On International Women's Day
Palestinian women march against wall
By Kathy Durkin
Palestinian women commemorated International
Women's Day this year by defiantly marching in opposition to
Israel's apartheid wall. Holding banners and pictures of
relatives imprisoned in Israeli jails, they marched against the
26-foot-high concrete wall Israel is building to separate their
West Bank village of Abu Dis from East Jerusalem, where many
work, attend school or seek medical care.
Palestinian Minister of Women's Affairs Zahira Kamal
addressed the demonstration, which was organized by the General
Union of Palestinian Women and included international women
activists. Kamal recognized the crucial role Palestinian women
play in the decision-making process and in the just struggle
for their people's rights.
On March 8, Palestinian National Authority President Yasser
Arafat made an impassioned plea from the West Bank city of
Ramallah to the women of the world to support their Palestinian
sisters by protesting Israel's horrific actions.
The Palestinian woman "who gives birth at an Israeli
checkpoint or dies there with her baby urges all women in the
world to do everything they can to put an end to Israel's
despicable occupation," Arafat said.
In the spirit of many International Women's Day protests
worldwide decrying violence against women, President Arafat
called on Israel to stop its violence against Palestinian
women--the killings, detentions and denials of checkpoint
access.
He called for the freedom of all Pales tinian women from
Israeli jails. Currently, 73 women are incarcerated under
inhuman, brutal conditions, often in solitary confinement. Some
are forced to give birth in their cells; all are denied human
and civil rights in violation of international laws.
The conditions of life for Palestinian women in the West
Bank and Gaza have been worsened by the U.S.-backed Israeli
military siege, continual incursions and attacks. Every aspect
of women's lives is affected: healthcare, housing, nutrition,
employment, education, safety, their children's wellbeing, even
access to a clean water supply.
A report by the UN's Office for Coor di nation of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), issued on International Women's
Day, stated that nearly 10,000 Palestinians have lost their
homes in Rafah in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli demolitions or
confiscations. Families have suddenly found themselves without
food, clothing or furniture, ousted by
brute force from their homes.
Access to healthcare for nearly 40 percent of women has been
severely restricted due to the occupation, curfew and lack of
funds. Access to pre- and post-natal care has declined. Because
of the checkpoints, home births have become more frequent and
more women suffer medical complications.
OCHA reports that since 2002, 52 pregnant women on their way
to medical centers have given birth while waiting to get
through Israeli military checkpoints. Some 19 women and 29
newborn babies died at military checkpoints between September
2000 and December 2002 for lack of medical help.
Many women doctors and nurses have been prevented from going
to work, leading to the closing of health care centers for
women and children. Women with serious illnesses have suffered
and even died because of this, according to Reema Katana of the
General Union of Pales tinian Women. Often ambulances are
blocked and emergency healthcare cannot get to people who need
it. The apartheid wall worsens this situation.
Katana conducted a study on the effects of the Israeli
occupation on Palestinian women. Their overall health is
worsening; anemia is 74.2 percent for pregnant women and 45.4
percent for nonpregnant women because of the difficulties in
obtaining food under the occupation and growing poverty.
Unemployment, poverty, malnutrition
The AP reported on March 2 that unemployment rose to 70
percent in some areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Closing off
access to villages, roadblocks, curfews and now the apartheid
wall make it harder to even reach places of employment.
Katana says that Israel's "destruction of factories and
deteriorating economic conditions led employers to let go of
their employees, which include many women, especially those
working in textile, food and medical factories."
Sixty percent of the 3.5 million Pales tinians living on the
occupied lands live below the poverty level of $2.10 per day,
according to a UN report from the Food and Agriculture
Organization issued March 11.
Israel has confiscated much arable and high-income-producing
Palestinian farmland to build the wall. Since many women
farm, this action deprives many of the ability to grow
nutritious crops for their families.
The jailings, deaths or unemployment of men in their
families also make conditions more difficult for women.
Women and girls also face sexual harassment, threats and
constant danger at the hands of Israeli settlers and soldiers,
forcing many to restrict their mobility to school, jobs and
getting medical care. Women have been hurt when trying to cross
roadblocks. Others have been beaten, jailed, even killed by
occupation forces.
However, Palestinian women struggle mightily to take care of
their families in the face of this adversity, while supporting
and participating in the resistance movement. Their bravery and
determination are stunning.
Within days of IWD, two young Palestinian women were killed
by Israeli gunfire. Dalal Alsabagh, 22, from Jenin was shot
when Israeli soldiers invaded her neighborhood with tanks.
Eitimad Kullab, 34, from Rafah in the Gaza Strip expired from
Israeli gunshot wounds.
Their names should be remembered by women and anti-war
activists worldwide.
Reprinted from the March 25, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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Email: ww@workers.org
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