Ref: 26/2023

Date: 08 March 2023

Time: 08:00 GMT

On the 8^th of March every year, the world celebrates the International Women’s Day, which is an occasion to renew calls for applying the principle of equality and respect for women’s rights codified in international conventions as well as honoring women for their achievements and effective role in all life fields.

On this occasion, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) expresses its appreciation for the Palestinian women and their role in challenging various forms of violations that directly and indirectly affect them. 8^th of March comes this year while Palestinian women are still suffering from the escalating Israeli violations and racist practices against the Palestinian people, in addition to the ongoing Palestinian division that hinders the enactment of legislations equitable to women.

Regarding the Israeli occupation, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) directly targeted Palestinian women. According to PCHR’s documentation, 9 women were killed by IOF last year, including 3 in the Gaza Strip and 6 in the West Bank. Among those killed was the journalist Shireen Abu ‘Aqleh, who was shot dead by IOF while she was on duty. Meanwhile, 45 women were wounded by IOF fire: 12 in the West Bank and 33 in the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of this years, IOF have arrested 59 women during incursions into across the West Bank, including occupied Est Jerusalem. Also, Palestinian women and their families were displaced after IOF demolished 54 houses last year.  These houses were home to 52 families of 315, including 64 women and 142 children. Additionally, 29 women are detained in the Israeli prisons that lack the most basic human rights, exposing them to abuses and collective punishment and practicing different forms of psychological and physical pressures on them.

These violations coincided with the ongoing Israeli restrictions on freedom of movement, including the illegal and inhuman closure on the Gaza Strip, isolating Jerusalem from the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt), and establishing dozens of military checkpoints in the West bank.  All of this has restricted Palestinian women’s freedom of movement in a way that affects their social, economic, and cultural rights.

On the internal Palestinian level, Palestinian women are still suffering from gender-based violence (GBV) which has aggravated due to the deterioration of the economic and social conditions triggered by the ongoing Israeli occupation in addition to the Palestinian political division that undermines enactment of legislations and laws that protect women from violence and ensure that women enjoy all their rights, most notably the right to life. PCHR alarmingly follows up ongoing killing of women on various grounds as 7 women were killed last year: 2 in the West Bank and 5 in the Gaza Strip.

PCHR congratulates women on the International Women’s Day and extends greetings and appreciation to women all over the world in general and Palestinian women in particular. PCHR reiterates its support for women’s just causes and:

1. Calls on the international community according to the latter’s contractual obligations to exert pressure on Israel to stop its ongoing violations against Palestinian people that directly and indirectly affect women.
2. Calls for collaborative efforts to end the Palestinian political division, and the need to enact legislations that guarantee effective protection of women from any discrimination or GBV.
3. Calls on the Palestinian Authority to adopt policies and strategies that ensure the practical realization of the principle of equality in all fields and levels.