on "Priority Themes: Equality, Development, Peace"

(Agenda Item 5)

Commission of the Status of Women
United Nations

11 March 1994
New York

Madame Chairperson, Conference Participants,

One of the main issues to be addressed at the Beijing Conference will be the subject of peace.

And even today, as we gather here in New York, peace is a central item on the agenda. Peace, and its effect on the status of women their equality, freedom, and equal opportunity to enjoy a better life and to realize their potential to contribute to the societies in which they live.

Women constitute over fifty percent the population in many countries and in the world as a whole. But women who live in areas of conflict and war suffer more than their percentage of the population. Indeed, the suffering of even one human being is one-hundred percent suffering. Women suffer more than the loss of their dear ones, physical attack, destruction of property and loss of life. The majority of poor people in the world today are women women who still carry the burden of providing the family with food and clothing, tending to its health, and seeing to its quality of life.

War's terrible impact prevents women from fulfilling in practice the reason for our meeting here, for the regional meetings, and for the planned Conference in Beijing: Equality, Development and Peace.

Today, as in the past, there are dictatorial regimes which understand the potential women hold in shaping public opinion, in demonstrations, and in elections. These regimes make a mockery of the word "peace." The women who live in them live in fear and despair. Many have already lost faith that things can change.

For women, peace means life life that we have given to our children, our children's children and to their children after them. For women, peace means the chance for equality and development. In a time of peace, no one can tell us that resources must go to weapons and warfare, and that nothing is left over for health, education, and professional training; for social services and prevention of violence; for integration and advancement of women in all aspects of the society and economy.

Women not only in Israel, but in the entire world must stand up to those who try to murder peace. The scourges of fanaticism and terrorism have been brought upon us by extremists who do not value the sanctity of human life, be it that of children, women or men. They are not interested in human rights. They are not interested in discrimination against women. They are not interested in poverty, hunger or suffering. Together with men in all countries, women must fight the threat these fanatics represent.

And even when peace agreements are signed, women, in the Middle East and the entire world, must be alert and demand an equal share in the peace dividend and in the efforts to dig out from war's destruction.

It is no coincidence that after peace accords are signed, international organizations are called upon to rehabilitate war- torn economies. States, NGO's and the private sector all gather funds, but we have no guarantee that part of these monies will be directed to women, education for girls, community services, economic projects for women, and social and family services. To ensure all this and more, women have to be represented in decision-making levels in the organizations which distribute the funds and implement the programs.

Israeli women have already turned to our partners in the European Parliament to ensure that projects to be funded in the territories will include programs for Palestinian women.

Peace requires preparation. I am proud to have been one of the two female members of Israel's Knesset to have met with the female Palestinian leadership inside and outside the territories, and with senior PLO officials as far back as 1989.

We were preparing for peace even then, having announced the formation of a women's peace network. Through this network Israeli women, both Jewish and Arab, and Palestinian women from the territories have been working together in mutual recognition and open dialogue.

Allow me to give you one example of our activities.

The Jerusalem Link, composed of an Israeli women's center and a Palestinian women's center, held its first joint activity on the weekend of January 13-15 at the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem.

Thirty top echelon Palestinian women leaders, representing all three PLO parties supporting the peace process, participated together with 30 senior women of Israeli peace organizations and political parties in a leadership seminar devoted to developing strategies and techniques for empowering women in the unfolding peace process.

For many participants, this was a first opportunity not only to engage in a mutually beneficial learning experience, but also to consolidate their common commitment to advancing peace in their respective communities. Participants felt that contacts made at the conference can lay a solid foundation for future cooperative ventures between Israeli and Palestinian women.

The Jerusalem Link will be officially launched on March 16 in conjunction with the celebrations of International Women's Day. The Link will hold a series of seminars on different topics, offer resources for empowerment of Palestinian and Israeli women, and initiate educational, economic and cultural projects for women. Funded initially by the European Community, the two centers that comprise the Link will serve as magnets for women in each community and implement a variety of joint projects.

The policy of the Palestinian and Israeli centers, respectively, will be determined by a board which will be established. A special effort will be made to include the broadest possible representation of groups and organizations on each side in the governing body.

A Women's Forum on the Peace Process will monitor developments in the formal peace negotiations, conduct regular discussions on the key issues involved, and design activities to support and advance the process.

As time progresses, specific mechanisms will be developed to educate women on each side on the main elements of the current negotiations, disseminate information that would help create a constructive public opinion climate on both sides, and utilize the direct access into the policy process which has opened up in recent months in order to raise suggestions and affect outcomes.

The information exchange and dissemination project will design a series of activities aimed at enhancing the availability of data and increasing mutual communication and understanding. Specifically, it will build up resources on women's issues in each of the societies, and exchange materials on a regular basis. A common newsletter, in three languages, will be published. The two centers will also provide information to journalists, the media, and other concerned parties.

In the long term, the objective is to establish a more elaborate information and media center dealing with women and peace issues.

The education project will develop a series of long-term educational programs on the status of women in order to create women leaders. Each center will also host cultural events and promote art exhibits.

The project will also attempt to affect the content of the Palestinian and Israeli educational systems by deleting negative stereotypes in textbooks and writing appropriate textbooks and curricula.

Madame Chairperson,

Peace will always have enemies. But we cannot let those who shed human blood prevent the signing and implementation of peace agreements.

In reaction to the massacre of innocent worshippers in Hebron, the President of Israel, Ezer Weizman said in an appeal to Israelis and Palestinians alike,

"At this difficult time, I call upon all the people of this land, leaders clergy, Jews and Arabs, Christians and Moslems, to grieve together over every needless loss of human life."

Addressing Israel's Knesset, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin condemned the killings, saying,

"As a Jew, as an Israeli, as a man, and as a human being, I am ashamed over the disgrace imposed upon us by a degenerate murderer."

And Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gad Yaacobi, expressed the view of the State of Israel here in these halls,

"The only way to put an end to the violence is peace and reconciliation. There simply is no alternative... We all have to focus on accelerating the progress towards peace."

As women, our answer to murderers must be to continue the peace process. The Beijing Conference will prove that women have a plan of action for peace.

Peace is not merely a word it is a process. A process of mutual confidence building, and assurance that the status of women will not be set back when peace comes and it will come.

Thank you, Madame Chairperson.