On March 8, 2008 WATC celebrated International Women‘s Day. At a rally in Ramallah which was organized by WATC and other women‘s organizations, about 2 000 women gathered at Al Manara circle carrying Palestinian flags and banners with slogans supporting women‘s rights. The focus this year was a call for the end of Israel‘s occupation. Participants circled Al Manara and then walked to the presidential headquarters. They placed flowers on the grave of the late President Yaser Arafat. They then met with President Mahmoud Abbas. Salwa Abu Khadra, Secretary-General of the General Union of the Palestinian Woman, spoke on behalf of those participating in the rally...

Thousands of Palestinians are living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but are denied a Palestinian identity document or passport by Israel. They live as foreigners although they have returned from exile to their own homeland. Each of these people has a story of the troubles they face living "illegally" in their own country: some have children who cannot be registered in official records...

We, a coalition of women‘s organizations in the occupied Palestinian territory, demand the United Nations to take strong and immediate action in protecting the people of Gaza from Israeli military attacks. The people of Gaza witnessed a massacre over the past 5 days, where more than 120 Palestinians were killed in air strikes by Israeli F16 fighter planes; 25 of them were children below the age of 18 years. Despite Israel’s pull out of Gaza today, it declared that it will continue its bloody campaign in the coming days. This has been no ordinary invasion: Israeli Deputy Defense Ministry Mitan Vilnai has threatened the Gazans with a holocaust and Cabinet Member Meir Sheetrit has incited genocide….