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The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

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REPORT ON PALESTINE I<br />

LAMA HOURANI, RAMALLAH<br />

I will talk about the conflict from my personal experience; the way I lived<br />

<strong>and</strong> unders<strong>to</strong>od it through the development <strong>of</strong> my personality <strong>and</strong><br />

knowledge. I have had the opportunity <strong>of</strong> special circumstances which<br />

have contributed <strong>to</strong> the development <strong>of</strong> my consciousness regarding<br />

the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, <strong>and</strong> which have shaped my progressive<br />

perspective on the conflict <strong>and</strong> other aspects <strong>of</strong> social life. I was born<br />

<strong>to</strong> progressive parents who were liberated from any religious or racist<br />

influences that might cause misconceptions regarding the conflict,<br />

which is mainly a political one. My parents went <strong>to</strong> Damascus after the<br />

Naqba in 1948, where I was born <strong>and</strong> raised. Damascus is a city with vibrant<br />

political <strong>and</strong> social activism. Both my parents were active in the<br />

public sphere, where at that time the majority was anti-imperialists, anticolonialist<br />

<strong>and</strong> reformists. I grew up in an atmosphere where I devel -<br />

oped my awareness <strong>of</strong> Zionism <strong>and</strong> Israel, based mainly on secular<br />

progressive perspectives.<br />

Genesis <strong>of</strong> the conflict<br />

<strong>The</strong> conflict started when two movements found broad common ground<br />

<strong>and</strong> allied against the people <strong>of</strong> Palestine <strong>and</strong> the peoples <strong>of</strong> the Middle<br />

East. On one h<strong>and</strong>, imperialism, concentrated in Britain at that time,<br />

sought <strong>to</strong> exp<strong>and</strong> its influence in the world, mainly in the Middle East.<br />

On the other h<strong>and</strong>, the international Zionist movement, which originated<br />

among different right-wing, left-wing <strong>and</strong> other Jews. Different fac<strong>to</strong>rs<br />

stimulated the formation <strong>of</strong> this movement, but all <strong>of</strong> these fractions<br />

agreed on the desire <strong>of</strong> implementing a special status for the Jews by<br />

gathering a majority in Palestine <strong>and</strong> establishing their own state. <strong>The</strong><br />

Zionist movement looked for allies, <strong>and</strong> found one in Britain, which issued<br />

the famous Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, stating that<br />

Britain supported the establishment <strong>of</strong> “a national home for the Jewish<br />

People” in Palestine. Of course, this declaration could only be carried<br />

out after the division <strong>of</strong> the Ot<strong>to</strong>man Empire due <strong>to</strong> its defeat in the First<br />

199

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