Grassroots organizing in Israel and Palestine
From Simona Sharoni's Lecture

The Israeli Peace Movment

WOMEN ORGANIZING AGAINST THE OCCUPATION IN ISRAEL & PALESTINE

I. THE ISRAELI PEACE MOVEMENT

PEACE NOW -- The Israeli Peace Movement
http://www.peacenow.org.il/English.asp

Peace Now was founded in 1978 by 348 reserve officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. The first mass peace movement in Israel, Peace Now has attracted hundreds of thousands to its mass rallies and activities. The movement has done extensive research and organizing around the settlements as a major obstacles to peace.

Gush Shalom (Translated from Hebrew, the name means "The Peace Bloc")
http://gush-shalom.org/english/

Gush Shalom is the hard core of the Israeli peace movement. It has played a leading role in determining the moral and political agenda of the peace forces in Israel, as well as in breaking the so-called "national consensus" based on misinformation

B'TSELEM - The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
http://www.btselem.org/

B'tselem was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel.

Rabbis for Human Rights
http://www.rhr.israel.net

Founded in 1988, during the first Intifada, the organization points out that human rights abuses are not compatible with the age-old Jewish tradition of humaneness and moral responsibility or the Biblical concern for " The stranger in your minds " even in the face of the danger to public order and safety which the uprising represented.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
http://www.icahd.org

ICAHD is a non-violent, direct-action group originally established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories.

Ta'ayush (Arabic for "life in common")
http://www.taayush.org/

Established immediately after the outbreak of the Al-aqsa intifada in September 2000, Ta'ayush is a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews in Israel working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a true Arab-Jewish partnership. The group has been very active against the separation fence.

Yesh Gvul (Hebrew for "There is a Limit" or "There is a Border")
http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english/

The oldest and most active organization supporting reservists who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories (known as "selective refusal").

SHMINISTIM - ISRAELI YOUTH REFUSAL MOVEMENT
http://www.shministim.org/english/index.htm

The Shministim now numbers over 300 high school seniors who have announced that they "refuse to be soldiers for occupation."

Refusers Parents' Forum
http://www.refuz.org.il/

The High School Draft Resistance Parents Forum is composed of parents, and family members of the high school senior (shministim) conscientious objectors who are in military prison. The group is bound together by virtue that all have a child who is refusing to serve in the IDF for moral reasons.

Courage to Refuse
http://www.seruv.org.il/Hebrew/default.asp

Reserve officers and soldiers from the "heart of the IDF" who published the Combatants Letter in January 2002 and now number over 500 signers

"Kvisa Shchora" (Black Laundry)
http://www.blacklaundry.org/

Kvisa Shchora is a direct action group of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and others against the occupation and for social justice. The group tries to stress the connection between different forms of oppression - our own oppression as lesbians, gays and transpeople enhances our solidarity with members of other oppressed groups.

II. WOMEN ORGANIZING AGAINST THE OCCUPATION IN ISRAEL & PALESTINE

•  Women organizing in Israel

Women in Black
http://www.womeninblack.org/

Women in Black as we know it today began in 1988 in Israel in response to the first Palestinian intifada, which began in December 1987. Israeli Jewish women began to stand in weekly vigils in public places, usually at busy road junctions. Starting in Jerusalem, the number of vigils in Israel eventually grew to almost forty.

Coalition of Women for Peace
http://www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org/

Jewish and Palestinian women, citizens of Israel representatives of various women's organizations and individuals have agreed to coordinate and organize joint activities in order to work together for a just peace

Bat-Shalom (Hebrew for "Daughter of Peace")
http://www.batshalom.org

Bat Shalom is a feminist peace organization of Israeli women. We work toward a just peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors that includes recognition of a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel and Jerusalem as the capital of both. Within Israel, Bat Shalom works toward a more just and democratic society shaped equally by men and women.

Machsom Watch (Checkpoint Watch) - Women for Human Rights
http://www.machsomwatch.org

Machsom Watch was founded in January 2001 in response to repeated reports in the press about human rights abuses of Palestinians crossing army and border police checkpoints. The group includes 400 women all over the country and works to monitor the behavior of soldiers and police at checkpoints; to ensure that the human and civil rights of Palestinians attempting to enter Israel are protected; and to record and report the results of our observations to the widest possible audience, from the decision-making level to that of the general public.

New Profile
http: www.newprofile.org

An anti-militaristic feminist movement comprised women and men working for the Civil-ization of Israeli society.   The supports conscientious objectors in Israel

•  Women's organizing in Palestine

Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling:
http://www.wclac.org/

Association of Women's Committees for Social Work in Palestine
http://www.palwatc.org/social.htm

The Association of Women's Committees for Social Work is a mass-based, grass-roots organization founded in June 1981. It works towards improving women's economic, social and cultural positions and defending women's basic right to work, to education and self-development

General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW)
http://www.gupw.org/

Was established in 1965 as a body within the Palestinian Liberation Organization and according is considered to be the official representative body for Palestinian women around the world. It is also the umbrella for all women's organizations in Palestine and in exile.

The Jerusalem Center for Women
http://www.j-c-w.org/

NISAA Palestine

http://www.nisaa.org/palest-e.htm

The Palestinian Working Women Society (PWWS)
http://www.pal-pwwsd.org/

A community based non-governmental organization that was established in 1981 as the Union of Palestinian Working Women Committees.

Women & Family Affairs Center
http://www.wafac.org/

Aims to help women improve their competence in leadership positions, and at work in the Palestinian society. and to conduct activities, publications and information that promote women's human rights within the Palestinian society

Women's Affair Center, Gaza
http://www.wacgaza.org

A Palestinian women's research and training center which works to promote women's rights and equality in the Palestinian society

Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC)
http://www.palwatc.org

A coalition of women affiliated with six main political parties as well as independent professional women and representatives of various women's study centers and human rights organizations. WATC organizations work together for the realization of the abolition of all forms of discrimination against women

Women's Studies Center
http://www.wameed.org

A non-governmental, independent organization, working to achieve gender equality through uniting the efforts of all women who believe in equality and women's rights as human rights, rejecting limited concepts imposed by the traditional patriarchal culture.

Compiled by Simona Sharoni, March 2004