Women reclaim their space in the Palestinian peace processes

In the year 2000 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which recognizes the impacts of armed conflicts on women and girls and highlights the vital role they play in preventing conflicts and in peace negotiations.

The School for a Culture of Peace  of the UAB published the report ‘Women, peace and security: implementation, challenges and limitations in Palestine’ last October. This is a document that aims to provide an overview of the current status of this resolution in Palestine and to discuss issues such as the way it was received and implemented, and the challenges and limitations it faces.

Reactions to resolution 1325 in Palestine

The resolution arrives amidst and atmosphere of distrust and suspicion among the population with regards to the international community. In this context, some Palestinian voices argue that the agenda is useful to tackle the many forms of oppression experienced by women and offers a framework to fight against Israeli occupation and for the social struggles against patriarchy.

Some voices in disagreement, though, detect a weakness in the resolution as it fails to include as a conflict the occupation and its repercussions on Palestinian women and girls.

Nevertheless, the report does stress how some women organizations have included resolution 1325 in their work and in defining their strategies and gives two examples:

• The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy develops some extensive work on gender, peace and security in Palestine and provides materials to give women ideas on how to include the resolution in their daily work.
• Based on this resolution, the International Women’s Commission (IWC) was established in 2005 for Palestinian and Israeli women with the aim of ensuring that resolution 1325 is implemented and that women have the capacity to influence any peace negotiations among the two peoples

Limitations and challenges of the agenda on women, peace and security in Palestine

Some prominent Palestinian voices and international women’s associations coincide in pinpointing some of the challenges and limitations for the agenda in Palestine:

• Lack of protection: inability to hold those responsible for human rights’ violations accountable despite the evidence.
• The patriarchal system, persisting inequalities and gender-based stereotypes and the lack of recognition undermine the ability to advance in the participation of women in the peace negotiations.
• Dissonance among the level of knowledge and connection of the agenda on women, peace and security and the priority daily concerns of Palestinian women.
• Lack of political will to fulfil agreed commitments.
• It is essential to implement the resolution in coordination with other regulatory frameworks on human rights and gender equality.
• Need for the international community to contribute in a more significant way towards the implementation of the different resolutions and international commitments on Palestine, including resolution 1325 and the agenda on women, peace and security.