Current political and economic context in Palestine

The political, economic, social and legal environment in Palestine is not only in constant flux but is rapidly deteriorating. The international embargo against the Palestinian people in response to the results of the democratic legislative council elections in January 2006 resulted in the freezing of funds flowing from various donors to the Palestinian government. As a result, salaries of teachers and other public servants which make up more than a quarter of the incomes of the Palestinian community have not been paid. The siege was not exclusive to governmental organizations but affected NGOs as well. Some donors have suspended their grants to NGOs which has led to major financial difficulties for many organizations working with the community. Some have had to lay off some of their employees in order to cope with the financial crisis and keep from closing down.

At the internal level, the political and economic siege has affected almost every family and every sector in the West Bank and Gaza . The general strike, although legitimate, had a serious impact on the daily life of Palestinians. The attempts to form a national unity government in order to end the siege have not yet succeeded. Thousands of Palestinians, especially young people, are seeking to emigrate. Many private sector investments are at risk and the estimated loss this year has been $12,000,000. Added to this, Israel has suspended the revenues belonging to the Palestinian Authority that were usually refunded on an annual basis.

In addition, Israel has continued its program of confiscation of the Palestinian lands occupied in 1967, has built new settlements and new roads exclusively for the settlements and has continued building the separation wall. Not only has the wall severed social and economic arteries running through all Palestinian communities and cut off access to education, health care and other services, but many families have lost their primary sources of living due to the loss of their land. With the separation wall, Israel will confiscate about 46% of the West Bank , including some of its richest water resources. The separation wall, when completed, will deprive more than 20,000 Arabs in Jerusalem from their IDs because they will be on the outer side of the wall.

Another cause of economic hardship is the expulsion of the Palestinian labor force from Israel . In addition, the breadwinners of many families have been killed or injured by Israeli occupation forces. Nearly 10,000 Palestinians are currently in Israeli prisons. Of these, 120 are women and 550 are children.

With the increase in violence against the Palestinian people, we have also witnessed an increase in violence against women. Recent studies document the relationship between the increasing violence of the occupation and increasing violence against women, which represents yet another dimension of the relationship between the social struggle and the national struggle.

Compounding these difficulties is the fact that there is never a reprieve from Israeli aggression against Palestinian communities, especially in the Gaza Strip. During 2006, the infrastructure of Gaza was destroyed and hundreds of houses were demolished. Incursions and arrests happened continually, especially in Jenin, Nablus , Bethlehem , and Ramallah where a good number of elected Palestinian officials were arrested by Israel , crippling the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Israel has justified all of these violations of human rights and international resolutions on the pretext of fighting terrorism or having no Palestinian partner to deal with.

At the social level, although there is more awareness of women's rights, there is also a noticeable increase in the number of those who stand against women's rights, perpetuating the traditional view of women as having only a reproductive role. Even those who accept women in the labour force consider women suited only to inferior or lower-paying jobs or those which are related to childrearing. Such perceptions certainly stand in the way of women's participation in leadership and decision making positions, especially in public life and in particular in political life. Gender discrimination is noticeable in these sectors and is reflected in legislation and in the policies and attitudes of government ministries and non-governmental organizations towards women. Although WATC played a leading role in establishing a quota for women, in the current climate these achievements could be threatened. WATC needs support in order to be able to face these challenges and prevent the loss of any of the gains made by women in achieving their rights.

WATC 's role

All of these factors place even greater demands upon WATC as a coalition of women's organizations which are affiliated to democratic and secular political parties and are active both at the grassroots level and at the level of political leadership. WATC has had the responsibility of addressing Israel 's continuing violations of the human rights of Palestinians and the siege imposed by the international community. WATC organized demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza and sent letters to UN General Secretary Kofi Annan requesting the intervention of the UN to protect the Palestinians. At the same time, WATC began a dialogue with its donors to explain the impact of the siege on the Palestinians and the importance of respecting the democratic elections of the Palestinian people, stressing that any change to the current government must come about through a democratic process and must not be imposed by force.

Women's Affairs Technical Committee ( WATC ) has played an important role in coordinating and networking with civil society to advocate for a government of national unity which will be able to lift the siege and be accepted by Israel as a partner in negotiations. WATC played a leading role in conducting forums to discuss the crisis. Recently, a regional forum was conducted in Ramallah in coordination with civil society to explore possibilities for resolving the current crisis. The forum took place on November 12, 2006 , and the recommendations that were put forth were to support the demands of public servants in their strike, to work for a national unity government that is capable of ending the siege and to put an end to Israel 's complaints that there is no Palestinian partner. Two other forums were conducted on December 5, 2006 in the northern and southern West Bank with the title, “What does the women's movement want from the new government?"

At the legal level, WATC struggled to maintain the achievements of Palestinian women, especially the quota. WATC prepared a document that was signed by various civil society institutions and was submitted to the speaker of the PLC immediately after the elections, asking him to commit to protecting the achievements of the Palestinian women's movement, to increase the quota at the political level and to support the application of the quota at all decision making levels. The document emphasized the principles of human rights and dignity which are stated in the Basic Law and the Declaration of Independence.

Also, WATC began a dialogue with all the parliamentary bodies in the West Bank and Gaza . Several meetings were held to address the issue of integrating a gender perspective into the policies and laws. As per the recommendations of the PLC members, WATC prepared workshops to address gender reading in development and budgets, and gender and culture. The arrest of many PLC members by Israel interrupted the continuity of these important workshops.

In terms of the internal conflict within Palestinian society, WATC played a unifying role between the major parties and organized several demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza with the General Union of the Palestinian Woman and other women's organizations with banners encouraging dialogue to resolve the conflict. On Women's Day, about 5000 women participated in a demonstration which started in the center of Ramallah and ended at the Mukata'a (President's compound). President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the gathering and promised to support women's demands. At the same time, another delegation marched to the Prime Minister's residence in Gaza and submitted a petition regarding the demands of the women's movement. During the first meeting to discuss the prisoners' document, WATC held a sit-in at the Mukata'a with banners requesting women's representation in the dialogue committee and requesting that the prisoners' document be adopted as the basis for a national unity government.

Many other demonstrations were organized regionally and locally calling for dialogue to resolve the conflict, and for the formation of a national unity government in order to end the siege. Three forums and demonstrations were conducted in the southern and northern West Bank and in Gaza during November and December of 2006 with the theme “Let the women's voice be the unifying voice.”

WATC also played an important role on the issues of good governance and reform. WATC , as a member of the Civil Society Coordinating Committee for Reform, played a role in reading the laws from a human rights and gender perspective and networked to advocate for non-discriminatory laws and policies. In addition, an awareness campaign on reform issues was conducted at the grassroots level where WATC ' s legal consultants clarified the concepts of transparency, rule of law and separation of powers. WATC organized demonstrations on these issues, especially against the deteriorating securing situation in Gaza , and requested that the rule of law be honoured. WATC used its media programmes -- the Voice of Women newsletter (Sawat anNisa'), the radio programme and the TV talk shows -- to address the issue of reform with its 3 components: good governance, human rights and democracy. Several awareness meetings were held regionally and in the different districts on these issues, focusing on local council members and key people in the community.

WATC will continue addressing the challenges our society is facing on national and social levels, seeking to play a unifying role and always advocating that conflicts be resolved democratically. WATC will also continue working for good governance and the rule of law. WATC believes that as long as there is occupation, there must be a balance between the national struggle and the social struggle and neither should be sacrificed for the sake of the other.

. During the next phase of its development, WATC shifted from a networking relationship with other women's organizations to a partnership relationship with many of them, embracing the full agenda of the women's movement and welcoming broader membership within WATC . During the current phase of its development, WATC has started to decentralize. The networking model which is used for the executive committee, where member organizations work together as one body, is being duplicated at the regional level. WATC 's executive committee was restructured to be less exclusive and be more accountable to the General Assembly.