Women's Participation in Middle East Peace Efforts

While calling for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in Afghanistan, Equality Now has tried to bring this same message on the essential role of women in conflict resolution to the Middle East crisis. UN Security Council Resolution 1325 affirms the importance of equal participation and the full involvement of women in all efforts in the maintenance of peace. The implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women and Peace and Security is critical, and urgently needed in the ongoing effort to bring a lasting peace to the Middle East.

In May 2002, at the request of Equality Now, the United Nations Security Council met with two women--Terry Greenblatt and Maha Abu-Dayyeh Shamas--an Israeli and a Palestinian who are both members of the Jerusalem Link, an organization of Israeli and Palestinian women working together for peace in the region. Equality Now, together with these activists from the region, called upon the United Nations to recognize the vital role of women in the resolution of conflict. Both Ms. Abu-Dayyeh Shamas and Ms. Greenblatt called for equal representation of women on all sides in planned peace negotiations, and urged the Security Council to create a means through which women can contribute formally and integrally to Middle East conflict resolution efforts.

Subsequently, the Jerusalem Link wrote to members of the so-called Quartet (European Union, Russia, UN and the United States) requesting that they establish a Women’s Commission of peace activists from the region and from other parts of the world where women have been involved in conflict resolution. Equality Now circulated this letter widely in the United Nations and the diplomatic community, and many positive responses have been received, based on which Equality Now has written a follow-up letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, asking that he consider convening a commission of women peace activists. The Secretary-General has expressed support for greater representation of women in all entities engaged in the peace process.

The Jerusalem Link is actively considering the creation of an International Women’s Commission to facilitate the engagement of women in efforts to secure peace in the Middle East. Equality Now believes that these women can help create a new path towards an effective resolution of the escalating crisis in the Middle East and will continue to work to get the voices of Palestinian and Israeli women heard.

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