The Civil Campaign for Preserving the Palestinian Curriculum in Jerusalem

The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development condemns the Israeli illegal imposition of Israeli curriculum in East Jerusalem schools.  The Israeli policy to disfigure the Jerusalemite national and cultural identity began when the municipality decided to remove content deemed problematic to the Israeli narrative from the Palestinian curriculum that is taught in public schools in East Jerusalem, consequently, affecting nearly 49.700 Palestinian students. Now Israel has extended its grip to reach the remaining 40.000 who have registered in private schools only to escape censored curriculum.

PWWSD sees in these continuous violations, a naked attack and revenge taken against the Palestinian for claiming recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN. 

PWWSD participates in Solidarity Protest with the Palestinian Detainees

The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development participated in a protest called for by the Independent Youth Mobilization, in solidarity with the Palestinian detainees in the Israeli jails, at the headquarters of the Red Cross in Al-bireh.  The Palestinian prisoners have started an open hunger strike to protest against treatment of the Israeli prison services.

Amal Khreishe emphasized on the important popular support for the detainees’ cause, to advocate for their rights on the local, regional and international levels.

The participants, who carried pictures of the prisoners, demanded a decent life for the prisoners, a full protection of their rights and the immediate stop to the violation of their dignity, their parents’ dignity, and to all the policies aiming for their slow death.

Various feminist activists, PLO executive member and the Minister of Detainee Affairs, PLC members and young activists from the Independent Youth Mobilization participated in the event.

Workshops on Violence against Children and the Personal Status Law

 The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development organized a workshop today at its headquarters in Nablus on the personal status law. Civic educator Subheyye Daraghmeh welcome the participants, and introduced PWWSD’s role as an educational developmental organization that aims to empower and strengthen women in order to engage them in all aspect of life on the social, economic and political levels; to assure justice and equality within all the regulations and laws; to engage women in the economic activities, to eradicate marginalization, poverty, violence and occupation, in addition to combating the patriarchal hegemony in order to eradicate all types of discrimination against women. Daraghmeh spoke about the objectives and programs the organization operates on, in order to empower and strengthen women’s participation based on gender equality and human rights.

Lawyer Imen Ettamam, spoke about the personal status law, and identified the right, the law and the difference between the two. She also emphasized on the definition of women’s rights, and gave a brief historical introduction to the conventions, the legislations and laws regarding women’s rights in Palestine, and explained how these are contradictory or complimentary to the local laws and the international conventions like CEDAW. Ettamam also answered the participants’ questions and observations on the modifications to the personal status law, and urged the duty makers to push more reforms to achieve gender equality and social justice.

Moreover, another workshop took place on violence against children in Al-Ein refugee camp, conducted by the civic education Futnah Khalifeh who talked about all types of violence, the aggressor, their characteristics and the traumas such incidents leave on the aggressed people.  During the workshop, the participants watched a short film on sexual harassment, and then followed a discussion on the issue and the possible ways to combat this phenomenon, through educating the parents and the children.

رسالة مديرة جمعية المرأة العاملة الفلسطينية للتنمية للنساء السعوديات

الأخوات في المملكة العربية السعودية،

تحية طيبة وبعد،

استقبلت جمعية المرأة العاملة الفلسطينية للتنمية في الوطن المحتل، القرار السياسي السعودي المتعلق بتنفيذ حق النساء في المشاركة السياسية والذي أعلنه جلالة الملك عبد الله بن عبد العزيز آل سعود أمس، بارتياح كبير، إذ أنه يأتي ثمرة للحراك الذي قامت به منظمات حقوق الإنسان والناشطات النسويات في المجتمع المدني السعودي، واللواتي ناضلن عبر عقود طويلة من أجل إرساء مساواة النوع الاجتماعي عبر تطبيق اتفاقية "سيداو" لوقف كافة أشكال التمييز ضد المرأة ويعكس القرار أيضاً تأثيرات الربيع العربي الثوري، الذي صنعته ولا تزال إرادة الشعوب العربية نساءً ورجالاً من أجل بلورة إرادة سياسية تستند إلى اسس ومعايير الديمقراطية في الحياة السياسية والاقتصادية والاجتماعية، والتي تستند إلى الحق في المشاركة وتعزز مبادئ المواطنة، التي تضمن حرية التعبير والتعددية والحماية الاجتماعية عبر مبنى الدولة المدنية، إن هذا القرار سيشكل بالضرورة أساساً لإحداث نقلة نوعية في مسار التحول الديمقراطي والحقوقي للنساء في السعودية التي تشكل نضالات منظمات حقوق الإنسان فيها والمثقفات والمثقفين ثقلاً أساسياً في المنطقة لمواجهة سياسات الليبرالية الجديدة التي تهدف إلى إعادة الهندسة الجيوسياسية للشرق الأوسط على أساس التقسيم الطائفي والإثني عبر إيقاع الفوضى الخلاقة، لنهب خيرات البلاد العربية ولفرض أنماط هيكلية اقتصادية واجتماعية تعزز التخلف والتبعية للدول التي تشكل مركز العولمة، وأدواتها السياسية في المنطقة وتحديداً إسرائيل التي تستمر في تهديد الأمن القومي العربي، وتواصل سياساتها التهويدية والقمعية ضد الإنسان والشجر والحجر في فلسطين، الأمر الذي يزيد من أعباء النساء في منطقتنا ويدفعهن لمزيد من الفقر والعنف متعدد الأوجه ويبقيهن في دوائر التهميش.

 أن تمكين المرأة العربية يعتبر بوجهة نظرنا استحقاقاً أساسياً لضمان احترام حقوق المرأة الإنسان، وفي إعادة الاعتبار لعملية التنمية بوضع الإنسان في مركزها كهدف ووسيلة ونتاج إنساني حقوقي اقتصادي واجتماعي، عبر تعزيز المشاركة لكافة المواطنين والمواطنات في كافة مستويات عملية التنمية، الأمر الذي يتطلب بالضرورة بلورة برامج وآليات عمل تستهدف توعية وتعبئة وتنظيم النساء وتحديداً الشابات وبناء قدراتهن للمشاركة الأوسع على أرضية الحق والمسؤولية الوطنية في دوائر صنع القرار السياسي سواء في البرلمان والقضاء والمجالس المحلية وكافة مؤسسات الدولة.

ويسعدنا في هذا السياق أن نضع تجربتنا بين أيديكن على قاعدة التضامن النسوي، حيث قامت الجمعية  برصد تجربة النساء الفلسطينيات في مجال انتخابات الحكم المحلي عبر بحث كيفي تناول التجربة من كافة جوانبها على النساء أنفسهن وعلى المجتمع. كذلك بلور البحث عدد من الاستراتيجيات الضرورية لتعميق هذه المشاركة وتفعيلها كخطوة على طريق المساواة والقضاء على كافة أشكال التمييز في المجتمع الفلسطيني.

في الختام نأمل التواصل معكن على أرضية التضامن النسوي لمزيد من الإنجازات في المسار النضالي النسوي العربي.

مع فائق الاحترام والتقدير،

المديرة العامة

آمال خريشة

Congratulations Saudi Women

Dear Saudi sisters,

With all due respect,

From occupied Palestine, The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development received with great relief King Abdullah’s decision to grant Saudi women their right to stand and vote in future local elections and join the advisory Shura council as full members. This significant progress is the fruit of the massive efforts put by Saudi human rights organizations and feminist activist in the Saudi civil society, who strived for gender equality and justice through the demand of full application of CEDAW in order to combat all types of violence against women.  The declaration reflects the implications of the Arab Spring, shaped by the will of the people, men and women, in pursuit of a strong political will that is based on democracy in the social, economic and political life, on the right of participation and the promotion of citizenship principles, consequently to secure people’s rights of expression, to pluralism and social protection in a civil state. 

King Abdullah’s latest political reform will point the way for a democratic change in regards of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. The struggle of the human rights community, alongside with the human rights activists weighs against the neoliberal movements, which attempt to geopolitically reengineer the Middle East through sectarian and ethnic divisions. By spreading a state of creative chaos in the economic and social spheres, these movements hope to reinforce backwardness and dependency on the globalization-promoting countries and its political strategies in the region, especially Israel which continues to threat the Arab national security, as it pursues its juidization and oppressive policies against the Palestinian human, tree and stone.

In our opinion, Arab women’s empowerment is an essential means to assure the respect for women’s rights and for the reassessment of the developmental process that must place the human potential in the center of priorities by granting participation for all citizens in all levels of the development process. Therefore, a set of programs and strategies must be developed to lobby and advocate women, especially young women, to build their abilities in order to enable them to participate widely in the decision -making circles, whether in parliaments, justice courts or local councils or other institutions.

In this regard, we are glad to lay our experience at your disposal based on grounds of feminist solidarity, where our organization have conducted a comprehensive study-research on Palestinian women’s experience in the local authorities’ elections. The research contributed to the development of essential strategies in order to deepen women’s participation in the elections, as a critical step towards gender equality and the eradication of all types of violence in the Palestinian society.

In conclusion, we look forward to cooperating with you, in order to achieve greater accomplishments for the Arab feminist struggle.

Best regards,

 

Amal Khresihe

General Director

The General Director meets Delegation from Federation of NGOs for Development

 Mrs. Amal Khreishe, the general director of the Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development met with two representatives from the Federation of NGOs for Development on Monday in Ramallah. The two sides discussed a project, being implemented by the Federation on “Women’s Rights from Slogans to Implementations”. The meeting touched upon the reasons and factors that drive women away from the Palestinian leftist parties, such as Amal Khresihe who was once an active member in the Palestinian Popular Party.

The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development Organizes Workshop on Women’s Right to Inheritance in Senjil

In cooperation with the Danish Church Aid (DCA), the Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, and the Women’s Affairs Centre, among its Inheritance Denied project activities, the Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development organized in Senjil a workshop on women’s right to inheritance within legislations and application. Participants addressed the importance to issue a law, and establish a legislative unit within the legislative courts to guarantee just judgment concerning the issue of inheritance. They also agreed on the urgency to reach at settlement and to register the untrasfered money to the Palestinian Territories.

The civic educator at the PWWSD Naela Oudeh facilitated the session, alongside with tens of the village’s women. Oudeh stressed the urgency to give women their shares of inheritance, especially under the deteriorating social and economic circumstances.  Statistics indicate that the families that are supported by women are the poorest in society.