A new report is now available from the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling titled ‘Voices of Palestinian Women: A 2009 report on Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinian women’. With this report, WCLAC aim to highlight the human rights abuses faced by Palestinian women and the gender specific impact of the occupation. The report is set within the framework of international human rights and humanitarian law and highlights the gender specific consequences through the testimonies of Palestinian women as told to WCLAC staff and fieldworkers.

The report presents the cases of nineteen women who in their own words told their stories of life under occupation during 2009. The narratives reveal the reality of life under occupation as well as the impact on the women and their fears and worries for their families. The women’s stories are testament not only to the brutality, discrimination and violence of the occupation but also to the strength and resilience of Palestinian women.

The documentation is the work of a team of fieldworkers from around the West Bank who interview the woman in depth about the events and the impact on her and record her testimony in the form of an affidavit. The women speak of their different experiences of life under occupation: about violence from Israeli settlers and from Israeli soldiers; of the restrictions placed on their movement by checkpoints and because of the wall; of having their homes demolished; of being forcibly evicted and; of being separated from their families because of the restrictive permit regimes. In the report, WCLAC provides analysis of their experiences to highlight the social and economic consequences of the human rights violations together with the gender specific impact of the occupation.

In relation to incidents of violence, the report highlights that these can be singular incidents while women are waiting at checkpoints or walking home from work or they can be an ongoing process where women live with violence or the threat of violence from neighbouring Israeli settlements over many years. In these communities, as illustrated by the testimonies in the report from Hebron and from Asira al-Qibliyeh, the women have lived with attacks on themselves, their families, their neighbours, their properties and their livelihoods over many years. The report documents the case of Hana Abu Haikal, a Palestinian woman living in Hebron. She describes an occasion in April 2009 when she was accompanying her mother in an ambulance back from a hospital in Hebron:
“ I saw through the back window a group of settlers, perhaps ten or fifteen of them gathered on the side of the road. One of the settlers’ children, who was about 14years old, was walking toward the ambulance. While the soldier talked to the driver I saw the boy lean down to pick up a stone. The soldier looked at the boy as he continued to talk to the driver. At this point the boy threw the stone at the back window of the ambulance and broke it. The stone landed near me and my mother. I was frightened and yelled at the soldier. I told him “my mother is in serious condition, take this boy away”. I spoke to him in Arabic and I am not sure how much he understood what I was saying. The soldier didn’t move and didn’t do anything. The boy then picked up another stone and threw it at the same window which caused whatever was left of the broken glass to fall down. When this was happening I leaned over my mother to protect her and to prevent stones and broken glass from falling on her. I then lifted my head up and saw a number of other settler children approaching us. The soldier didn’t do anything to prevent the settlers from attacking us”.

The report also includes the testimony of Khadra Ahmad from Asira Al-Qibliya, who lives with the constant threat of violence and harassment from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar:
“On 29th June, 2009 my children were playing outside the house, I was in the house. All of a sudden the settlers appeared, there were about 15 of them, and they started to shoot and throw stones at our house. My husband, who was in the house at the time, went outside to bring the children in. He saw Israeli soldiers around the house; they were protecting the settlers. My husband asked the commander what the settlers were doing around our house. The commander told my husband not to ask any questions.”

The impact on women of the violence from settlers and from Israeli soldiers is severe. WCLAC have identified through the documentation that women are severely psychologically and emotionally affected, often anxious and scared. Some women identified that they were unable to carry on with their normal lives because of fear of repeat attacks. One woman told WCLAC: “Each time I see soldiers or hear loud sounds I panic. I feel I want to leave our house and go live somewhere else” Women are also worried for their children and for the impact on them. Khadra told WCLAC: “My youngest daughter, Ruba, who is one-and-a-half years old and is just beginning to speak, points to the window and says “settlers, settlers…” and starts to cry each time she hears noise around the house”. The report also highlights the impunity for those responsible for the attacks with women reluctant to report attacks to the Israeli authorities because they know nothing will be done.

The report documents the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and of forcible eviction: practices which devastates lives, particularly affecting women and children. During 2009, a total of 271 structures were demolished, affecting 1377 people including 730 children. The demolitions are often violent events, with little or no warning given to families and with the bulldozers accompanied by dozens of Israeli soldiers and police. This is a deeply shocking experience for families, as illustrated by this description by Fatima Dari from Isawiya described the events just before the demolition of the home where she was living with her family and her sister’s family. She was at the hospital with her son when she received news that her home was about to be demolished and hurried back:

“The Israelis soldiers and police were positioned around the house. They were disconnecting the electricity and carrying things out of the house. I saw my sister’s husband surrounded by soldiers. He was allowed to go into the house with another man and get some of our things out of the house. There were so many soldiers around, I had many of them around me, preventing me from going any nearer to the house. I had guns aimed at me and my children.”

WCLAC’s documentation reveals and records the psychological, social, economic and cultural impact on women of the policy of home demolitions and forced evictions. Women are often most profoundly affected, with their lives usually revolving around the private sphere of the home where they raise their children and take care of the home. The women that have been interviewed by WCLAC invariably suffer from anxiety and depression during the often long and prolonged process that leads up to a home being demolished and then after displacement find themselves in overcrowded and unsuitable living conditions, further perpetuating the anxiety and other psychological problems.

Ilham from the neighbourhood of Silwan, close to the Old City in Jerusalem has been left chronically depressed by the fourteen years of living with the threat that her home will be demolished. She describes herself as isolated and emotionally damaged. “I am always thinking about it, but can’t really talk about it to anyone. I am living with no sense of security, and can’t seem to enjoy anything anymore. Basically, I am chronically depressed.” The cases documented in the report are illustrative of the problems faced by many women who are faced with a home demolition: their emotional health is damaged leading to stress and depression and difficulties in their relationships with their husbands and children. The woman’s mental health, as primary carer for the children in most Palestinian households, is a crucial factor in maintaining the mental health of children in the family. When the mother’s mental health suffers, the children are also likely to suffer.

The report also highlights the particular consequences for women of the home demolition. Amani S, from Jabal Al-Mukaber in East Jerusalem had to move back to live with their parents in law after the demolition of her home in May 2009. She told WCLAC: “I’ve lost my independence and I’ve lost my privacy. I used to wear short sleeves in the house and go without my headscarf. Now I always have to worry about what I am wearing because I’m living with other people. I used to cook for my family, cook meals for them all. Now I don’t do this, others in the house do the cooking. I have no privacy or time or space to myself at all.” Women lose not only their homes, but their privacy, independence and normal family life.

The report draws attention to the social, cultural and economic impact on women of these human rights violations in order to assist in developing an understanding of the devastating and gender specific impact on the lives of the Palestinian women. The report will be used to advocate on behalf of Palestinian women, to promote awareness of human rights violations and to work towards accountability for those responsible. The documentation also provides testimony to women’s experiences of war and occupation.