November 30, 2024
Source: Waging Nonviolence
Image: Diane Greene Lent/Flickr - May 23, 2021, Support for Palestine. Queens NY.
Nov. 29 is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, marked by the United Nations since 1977. But how can solidarity be effectively shown in the context of ongoing, escalating war? Here is what women in Palestine say.
Doaa Ahmad, a women’s rights activist and the head of programs for a grassroots organization in northern Gaza, and her three boys just escaped death for the fourth time. Doaa fetches her laptop and work-related material every time she escapes. Even in genocide, Doaa says, I have a duty to help others, particularly women and girls. (Doaa and the other women in this story have had their names changed at their request.)
The widely recognized genocide in Gaza has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 Palestinians, and displaced nearly all its population, 1,000,000 of whom are women. Every hour, two mothers lose their lives. Sexual violence is used against Palestinian women and men. According to a U.N. report, the Gaza blockade has taken a heavy toll on women and girls by undermining living conditions, restricting access to essential services, increasing their care burden, and heightening vulnerability to all forms of gender-based violence. Experts are “appalled” by reports of deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places of refuge or while fleeing.
The brunt of the work of survival in Gaza rests on local organizations. UN Women estimates that 83 percent of Gaza’s women’s organizations are still at least partially operational. Dina Sami, finds time to work on women protection services and support survivors of gender-based violence. She and her team, all of whom live in a school-turned-shelter in Khan Younis, installed a tent to provide counseling for women and girls in need. “All of our programs were disrupted and changed, all our premises were destroyed, 10 of our colleagues were killed, and many of us are grieving,” Sami said. “However, we are committed to create safe spaces for women and girls and help them with whatever tools and capacities we have left.”
Shaden Emad works in a local organization that provides pro bono legal representation services for survivors of gender-based violence in Tubas, in the northeast of the West Bank. Settler attacks make commuting between cities and villages dangerous for Palestinians. The increase in settler attacks limit Shaden’s ability to work in courts and shelters. “International solidarity can shed light on the challenges faced by grassroots women organizations working in Area C [an area administered by Israel, comprising of 60 percent of the West Bank] and the Jordan Valley,” she said. “International voices and donors must support us to amplify our voices in the face of the shrinking civic space.”
Solidarity with the Palestinian people is solidarity with Doaa, Dina and Shaden. International solidarity with Palestinian women’s organizations and activists means influencing governments to uphold human and civil rights of Palestinians, including their right to independence and self-determination. At the same time, it’s important to hold Israel accountable for crimes against humanity, including the Gaza genocide, and the suffering inflicted under colonization and occupation — as well as for the dispossession from land and resources, and lost opportunities for the Palestinian people.
Standing with Palestinians is not buying goods from companies that fund the genocide. We have the power to say no. Students around the world have been demanding divestment from Israel. Nobel Peace Prize laureate the American Friends Service Committee has compiled a thorough list of companies profiting from the ongoing war. One concrete way to stand with our Palestinian sisters is with our buying power.
International solidarity means holding politicians accountable. Governments’ supporting Israel are complicit in terror. We cannot stand by in silence. This moment demands that all states that signed the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court now uphold their obligations by enforcing the court’s arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (A warrant has also been issued for the military leaders of Hamas). This moment also demands an arms embargo. Britain, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada have suspended arms trade with Israel.
What can you, as one individual, do? Lobby your government, protest, demand action and lobby again.
Our struggle is the Palestinian struggle. Our fight is Doaa’s fight for resistance, Dina’s fight for justice, and Shaden’s fight for freedom.
On this day, as violence and misogyny echo across the world, let us reimagine feminist solidarity. Women everywhere must seek sisterhoods, we must foster direct partnerships with Palestinian women’s groups and amplify their voices and agency.
Tawakkol Karman is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She was awarded the prize in 2011 in recognition of sparking the nonviolent struggle for women’s rights and democracy in Yemen. She is a journalist and human rights advocate. Tawakkol is the founder of Tawakkol Karman Foundation and a member of Nobel Women’s Initiative.
Image: Diane Greene Lent/Flickr - May 23, 2021, Support for Palestine. Queens NY.
Nov. 29 is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, marked by the United Nations since 1977. But how can solidarity be effectively shown in the context of ongoing, escalating war? Here is what women in Palestine say.
Doaa Ahmad, a women’s rights activist and the head of programs for a grassroots organization in northern Gaza, and her three boys just escaped death for the fourth time. Doaa fetches her laptop and work-related material every time she escapes. Even in genocide, Doaa says, I have a duty to help others, particularly women and girls. (Doaa and the other women in this story have had their names changed at their request.)
The widely recognized genocide in Gaza has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 Palestinians, and displaced nearly all its population, 1,000,000 of whom are women. Every hour, two mothers lose their lives. Sexual violence is used against Palestinian women and men. According to a U.N. report, the Gaza blockade has taken a heavy toll on women and girls by undermining living conditions, restricting access to essential services, increasing their care burden, and heightening vulnerability to all forms of gender-based violence. Experts are “appalled” by reports of deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places of refuge or while fleeing.
The brunt of the work of survival in Gaza rests on local organizations. UN Women estimates that 83 percent of Gaza’s women’s organizations are still at least partially operational. Dina Sami, finds time to work on women protection services and support survivors of gender-based violence. She and her team, all of whom live in a school-turned-shelter in Khan Younis, installed a tent to provide counseling for women and girls in need. “All of our programs were disrupted and changed, all our premises were destroyed, 10 of our colleagues were killed, and many of us are grieving,” Sami said. “However, we are committed to create safe spaces for women and girls and help them with whatever tools and capacities we have left.”
Shaden Emad works in a local organization that provides pro bono legal representation services for survivors of gender-based violence in Tubas, in the northeast of the West Bank. Settler attacks make commuting between cities and villages dangerous for Palestinians. The increase in settler attacks limit Shaden’s ability to work in courts and shelters. “International solidarity can shed light on the challenges faced by grassroots women organizations working in Area C [an area administered by Israel, comprising of 60 percent of the West Bank] and the Jordan Valley,” she said. “International voices and donors must support us to amplify our voices in the face of the shrinking civic space.”
Solidarity with the Palestinian people is solidarity with Doaa, Dina and Shaden. International solidarity with Palestinian women’s organizations and activists means influencing governments to uphold human and civil rights of Palestinians, including their right to independence and self-determination. At the same time, it’s important to hold Israel accountable for crimes against humanity, including the Gaza genocide, and the suffering inflicted under colonization and occupation — as well as for the dispossession from land and resources, and lost opportunities for the Palestinian people.
Standing with Palestinians is not buying goods from companies that fund the genocide. We have the power to say no. Students around the world have been demanding divestment from Israel. Nobel Peace Prize laureate the American Friends Service Committee has compiled a thorough list of companies profiting from the ongoing war. One concrete way to stand with our Palestinian sisters is with our buying power.
International solidarity means holding politicians accountable. Governments’ supporting Israel are complicit in terror. We cannot stand by in silence. This moment demands that all states that signed the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court now uphold their obligations by enforcing the court’s arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (A warrant has also been issued for the military leaders of Hamas). This moment also demands an arms embargo. Britain, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada have suspended arms trade with Israel.
What can you, as one individual, do? Lobby your government, protest, demand action and lobby again.
Our struggle is the Palestinian struggle. Our fight is Doaa’s fight for resistance, Dina’s fight for justice, and Shaden’s fight for freedom.
On this day, as violence and misogyny echo across the world, let us reimagine feminist solidarity. Women everywhere must seek sisterhoods, we must foster direct partnerships with Palestinian women’s groups and amplify their voices and agency.
Tawakkol Karman is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She was awarded the prize in 2011 in recognition of sparking the nonviolent struggle for women’s rights and democracy in Yemen. She is a journalist and human rights advocate. Tawakkol is the founder of Tawakkol Karman Foundation and a member of Nobel Women’s Initiative.
No comments:
Post a Comment