Laureates Call for End to Israel’s Siege of Gaza

March 7, 2008

Nobel Women Laureates join calls for an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza, end to rocket attacks and a resumption of dialogue.

As violence escalates between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza strip, the Nobel Women’s Initiative is joining calls for an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza, an end to rocket attacks on Israel, implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and a resumption of dialogue between all Parties. If Israel really wants peace, it must have dialogue with all Parties to the conflict said Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire.

The words of a Palestinian participant in Nobel Women’s Initiative’s May 2007 conference, Women Redefining Peace in the Middle East and Beyond, ring true now more than ever: We are always told we must co-exist. But how can we co-exist when we do not exist in the first place? If Palestinians are to co-exist with their Israeli neighbors, the siege of Gaza must end.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is preventing Palestinians from fulfilling their basic needs: as a result of electricity, fuel, and spare-parts shortages, basic services are barely functioning, and water is in very short supply. Humanitarian aid has also been blocked. We support statements by women’s organizations including the International Women’s Commission, Women in Black and WILPF condemning the deplorable conditions in Gaza, resulting from the Israeli blockade, and applauding the planned convoy of urgently-needed humanitarian aid.

On 27 February 2008, an Israeli man was killed by a Hamas rocket attack the first person killed by rocket attacks from Gaza since May 2007. In the days following the Hamas attack, Amnesty International estimates that over 100 Palestinians mostly civilians – were killed by Israeli armed forces. Over 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since January 2008. Fourteen Israelis have been killed by rocket attacks from Gaza since the resumption of armed clashes in September 2000, according to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.

Photo: Conference participants Robi Damelin, Nadwa Sarandah, Brené Brown, Maha Abu Daya Shamas and Igballe Rogova during Engendering the Peace Process, a panel discussion at The Nobel Women’s Initiative’s First International Conference Women Defining Peace in the Middle East & Beyond.

During the panel, activists prominent in the Israeli-Palestinian peace movement shared their experiences and discussed strategies that have been effective in their work in the region.