December 2005
Al-Jazeera Correspondent - Gaza


The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners and Ex-prisoners issued a statement today highlighting the fact that 116 Palestinian women are still imprisoned in Israeli Jails. These prisoners live under very poor and difficult humanitarian conditions, under constant degradation by Israeli soldiers.

The statement also called attention to 6 female prisoners under the age of 18, indicating that all women prisoners, regardless of age, are kept in inhuman conditions, and without any attention paid to their needs as women.

The statement went on to say that Israeli prison guards constantly harrass the prisoners, swearing at them and physically abusing and violating them. It emphasized the degradation of humiliating strip searches carried out on prisoners before they are taken for court hearings, or transferred from one section to another within a prison.

According to the statement, women prisoners form 1.3 percent of all Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli jails; 107 of whom are from the West Bank, 6 from Jerusalem, and 3 from the Gaza strip. During the Al-Aqsa Intifada (since September 29, 2000) the Israeli occupation forces have imprisoned over 400 Palestinian women.

[Tom Joad]

21. International Women's Day: Celebrating Palestinian Women

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=6821&CategoryId=11

Today marks the commemoration of International Women's Day, a time to celebrate the political, economic and social achievements of women around the world. It is a time to recognize women's struggle to achieve equality, their active participation in social and economic development and their contribution toward international peace and security. The efforts of Palestinian women in achieving these goals for themselves and the global community have contributed greatly, in their own way, to the progress of women's empowerment.

In the midst of war, dispossession and occupation in Palestine over the past fifty-seven years, Palestinian women suffered, struggled and overcame great difficulties in their lives. As a result of the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine, women's security has been compromised, their health and families have been threatened, their ability to function in a daily routine is constantly maneuvering through obstacles and their economic stability is undermined. Hundreds of women attempt to cross checkpoints daily in traveling to and from work; they are denied access to ambulances or medical services; and many have been seriously injured or killed as a result of cross-fire between armed men, demolitions of homes and "collateral damage" by Israeli extra-judicial assassinations of Palestinian leaders in the middle of civilian areas.

[Tom Joad]

23. Palestinian and Israeli Women Demand Immediate End to Occupation

Palestinian and Israeli Women Demand Immediate End to Occupation, says Bat Shalom and Jerusalem Center for Women
Terry Greenblatt, Director of Bat Shalom
United Nations Security Council, New York, USA, 7 May 2002

I represent Bat Shalom (Daughter of Peace), an Israeli feminist peace organization. I also represent Israeli women and mothers who are famished for peace. We are women working for a genuine peace grounded in the just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, respect for human rights, and an equal voice for Jewish and Arab women within Israeli society. Since 1994, Bat Shalom has been part of a bi-national institution called The Jerusalem Link, and the joint declaration that I will read at the conclusion of my talk was developed with our sister partner, a Palestinian women's NGO, the Jerusalem Center for Women. We work in coalition with more than one hundred women's peace and anti-occupation initiatives around the world that have mobilized in response to the insufferable situation in our region.

I stand before you this afternoon, in the presence of the enormous power you represent, and with the terrible awareness of how dangerous that power can be. As a woman I know that anyone, with even the smallest advantage over another, is capable of abusing or misusing that power. I stand here as an ally and advocate of those women in Israel, Jewish and Arab, who ask of you to use your power wisely and with a moral compass whose needle is uncompromisingly pointed toward justice.
We ask that you fulfill your responsibility as set out in the United Nations Charter.

You are mandated to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war - for until you do, we women living in a militaristic society are destined to continue raising our children to perpetrate war and become messengers of hatred, and of racism, and of destruction.

You are mandated to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights - for until you do, the soul of our society will never heal, neither from our fear of global anti-Semitism, nor from the inhumanity of our subjugation and dehumanization of the Palestinian people. For until you do, the extremists on both sides will rejoice, both those who talk of the transfer of indigenous populations and an eternal occupation, as well as those who walk into a coffeehouse or a supermarket, and blow themselves and others up, leaving our joint future smoldering in the rubble. For until you do, those of us who are struggling to promote a human rights agenda inextricably embedded in an effective political solution cannot possibly further our mission.
http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/OPT/UNSCGreenblatt.html

[pelsar]

25. 4 years old article

see post 24....were now in March 2006, a new reality

[Tom Joad]

26. The occupation is worse than ever.

[pelsar]

27. still...

you can still attempt to answer the hypothetical.....

and the occupation is far "better" since gaza is no longer occupied....but someone is having trouble answering a simple question......