General Union of Palestinian Women

The National Strategy for the Advancement of Palestinian Women

1. In the Political Realm:

A: Challenging occupation and achieving national independence

Objectives

1. To implement international resolutions that ensure the legitimate national rights of the
Palestinian people-the right of return, and the establishment of an independent
Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital.
2. To develop the various methods of Palestinian women's participation in the national,
political and social struggle in Palestine and abroad, in order to fulfill the Palestinian
aims.
3. To provide support for Palestinian Jerusalemite women to preserve their full rights in
Jerusalem.
4. To free unconditionally all political prisoners in Israeli jails.
5. To support Arab women's struggle and resistance of occupation and sieges.
6. To consolidate global coordination with women in their struggle for peace, equality
and development.

Procedures:
1. To mobilize Palestinian, Arab and international public opinion to exert pressure on
Israel to comply with international legitimacy and signed agreements with the PLO
and the PA, guaranteeing an end to the occupation and the preservation of the
integrity of Palestinian land and ensuring the sovereignty of the Palestinian people
over their land.
2. To work towards eliminating settlements and putting an end to Israeli land
expropriation and control over water resources.
3. To exert pressure on Israel to put an end to closures and sieges and the pursuit and
the persecution of Palestinian youth.
4. To oblige Israel to free all Arab prisoners unconditionally in accordance with the
signed agreements.
5. To ensure active participation of Palestinian women in the various solidarity activities
of Arab women in their struggle to free the Golan Heights and Southern Lebanon and
towards lifting the siege imposed on Iraq, Libya and Sudan.
6. To urge women in peace movements to hold activities within their societies
condemning continuing Israeli violations of the Peace Accords.

Framework and philosophy of the Strategy:

The National Strategy for Palestinian Women is based on women's primary needs, potentials, particularities and conditions of the Palestinian society and the parameters of the process of the national issue in its entirety. The strategy draws from the following:
- The PLO National program and its axioms: self determination, the right of return, an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
- Principles and social fundamentals of the Declaration of Independence (1988).
- The Platform of Action and the program of the Fourth International Women's Conference (1995 Beijing) and Arab and regional documents submitted to the 4th Conference.
- Conclusions of the Arab Ministers Conference (1996).

The strategy evolved as a result of a sequence of discussions, workshops and debates administered by work mechanisms in the form of follow-up committees in the West Bank, Gaza strip and abroad and by a framework of coordination between the various ministries and the mutual efforts of women centers and associations. These endeavors brought about a uniform vision based on priorities, available information and material capabilities with the aim of advancing women's conditions in all aspects of life - social, health, economic, education and culture. Furthermore, it aims at enhancing women's role in developing the society by way of developing the role of the General Union of Palestinian Women to become a general framework for all Palestinian Women wherever they live, and for consolidating the forms of cooperation and coordination at the government level and then combining and centralizing these efforts at the national level.

Basis of the Strategy:

As aforementioned, the strategy draws from: the Palestinian National Program, Declaration of Independence, The Palestinian Women Rights Document (declared by the general Union of Palestinian Women), The Memorandum of Women's Demands, (raised to the Legislative Council in March 1997), the International Agreement on the Rights of Women, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention of the Rights of the Child, Beijing's Platform of Action and the outcome of the NGO's Forum and the Arab Minister's Conference.

Strategy components:

The political realm

The pivotal points for women's participation in politics are: struggle against occupation for the attainment of independence, struggle for the return of Palestinian refugees, struggle for achieving a civil society that protects, respects and gives justice to women. These aspects of struggle will lead to the achievement of the Palestinian people's aims and the fulfillment of their national aspirations for a just and equitable peace based on United Nations resolutions which call for independence, self-determination and the right of return. This political struggle requires great and effective participation of women and the mobilization of their energies in their national struggle, in decision-making and in establishing civil institutions for a Palestinian democratic and modern society.
In addition, Palestinian women have an important role to play, in solidarity with Arab and international women, in the struggle for progress, development and equality and in coordinating and combining their efforts for their struggle against issues common to them.

The economic realm:
Regulations, restrictions and measures imposed by the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian economy that aim at restructuring it and subjugating it to Israeli's economy have deformed and hindered its natural growth. This led to adverse social and living conditions of the whole Palestinian population and was reflected on the situation of women. It caused a marked shrinkage in the size of their participation in economic activities and weakened their presence in the labour market. Therefore, the struggle for gaining control over the economic resources is vital for Palestinians in order to achieve a comprehensive economic development, to consolidate women's economic and work rights, and to train and qualify women to improve their status in the labour force and the various fields of employment. It will also lead, to their participation in policy-making and in the setting of economic, industrial and financial programs. Comprehensive economic development will enhance the agriculture production of rural women and develop their various skills. It will also provide training and development programs for women and help them benefit from scientific progress.

The legal realm:

The Palestinian people have been deprived of their right to formulate their own laws and legislations. They were subjected to an amalgamation of laws inherited from various historical periods (Ottoman, British Mandale, Jordanian and Egyptian laws and Israeli military orders etc). This heritage reflected negatively on the Palestinian people, women in particular.

We find it of crucial importance to accentuate the rightful status of women within the various laws and legislations and that their rights and duties are clearly incorporated within these laws. We also stress the importance of an independent judicial authority as a major instrument for consolidating the fundamentals of a democratic civil society and for ensuring the rights of women as human rights. To achieve these objectives we find it necessary that these laws and legislations guarantee gender equality, and are free of any form of discrimination. We, also, find it necessary that women groups should participate effectively in all discussions on laws before amending or endorsing any of them. We demand the endorsement of a modern labour law that guarantees women's right to work, social and health security and wage insurance in order to develop the status and role of women. Concerning the General Law, in particular the law of Personal Status, we find it of paramount importance to consider the minimal marriage age for girls to be 18 years. In addition, it is very important to spread legal awareness and legal guidance centers throughout society and to set special programs for this purpose.

Violence:

The strategy stresses the implementation of Human Rights Provisions- with special consideration for women's rights as human rights- and stresses dealing with causes and outcomes of social violence as well as protection of women from violence, This requires the signing of the Human Rights Document, adhering to its provisions and implementing them, as well as creating social awareness based on the principles of democracy, equality and tolerance and providing centers for guidance and prevention of violence.