OneVoice’s Rachel Steinberg moderates a panel discussion
about women's human rights issues and women’s roles in promoting peace in
Israel and Palestine on Capitol Hill June 4. Photo courtesy of Congresswoman Johnson's office.
By Rachel Steinberg*
History has shown that the viability of peace agreements is
an uphill battle - nearly half fail within their first decade of being signed.
Faced with this daunting statistic, conflict resolution theorists and
practitioners are tasked with hypothesizing around how to ensure a sustainable,
lasting peace. Many draw the same conclusion: a framework for sustainable peace
must include women in the process.
On Tuesday, June 4, I moderated a panel on Capitol Hill
entitled, “Moving Forward: Addressing Challenges to Promoting
Israeli-Palestinian Peace.” The panel discussion, hosted by Congresswoman Eddie
Bernice Johnson, focused on challenges to women’s rights and empowerment in
Israel and Palestine and the effect these challenges have on the peace process. I was honored to be invited to moderate amongst
a distinguished group of speakers: Salwa Duaibis (Women’s Center for Legal Aid
and Counseling, Ramallah), Lior Finkel (Israeli Director, Peace NGO Forum), Tania Hary (Gisha), and Betty Herschman (Ir Amim).
Congresswoman Johnson began the “A
World of Women for World Peace” initiative in 2001 to bring greater
visibility to the women who are victims of war and aggression and the women who
facilitate peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding activities in their
communities.
As I prepared for this panel, at the forefront of my mind
was the theory that more inclusive peace processes have a significantly
increased chance of resulting in long-term sustainable peace. I know this not
only because I am a conflict resolution practitioner, but because this is a
guiding principal of OneVoice’s work to empower average Israelis and
Palestinians to play a role in building peace and take an active role in the
peace process.
Further, OneVoice works to engage marginalized parts of
Israeli and Palestinian societies. This is evident in OneVoice Palestine’s Women
of Influence training program, designed to empower, inspire, and activate
Palestinian women to be business, civic, and political leaders, as well as to
play an active leadership role in OneVoice’s efforts to end the occupation and
achieve the two-state solution.
I felt the significance of this program as the panelists
highlighted some of the unique challenges and violations of rights that women
face in Israel and Palestine. They spoke about the challenges that the
occupation and conflict impact, including access to education, family,
healthcare, and politics; further, these issues greatly impact women.
Tania Hary also focused on the restrictions of movement for
Gazans that prevent women from advancing their education and from being able to
run businesses, and Salwa Duaibis pointed out that the biggest challenge women
in the West Bank face to addressing their rights are the many and complex legal
systems that prevent justice around issues like custody of children and
violence against women.
As a result of these challenges
and many others across Israel and Palestine, there is also a lack of women’s
voices in positions of leadership. These organizations work to address these
issues through education (local and international) about rights and violations,
advocacy, legal aid, and service provision. I was incredibly inspired by the
work that these organizations do not only on behalf of women, but on behalf of
the societies as a whole.
I was struck by the panelists repeatedly pointing out the
disproportionate effect that prolonged occupation and conflict have on women
(and children). A common thread that several of the panelists raised was the
fact that women are in a vulnerable position regarding violations of rights as
a result of settlement expansion, which inhibits progress toward the two-state
solution, and the resulting tension, violence, lack of service provision, and
deterioration of socioeconomic opportunities.
To me, this points all the more to the need for women to
have a voice in society AND at the negotiating table, both to address their
unique needs and to speak on behalf of their societies as a whole. I’m proud that women are at the forefront of
OneVoice Israel and OneVoice Palestine’s political activism to halt the growth
of these negative facts and the ground and to end the conflict, as leaders and
participants.
I was encouraged by something that Betty Hirschman pointed
out - while there is still a long way to go to improve the human rights
conditions of women, in this past January’s Israeli elections, there were more
women elected to progressive parties than ever before. As a result, there is
increasingly fertile ground for results to come from advocacy on issues
impacting women.
Additionally, as Lior Finkel mentioned, in the last round
of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations there were only two women in key positions
in the negotiating teams - Hanan Ashrawi and Tzipi Livni. I believe that the
empowerment OneVoice and the other organizations represented on the panel provides
young women, as well as these positive steps within institutions, can change
that level of representation as long as we all embrace our responsibility to
push for them.
It was incredibly important for me to take part in such a
conversation on Capitol Hill, to ensure that this discussion reached not only
the ears of American citizens but also that of American decision makers. As the
American policymaking community focuses its efforts on reviving the
negotiations process, it is the responsibilities of all stakeholders to
hear these messages and ensure that women have a seat at the table.
*Rachel Steinberg is
the International Engagement Program Director at OneVoice.
Panelists (left to right) Congresswoman Eddie Bernice
Johnson (organizer), Salwa Duaibis, Tania Hary, and Betty Herschman, with
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. Photo courtesy of Congresswoman Johnson's office.