Consulting with Women Experts in Israel and Palestine (August 2010)

Inclusive Security staff traveled to Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Tel Aviv in early August to continue work with Inclusive Security’s growing coalitions of Israeli and Palestinian women leaders.

On August 4, Inclusive Security partnered with local organization MIFTAH: The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy to hold a one-day workshop in Ramallah with Palestinian women leaders to discuss how best to advocate for women’s inclusion in negotiations and foreign-policy decision making. Participants created a map of key US policy shapers and a plan of activities for advancing recommendations they developed in March 2010. Participants also created working groups and planned follow-up such as creating a parallel map to identify key Palestinian advocacy targets; working as a group to provide input to a UNSCR1325 National Action Plan; and drafting a brief document to make the case for Palestinian women’s added value in negotiations.

On August 5, Inclusive Security convened Israeli women leaders for a one-day strategic planning workshop in Tel Aviv. Building on the March 2010 consultation, participants developed strategies for increasing the visibility and influence of women in Israel through implementation of Amendment 4 to the Equalization of the Rights of the Women Law (2005). Attendees began the day by mapping key stakeholders to target to advance Amendment 4. Based on this map, participants developed an advocacy platform that included recommendations to ensure gender mainstreaming in Israeli foreign policy as well as women’s direct participation in peacebuilding, foreign policy, and national security decision making. They concluded by identifying activities to advance their platform and continue their work together to ensure women in Israel are fully represented in decision making.

While in the region, Inclusive Security also held advocacy and networking meetings with:

• Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Network and PLO Executive Committee member
• Ahmed Badawi, senior analyst, Middle East Program, International Crisis Group
• May Barghouthi, cultural affairs specialist; Esperanza Tilghman, head of women’s programs; David Martinez, political officer; and Mark Fernando, Middle East Partnerships Initiative officer, US Consulate General in Jerusalem 
• Kimberlee Bell, program officer, US Agency for International Development, West Bank/Gaza
• Dr. Saeb Erekat, head, Palestinian Liberation Organization Negotiations Affairs Department
• Vanessa Farr, social development and gender advisor, UNDP - Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People
• Dave Harden, senior adviser to George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East Peace
• Hiba Husseini, Network member and acting director, Palestinian Negotiations Support Unit
• Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition in the Knesset and head of the Kadima Party
• Hillel Schenker and Ziad Asali, co-editors of the Palestine-Israel Journal
• Romy Shapira, program coordinator, Heinrich Boell Foundation
• Representatives from Ahoti, the Coalition of Women for Peace, Machsom Watch, Isha l’Isha, and Itach-Maaki

For more information on Inclusive Security’s work in the Middle East, please contact Rebecca Miller.