Palestine

I was recently part of a fact-finding delegation to Palestine organized by the US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

We live in historic times. People in the Arab world are rising up against political dictatorship and corruption; they demand reforms and are organizing for freedom, human dignity and social justice. Women have been shouldering the responsibilities in all uprisings and their movement is an integral part of the democratic forces for social and economic justice. But they are systematically excluded from the decision making processes that shape the future of their countries. What democracies are then being prepared and negotiated?

The enormous role of women in the uprisings in the MENA region is undisputed. They faced verbal and physical abuse, violence, arrest and death just as their male counterparts. The transformation of these countries has been groundbreaking, and their participation is as important as ever. After the dust of the battle settles, will Arab societies remember to include women in the rebuilding of their countries?

Israeli military forces have demolished 27 houses in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank over the last two weeks. More than 140 Palestinians have been rendered homeless by the demolitions, while Israeli settlement expansion continues to threaten more land and restrict water access — affecting the vitality of dozens of Palestinian villages in the area. According to the Jordan Valley Solidarity (JVS) campaign, an organization working with local communities, Israeli military and police jeeps and two bulldozers invaded the Bedouin community of al-Hadidya on 21 June. The bulldozers “demolished seven residential tents, 18 animal shelters and four kitchens, leaving 32 people homeless,” the group reports (“Big wave of demolitions in the Northern Jordan Valley,” 21 June 2011).

Dans les annales du « printemps arabe», aux côtés du Caire, de Benghazi, de Deraa et de Sidi Bouzid, il faudra trouver une petite place pour Sourif, un bourg de Cisjordanie, à l'ouest d'Hébron.Révulsés par l'assassinat d'une jeune fille à la réputation exemplaire, Ayah Baradeya, noyée par son oncle qui désapprouvait son projet de mariage, les 15 000 habitants de Sourif se sont soulevés à la manière des révolutionnaires arabes. Deux semaines de manifestations et de mobilisations sur Internet ont forcé l'Autorité palestinienne à amender la législation qui accorde une quasi impunité aux auteurs de ce genre d'actes, abusivement qualifiés de "crimes d'honneur".

President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday signed an amendment to Palestinian law to end leniency for civilians found guilty of assault or murder "in defense of family honor." The move, welcomed by women's rights activists, came in the wake of the discovery of a Hebron woman drowned by her uncle because he disagreed with her choice of fiancee. 

دانت أوساط سياسية وحقوقية ودينية فلسطينية قتل متضامن إيطالي معتبرة ذلك محاولة للإساءة لصورة الشعب الفلسطيني في الخارج ولإفشال حملات التضامن معه. وعثر على جثة الناشط الحقوقي والصحفي الإيطالي فيكتور أريغوني في منزل مهجور شمالي القطاع بعد ساعات من إعلان مجموعة تسمي نفسها "جماعة الصحابي محمد بن مسلمة" مسؤوليتها عن خطفه، لمطالبة حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) التي تسيطر على قطاع غزة بإطلاق زعيمها الشيخ هشام السعيدني المعتقل لديها منذ الشهر الماضي.

Le mouvement radical Jihad Islamique et le ministre de l'Intérieur du Hamas ont condamné l'assassinat du pacifiste italien, dont le corps a été découvert dans une maison près de Gaza. Sa mort a suscité de vives réactions.

Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni has been killed in the Gaza Strip by individuals identifying themselves as belonging to a small jihadi-Salafi group. The discovery of Vittorio’s body came after the Italian’s abductors had released a video announcing their demands and a deadline. In fact, it now seems they murdered Vittorio not long after his abduction. Vittorio was part of the International Solidarity Movement, whose members and supporters in Palestine/Israel and internationally are shocked and saddened.

Recalling the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, in particular paragraph 260 concerning Palestinian women and children, the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, Recalling also its resolution 2010/6 of 20 July 2010 and other relevant United Nations resolutions, including General Assembly resolution 57/337 of 3 July 2003, on the prevention of armed conflict, and Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000, on women and peace and security,

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