The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

ior and able to benefit from all the spoils of their aggression, the struggle
will continue and most probably will become worse and more intense.
The doors could be opened or closed, intransigence or reconciliation could
prevail, for all these are human-made. The struggle is between the just,
the legal and the beneficial on the one side, and the unjust, the illegal and
vicious on the other. The demand from all forces and people who want
peace is clear: to concentrate their efforts on the essential and not get
lost in the details. They should not be influenced by any propaganda, no
matter how powerful it is, and they have to give all their positive support
to the oppressed, and not equate between the two for the sake of an
inappropriate neutrality. For a just and lasting solution, there must be clear
reference with unambiguous criteria, applied with no confusion. The majority
of the Palestinians believe that the international resolutions guarantee
that respected and clear reference. Unless Israel is forced to accept
a solution that gives the Palestinians what the UN resolutions and international
law ensure, the chances for peace will remain remote, and the
door to peace will be closed – but the doors of violence, extremism and
terrorism will be opened. There are no secrets in this century-long conflict;
the reasons for opening and closing doors for peace are known. The real
intentions and the efforts needed are obvious, and are demanded of the
parties, who can push for a real solution.
In ancient, medieval and modern history, people have been subjected
to different kinds of violence with their lives permanently affected by its
implications, even when circumstances have changed. In the case of
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it is the continuation of the Israeli aggression
that sustains the effects of the violence. There is no reason why
history shouldn’t repeat itself: i.e. an agreement on peace-building could
cancel the impacts of the violence that had occurred prior to a peace
agreement.
Forms of popular peaceful resistance
Since the beginning of the Zionist colonial settlement activities in Palestine,
the Palestinians used different forms of resistant, mostly popular.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, people boycotted any Palestinian
who sold land to a Jew or a Zionist organization.
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