The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

– twelve or thirteen-year-old boys are considered adults, and take on
adults responsibilities and rights; families depend on them in the public
and private sphere. There are also of course other factors, related mainly
to the Palestinian situation. Palestinian society deteriorated during Othman
rule; then, the British mandate, which was committed to the Zionist
project, prevented any development of Palestinian society, and pushed
it further toward deterioration. In spite of all of that, the spirit of defend -
ing their country and their threatened existence prevailed. With the frequent
aggression and resistance to aggression, the children have lacked
the opportunities that other children in stable countries have. Even the
schools that were built during the British mandate, which were very mod -
erate at that time, offered education only to one quarter of the Pales -
tinian children. So the children found themselves deprived of their rights,
and at the same time threatened, like others, by the Zionist project. To
show their distinction, the children had only one way, which was to be
involved in the resistant against the British and later the Israelis. The
percentage of the children involved in the conflict increased with the increasing
pressure on Palestinians and the limited opportunities, despite
the imposed hardship and long closure of Palestinian areas by the Israeli
army. Mostly, this children’s participation was in the forms of demon -
strations and throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers. The fact that the Israeli
army has always intentionally targeted the children participating in
the demonstration by killing, wounding or arresting them, formed a challenge
to the children and pushed children to more demonstrations.
Resistance to the war
Israel continues to pursue its goal of removing the Palestinian people from
the land, to be replaced by people coming from outside of Palestine. The
nature of the conflict as a conflict over land and the right to existence diminishes
the influence of forces who oppose violence. The Palestinians
have developed their perception of the appropriate form of resistance.
When the Palestinian National Charter was approved in 1968, it consid -
ered the armed struggle the only means for liberating Palestine and practic -
ing self-determination. Later, the number of those calling for the use of
peaceful political means increased, until they reached a majority at the famous
1974 Palestinian National Council meeting which approved the well-
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