The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
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One <strong>of</strong> the first collective popular acts was the Al Buraq Revolution <strong>of</strong><br />
1929, when the Palestinians demonstrated against the presence <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Jews at the Al Buraq Wall (the Western Wall). Another famous act was<br />
the general strike <strong>of</strong> 1936, which lasted for six months in Palestine. At<br />
that time, everybody all over Palestine was on strike against the Zionist<br />
colonial activities <strong>and</strong> against the British m<strong>and</strong>ate, seeking the independence<br />
<strong>of</strong> Palestine.<br />
As mentioned above, after the Naqba, the Palestinians outside Israel<br />
were trying <strong>to</strong> gather <strong>and</strong> rebuild their destroyed society. <strong>The</strong> main<br />
weap on they used at that time was <strong>to</strong> concentrate on education; one<br />
could always hear that our only weapon against the Israelis <strong>and</strong> our most<br />
powerful means <strong>to</strong> win is education. That’s why the Palestinians have<br />
the highest rate <strong>of</strong> education in the Arab world. At the same time the<br />
Palestinians inside Israel were fighting peacefully against military rule,<br />
<strong>and</strong> for the preservation <strong>of</strong> their identity, language <strong>and</strong> education.<br />
After the adoption <strong>of</strong> the 1974 Programme <strong>of</strong> the PLO, the Palestinian<br />
political forces in the West Bank <strong>and</strong> Gaza started <strong>to</strong> mobilize people for<br />
resistance against occupation; thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Palestinians were arrested<br />
by the Israeli occupation forces. <strong>The</strong>re was a growing anti-occupation<br />
resistance by demonstrations <strong>and</strong> strike. One <strong>of</strong> the main actions was<br />
the L<strong>and</strong> Day, March 30, 1967, when the Palestinians inside Israel dem -<br />
onstrated against the confiscation <strong>of</strong> their l<strong>and</strong>, this was supported by<br />
the Palestinians all over the world, those who lived in the West Bank<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Gaza Strip, as well as the refugees who lived in the diaspora.<br />
All <strong>of</strong> them consider L<strong>and</strong> Day a symbol for the struggle against colonial<br />
settlement activities.<br />
Even in the 1970s, the Palestinians started <strong>to</strong> organize themselves in<br />
the occupied terri<strong>to</strong>ry, <strong>and</strong> resisted the Israeli occupation authorities who<br />
tried <strong>to</strong> impose local councils in the cities. <strong>The</strong>y participated in the elec -<br />
tions at that time, <strong>and</strong> elected people who represented the Palestinian<br />
Liberation Organization.<br />
During the ‘80s, the Palestinians continued with different forms <strong>of</strong> civil<br />
popular resistance, such as strikes, demonstrations, <strong>and</strong> volunteer move -<br />
ments <strong>to</strong> protect the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> provide services <strong>to</strong> the population in the<br />
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