The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

They have been pioneering, clearly defining central political agenda
items, a step ahead of the bulk of the peace camp: For instance, in May
1989 in Brussels, Israeli and Palestinian women called for mutual recog -
nition between the State of Israel and the PLO, and an end to the occupation.
Second, women’s peace action has been extremely persistent
in refusing to give in, in the face of the deterioration of the situation on
the ground. And third, it has focused on a series of concrete actions: It
was Jerusalem Link which took the initiative in organizing an internation -
al political, academic and cultural event in June 1997 on the theme
“Sharing Jerusalem – Two Capitals for Two States”, at a time when this
idea was taboo for the immense majority of Israeli public opinion, even
within the peace camp. However, woman activists have been consistently
excluded from official or semi-official initiatives, and their distinctive
perspectives have been largely ignored.
Over time however, in the face of the deterioration of the peace process,
Israeli-Palestinian women’s peace movements progressively lost their
impact, both in Palestinian and in Israeli public opinion, as did the peace
camps. It was within this context that a group of veteran Israeli and Pal -
estinian woman activists decided to take a critical look at their past efforts,
with a view toward increasing their efficacy. Building on years of
joint peace work and the personal trust that had developed as a result,
they looked for ways to overcome existing pitfalls, and design a more
efficient and productive framework for action.
The conceptual starting point for what was eventually to become the International
Women’s Commission for a Just and Sustainable Palestinian-
Israeli Peace (IWC) was the adoption of the landmark UN Security
Council Resolution 1325, which calls for ensuring not only protection for
women in conflict situations, but also recognizes women’s contributions
and advocates their active participation in all stages of peace-making
and peace-building. Besides highlighting the potential power inherent in
women’s peace efforts, Resolution 1325, by furnishing a broad international
umbrella, indirectly suggested a way to overcome the bilateral impasse
in Israeli-Palestinian relations at that time.
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