Statement issued by the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD), Amnesty International Report-A step on the way to holding the occupying country accountable

PWWSD welcomes the report issued by Amnesty International “The Israeli Apartheid Regime Against the Palestinians is a Cruel Regime Based on Domination and Crime Against Humanity,” which considered Israel, and all its political and military administrations, an apartheid state. Amnesty International, as a global organization known for its transparency and impartiality, asks the governments and peoples throughout the world, with their legal and moral responsibility to protect the Palestinians, and to hold the occupying country accountable for its crimes.

PWWSD values the support of the international institutions to Palestine, to expose the crimes of the occupation, and shows that the report stresses the great importance of the efforts made by women's institutions to expose the racist crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people in general, and against Palestinian women in particular.

PWWSD stresses that Amnesty International report, despite its great importance, constitutes one step on the path of the Palestinian struggle against the Zionist apartheid regime, and establishes the base for a new phase of the struggle against the racism of the occupation, especially its crimes against the Palestinian women. In this context, PWWSD calls on all Palestinian civil society institutions (CSOs), in particular, human rights institutions and women's institutions, to intensify efforts to continue monitoring and documenting violations of the occupation and its racist practices against the Palestinians throughout all Palestine. PWWSD also stresses the need for serious work by the Palestinian National Authorities (PNA) to prepare an integrated file on the crimes of the occupation and its racist practices, and to submit to the International Criminal Court, with a focus on crimes against the Palestinian women.

PWWSD affirms that the suffering of women in Palestine as a result of the racist violations by the occupation, which considers as crimes against humanity, is ongoing since the occupation of Palestine in 1948 and is still continuing. The direct targeting of women and girls through executions from zero distance by the occupation soldiers and settlers, their arrest and torture in Israeli prisons and deprivation from their basic rights, in addition to all the crimes referred to in the Amnesty International report, affect them and affect the life, security and existence of their families as a whole, and prevent their integration into the general public life, and prevent their active contribution to building their homeland and developing women’s agenda for peace and human security.

PWWSD demands that the occupying power must be held accountable, and the United Nations institutions must assume their responsibilities in this regard. The violations of the international laws and covenants that protect women from the occupation have imposed a variety of violence on Palestinian women and restricted their freedom of movement. The law prohibiting family unification, as one of the racist laws applied by the occupation, has greatly contributed to the fragmentation of families and deprived women from the right to have safe and stable families. The policy of house demolition practiced by the occupation government has deprived women of their rights to live in a safe environment, as recognized by international conventions and covenants.

While PWWSD thanks Amnesty International, and all international institutions supporting Palestinians, for their contribution to supporting the efforts of Palestinian CSOs to expose the crimes of the occupation, at the same time, it calls on these institutions to continue their efforts and joint work with Palestinian institutions, especially women’s institutions, to enhance efforts to document the practices of the occupation, especially crimes committed against women.

PWWSD also thanks and highly appreciates the distinguished efforts made by civilized forces around the world to support the rights of the Palestinians and their great contribution to exposing the violations of the occupation.

PWWSD affirms that the Apartheid is a crime against humanity, and demands that the United Nations institutions resume responsibility to provide protection for the Palestinian people in general and for the Palestinian women in particular. It also asks the various governments around the world to impose sanctions on "Israel" in order to stop its racist practices. The association also addresses the Arab women’s movements in the countries whose governments have normalized relations with the “occupying state” to put pressure on these governments to stop the normalization steps, which will enable them to impose isolation on the Israeli occupation and to pressure it to stop the racist practices against the Palestinian people.

Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD)

Ramallah-Palestine

Febrauary-3-2022