The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

gue. However, at the Annapolis negotiations, it was only possible to
agree to hold future negotiations for permanent solution to the settlement
issue. At the same time however, the Israeli government pub -
lished contradictory positions on the future of Jerusalem, on settlement
construction, on the annexation of parts of East Jerusalem, and other
issues.
At the same time, as the exchange of fire between the Israeli army and
the Hamas militia continued, an increasing number of rockets were fired
from Gaza against Israeli territory; on December 24, 2008, a total of sixty
rockets were fired on Israeli towns and cities. Soon thereafter, Israel
began the Gaza War, in which 1300 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis
were killed, and a large part of the infrastructure in Gaza was destroyed.
“The war was perfectly used by the right-wing parties, who came to
power in the elections held on February 10, 2009. The accession of the
current government, made up of the extremist right, fascists and religious
parties, marked the total defeat of the more moderate parties.
This parliament is characterized by a weak opposition, peace-oriented
parties are almost non-existent, and civil society groups which work on
human rights, democracy and peace are under harsh attack ...” (Report,
p.185).
Molly Malekar describes Israeli national identity as highly complex. “The
Jews in the world, as is claimed by many, do not share a common
language, culture, ethnic or genetic ancestry, have no common territory
or history, and the beliefs of Jewish communities vary. The only common
element is religion and religious civilization, either directly (among
the orthodox) or vague and distant, or even rejected (among the secular).
With the definition of the Israeli state as a ‘Jewish’ state, the Israeli state
cannot but fail to become an entity that safeguards and regulates the
common interest of a pluralistic civil society and of the communities with -
in its boundaries.” (Report, p. 187). This confusion, she says, as well as
the battle with the Arab world for the land and the domination of it, have
given Israel’s political establishment the possibility to propagate a nation -
al identity built on the fear of persecution and destruction as a common
historical experience of all Jews in the Diaspora.
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