Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, appealed to the United Nations Security Council in recognition of the 23rd anniversary of the 1325 Resolution about women, peace, and security, issued in the year 2000. The Center stated that it appeals to the Security Council while Palestinian women are killed, in cold blood, in front of the eyes of the permanent state members of the Security Council. Palestinian women are murdered while the Security Council, which is the authority associated with protecting peace and security and the guardian of the United Nations principles and its charter, is watching silently. The Center reminds that the principles and charter of the United Nations were developed following the horrors of World War II, which resulted in millions of killed, wounded, missed, displaced, and prisoners. SHAMS Center affirmed that using the Veto in the Security Council against the drafted resolutions to protect civilians and murdering women and children by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, places the shame on these countries and their positions and looks as if they were not against killing women. In case women represent the spirit of life and without them nothing is alive, then what are the principles and values adopted by these countries and how do they dare to promote their values on the world level?
SHAMS Center calls upon the states that voted in the Security Council in favor of continuing the aggression and murdering of Palestinian women by the Israeli army and settlers, for the necessity to revise their constitutions and their liberal values. These countries should respect the Security Council Resolutions related to women and protect women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Security Council resolutions are considered a hard political, legal, and rights rule, which protects women’s right to life and life with no discrimination or violence. The anniversary of the UNSCR 1325 this year, comes during a very critical period where Palestinian women are in the critical process of violating their rights and they are subject to a series of crimes committed by the Israeli occupation. Palestinian women are subject to a variety of sanctions alongside murdering, starving, displacing, and being directly targeted by the attacks. The Israeli occupation is proceeding with its crimes against Palestinian women despite the protection provided to women, during armed conflicts, through the UNSCR 1325.
SHAMS Center stresses that the states, that support the aggression against Palestinian women and girls, should respect the values of democracy and human rights. These countries should stop the selective process in dealing with international law and international humanitarian law. They apply double standards in dealing with global issues and that uncovers their reality and the false image they tend to reflect about themselves. The behavior of these countries reveals that the generator of their policy is their own narrow interests but not the human values as they pretend. No significance is given to the rights and dignity of the nations within the applied policy of the states, which support the Israeli aggression against Palestinians. Despite that, we will remain advocating women’s rights and dignity, in accordance with our national culture, principles, and beliefs. We will remain loyal to our principles of protecting and supporting women regardless of the position of the countries that support the Israeli aggression against Palestinian women.
SHAMS Center urges the necessity to press on the Occupying State to abide by International Law and International Humanitarian Law. The Occupying State should neutralize women and girls within the hostile attacks and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Gaza Strip. The Center calls upon the governmental and nongovernmental international legal organizations and the commissions of the United Nations to fulfill their responsibility in protecting Palestinian women against the aggression committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip. There is a need to eliminate the catastrophic impacts of Israeli aggression on women and girls in particular and on civilians in general. Until the 30 of October 2023, approximately 2136 women have been killed, according to the official reports of the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The number is subject to increase every other second as the aggression is still going on.
SHAMS Center affirms that women in Palestine are the most affected segment by Israeli aggression. Women are either targeted directly by the attacks or the responsibility of the family is placed on their shoulders once the man in the family is murdered. Women are associated with the economic and social responsibilities of the families and should function as the breadwinners in addition to their role in caring for children and other family members. Women are responsible for sustaining the basic needs of the families including food, water, and other basic needs within the case of restricted siege imposed on the Gaza Strip since the year 2007. According to the reports of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the number of women who head the families, increased by 1100 during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. According to the statistics of the Palestinian Bureau of Statics Center, women, as of 2023, head 12% of Palestinian households. Within the case of displacement as a result of the aggression (1.5 million persons have been displaced and sought shelters in the UNRWA Schools and other public places such as hospitals, mosques, and churches), the privacy of women is violated. The displacement is a result of shelling and the entire demolition of the residential buildings and towers. Displacement is accompanied by violating the privacy of women as some of them are pregnant and sick and others feed babies from breasts. Inside the shelters, women perform additional roles such as providing care for the sick and aged persons with the spread of diseases such as scabies, diarrhea, and other dermatological diseases, which result from using polluted water and deteriorated health circumstances. On the economic level, all the income-generating projects and micro-business projects of women were destroyed due to the aggression. It means that women lose the resources of their income and are left with no resources to sustain their lives and the lives of their families.
SHAMS Center deplores the targeting of Palestinian women by the Israeli occupation in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The closure of the Palestinian cities and towns with the checkpoints and barriers affects the freedom of mobility of women. In addition to that, Israeli illegal settlers are attacking Palestinians in general and women in particular, mainly those who work in the agricultural sector, especially during olive picking season. Moreover, Palestinian women are attacked on the roads that connect the Palestinian governorates. On a related level, detaining the husband increases the burden imposed on women where in this case, the woman has to take the responsibility of the family on all levels. Likewise, since the beginning of the aggression against the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army arrested (49) Palestinian women and girls, according to the reports of the Palestinian Prisoners Commission. Within the ongoing arrest campaigns, the number of detained women might increase every other day.
SHAMS Center affirms that the majority of Palestinian women suffer psychologically as a result of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The suffering of women is a result of the destruction and terror caused by the Israeli attacks and shelling and killing the family members. Killing relatives causes long-term trauma among women and girls, which affects their lifetime. The impacts of the trauma will affect the role of women in raising children and it would be hard for them to overcome the negative impacts easily.
SHAMS Center affirms that what Palestinian women suffer is a profound violation of International Law and International Humanitarian Law, mainly the Geneva Fourth Convention (dates August 12, 1949) and the 1977 optional protocols annexed to it. The Convention and its protocols urge protecting women under armed conflicts on the basis of being civilians and being among the groups that are not involved in military acts. On a related level, Israeli crimes violate the UNSCR Resolution 1325/ 2000, which calls for protecting women and enrolling them in the process of ending the conflicts and achieving peace. The given resolution calls to protect women and girls against gender-based violence as well as enhancing the rights of women. Likewise, the Israeli aggression violates the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict of 1974, which states: “The civilian population and individual civilians, particularly women and children, shall not be the object of attack”. The declaration prohibits shelling civilians and causing them pain, especially women and children as the most vulnerable social segment. These actions are condemned, and the use of chemical and biological weapons during military operations is considered one of the gravest violations of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and the principles of international humanitarian law. It results in significant casualties among civilian populations, including innocent women and children, who are defenceless and is subject to severe condemnation.