Palestinian NGO Network Issues Urgent Call to International Institutions to Protect Palestinian Women

SadaNews - The Palestinian woman continues to pay a heavy price due to the policies of the Israeli occupation, suffering alongside her people from the immense losses of daily hardships that have been starkly manifested in the catastrophe that has particularly struck the Gaza Strip over the past twenty-eight months due to open genocide and ethnic cleansing wars in Gaza and the West Bank. This reality is evidenced by the rising toll of martyrs, the wounded, and the displaced, which according to official statistics has reached 72,123 martyrs and more than 171,805 wounded, including 644 martyrs since the ceasefire agreement. Women account for more than a third of these statistics, in addition to the suffering represented by loss, injury, and displacement, resulting in a humanitarian crisis that exacerbates summer and winter—a horrific crime for which the continuation of international silence is no longer acceptable amid increasingly aggressive occupation policies that threaten the continuation of life with the simplest of its essentials in the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza, amidst expansionist policies and annexation plans, all part of the effort to empty the Palestinian land and ethnically cleanse it.

The Palestinian NGO Network directs this urgent call on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8 to the UN institutions and all international bodies, as women around the world commemorate this occasion, and demands the following:

- To consider the humanitarian catastrophe suffered by Palestinian women as one of the unique models of genocide in the world during modern wars, surpassing what occurred in the First and Second World Wars, given the nature of the force used by the occupation, the population size in the geographical area (Gaza Strip), and the number of victims and displaced persons, especially the number of women and the vulnerable groups affected by the crimes committed intentionally and deliberately by the occupying power, and the failure to take any serious steps to hold it accountable for these crimes until now.

- Demanding international bodies to take responsibility for increasing humanitarian interventions, setting response and compensation plans including shelter and recovery plans, and providing the living essentials through delivering humanitarian aid, food, tents, and caravans, as well as working on returning the displaced to their homes as a precursor to solving the issue of forced displacement resulting from the occupation's aggression, and preventing the implementation of the displacement plan for the residents of Gaza and the West Bank. - Immediate intervention to stop the injustice against the female prisoners in the occupation prisons, approximately 66 prisoners suffering various forms of harsh suffering, enduring mistreatment and brutal torture by the prison administrations, as well as being denied visits and necessary medical treatment within a policy of medical neglect, alongside a long series of violations of their basic rights, including not providing iftar and suhoor meals during Ramadan and confiscating blankets in the peak of winter and severe cold. They demand protection for them and a halt to the violations of their rights guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions and international charters, and to recognize the Palestinian female prisoner as a symbol of freedom and a just struggle for political freedom and social justice.

- Besides the political aspect related to the occupation policies, the network demands the enactment of laws and the enforcement of those in force regarding the protection of women's rights, and the issuance of a family protection law and laws protecting the rights of working women, as official statistics show more than 150,000 working women across various sectors, requiring action to stop all forms of discrimination and inequality in rights and wages, and to halt all forms of abuse against women in various workplaces.

- Immediate action should be taken to issue directives by the relevant authorities to stop social violence in all its forms against women and protect their rights as human rights, particularly regarding murder crimes under the so-called 'honor' pretext, and to stop harassment, mistreatment, or the undermining of women's rights to representation and access to high decision-making areas, ensuring their participation in political life. They demand, on the occasion of the conclusion of submission of candidate lists for the upcoming municipal elections next month, guaranteed effective representation of women, and preparation for significant female participation that corresponds to what they have contributed over the years in the upcoming elections for the Palestinian National Council at the end of this year.

- The network extends greetings to all women worldwide, despite the different types of suffering and pain, and demands a larger and broader role to advocate for women's issues away from wars and to prioritize the shared struggle for a world free of wars and disasters caused by humans, and to unify efforts for a world where peace prevails based on the rights of peoples, stopping exploitation in all its forms and siding with the rights of oppressed peoples who are subjected to oppression and injustice for a world governed by the spirit of human fraternity and social justice, protecting the right to self-determination away from interference, dependency, threats, and the colonization language that the United States tries to impose on the world in the name of peace, stability, and prosperity. This is the message of the Palestinian woman from the heart of hunger, displacement, and suffering to all women worldwide on International Women’s Day.