PERMANENT OBSERVER MISSION OF PALESTINE TO THE UN]TED NATIONS
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Statementbv Ms. Nadva Rasheed. Firsj Secretarv.before the United Nations Commissionon the Statusof Women. Fiftieth Session. March 2006: (Please 2 CheckAsainst Deliverv) At the outset,allow me to conveymy delegation's congratulations the excellent for manner in which you are conducting work of the Commission the and to express congratulations well our as as to the Bureau. We are confident that, under your able stewardship,the Commissionwill successfully address conclude programof work. and its I would also like to extend thanks to the Secretary-General the United Nations for his of report (E/CN.61200616) concerningthe situationof and assistance Palestinian to women, submitted under agendaitem 3: Follow-up to the Fourth World Conferenceon Womenand to the special sessionof the GeneralAssembly entitled "Women2000: genderequolity,development peace and for the twenty-firstcentury." I would also like to express gratitudeto ESCWA and to all the entities our of the United Nations systemfor their invaluableefforts in providing much-needed assistance to Palestinian women. My delegation aligns itself with the statement madeby the distinguished representative of SouthAfrica on behalfof the Groupof 77 andChina. MadameChairperson, ln 2003, the Ministry of Women's Affairs was createdto set policies and to ensurethe mainstreaming women'srights in all Palestinian of Authority institutions.Sincethen,it hasworked tirelessly address typesof violenceagainst to all womenas a crosscutting issuein all of its programs. As a result,Palestinian women havebeenable to heighten their involvement the political arena, in which is evidenced the increased by numberof women electedboth in the nationaland municipal levels. However, as notedby the report by the Secretary-General mentionedabove,the Ministry of Women'sAffairs hasthe potential improvethe situation Palestinian to of womenandto promoteand protect women's rights in the OccupiedPalestinian Territory but only if it receives necessary the resources support. and However, all the resources and supportcan not overcomethe permanent stateof insecurity, tensionand fear that Palestinian women and their familieshavecontinued live in during Israel's to 38-year occupation. Moreover, over the past five years,the suffering of Palestinianwomen has exponentially multiplieddueto the intensification Israel'sillegalpolicesandpractices, of which has causeda dramaticdeterioration the economic,socialand humanrights situationin the Occupied of Palestinian Territory,includingEastJerusalem. Indeed, Palestinian womenhavebornethe brunt of the suffering,compounding pressures constraints which Palestinian the and to women are subjectto in the traditionalPalestinian patriarchal society.

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MadameChairperson, Palestinian women fall victim to multiple forms of discrimination and violence.They are victimized by the brutality of the Israeli occupyingforces,living in perpetualfear for their safetyand that of their families. They are then forced to bearthe additionalburdenof the worseningpolitical, social and human rights conditions. In particular, the rampant unemployment and poverty exacerbated Israeli actions,suchasthe restrictions movementand the destruction homesand by on of agriculturalpropertyfor the building of illegal Israeli settlements its construction a Wall in the and of Occupied Palestinian Territory, has heavily impacted Palestinianwomen. This disenabling environment increased has Palestinian women'ssense isolation, pushingthem furtherinto despair. of In addition to the significant roles that they traditionally play in the family, Palestinian women have been forced to assumea number of non-traditionalresponsibilities. With tighter restrictions movementof men, many women are forcedout of their protected of domestic world to seek employment in order to sustain their families, while their unemployed fathers, brothers, husbands and sonsare in effect removedfrom the work force. Even more tragic, over the past five years,many women have facedthe heartbreaking reality of one of their male family members being killed at the hands of the Israeli occupying forces, forcing them to face these burdens and responsibilities alone. Palestinian women'slives and safetyare not only exposedto difficult conditionsin their family lives but also in their most routine day-to-dayactivities. They confront frequentattacksby illegal Israeli settlerson roadsbetween towns and villages. And sexualharassment illegal settlers by and soldiershas becomea regular,daily experience Palestinian for women and girls at one of the over 500 military checkpoints throughoutthe OccupiedPalestinianTerritory. Hundredsof women havebeenkilled on their way to work and school,and many femalestudents havehad to drop out of high school and college due to the difficulties of traveling betweentowns and villages. And, unfortunately, the number of Palestinianwomen injured, imprisoned, arbitrarily detained and traumatized continues riseunabated. to MadameChairperson, The restrictionof movementof Palestinian peopleand goods,including the impositionof checkpoints, indisputably has crippledthe Palestinian economy, transforming villagesandtownsinto isolated prisons. Suchrestrictions havenot only held the Palestinian civilian population captives, as but have also led to the needless deathsof Palestinian women and children on far too many occasions.I would like to highlight one particularly horrising effect of these restrictionson Palestinian women:Pregnant womenbeingforcedto give birth at military checkpoints. In a recentreport released August 2005, the United NationsCommissioner Human in for Rights highlighted the inhumanepractice by the Israeli occupying forces of forcing pregnant Palestinian women to give birth at military checkpoints. Accordingto the report,betweenSeptember 2000 and December 2004,61 Palestinian womengavebirth at checkpoints, and36 infantsdied as a result of the occupyingPower'sprohibitionof ambulance access. one of the many documented In tragic examples, womanwas forcedto give birth at a checkpointin the West bank town of Nablus, a leavingthe fatherno choicebut to usea stone cut the umbilicalcord. Accordingto the Palestinian to mother's testimony,"I was left no other choice but to give birth on the dirt ground, in the dust, like an animol." The infant girl died beforethey were ever ableto reachpropermedicalcare.

There can be no justification, including that of security,for such inhumaneand cruel acts. Theserepressive dehumanizing and measures, which havebeenimposedon the palestinian people, are in blatant contraventionof internationalhumanitarianlaw as embodiedin the Fourth Geneva Conventionand The HagueRegulations, which are applicableto the OccupiedPalestinian Territory, includingeastJerusalem, which areobligatory Israel,asthe occupying power. and to MadameChairperson, My delegationwishes to emphasize not only the necessityof continuedassistance to Palestinian women, but as the Secretary-General noted in his report,an intensificationof assistance by the internationalcommunity. Indeed, it has been such asrirtunre by the United Nations, its agencies,internationalhumanitarianorganizations and the donor rorn.unity that have helped to preventthe completecollapseof the socioeconomic situationof the Palestinian peopleunder this brutaloccupation. The situation Palestinian of womendoesnot allow us to standby idly until a resolution the to conflict is realized, instead but demands we take immediate that and concrete action.We mustmove beyond simply reporting, and move to restorebasic human rights and human dignity to the Palestinian people.Despiteall of the hardships Palestiniun the p.opb havefaced,they cJntinue be to steadfastin their legitimate struggle for the full realizationoi their inalienable rights and the establishment an independent of Palestinian State, with eastJerusalem its capital.Oirty then will as we be able to genuinelyspeakof real progress and true advancement not only the women of for Palestine, for all of its peopleandits futuregenerations. but ThankYou MadameChairperson.