The Challenges of the Jerusalem Link, a Women's Joint Venture
for Peace
The decision to form the Jerusalem Link as the coordinating body of
two independent women's centers - one Palestinian, based in East
Jerusalem, and one Israeli, based in West Jerusalem - was made in
1992. By the time the funding of the European Union was approved,
it was already 1994¬the days of hope after the signing of the
Oslo accords, and the timing seemed even more appropriate. Yet, the
festive inauguration of the Jerusalem Link, on International
Women's Day, March 8, 1994, was can¬celed following the Hebron
Massacre - this terrible and shocking event left us in no mood to
celebrate. We started operating between these two powerful events -
and we are still operating with the contradictions and tensions
that these two events symbolize - the joy and the anger, the hope
and the despair.
On the occasion of International Women's Day, 1995, we held a joint
demonstration on the border between East and West Jerusalem calling
for dismantling of the settlements, lifting of the closure, release
of Palestinian political prisoners, and recognition of Jerusalem as
the capital of two states. Hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli
women were present. We opened with a very powerful speech composed
and delivered jointly by Hanan Ashrawi and Naomi Chazan.
Palestinian women organized events for the Palestinian community,
and we at Bat Shalom, for Israeli women. Bat Shalom, the Israeli
center, marked the event a few days earlier in an evening at the
Jerusalem Cinematheque, with the screening of the Tunisian film,
Les Silences du Palais. This event embodied some of the
difficulties of our work - and its success symbolizes for me the
possibilities in this complicated joint venture.
Complex Problems
The Tunisian film is about the power of women, and the relationship
between women's liberation and the liberation of a society in
general. We at Bat Shalom wanted to illustrate the fact that
feminism is not only an American concept (as so often thought in
Israel) and that Arab women are among those working to improve
their rights all over the world. We want¬ed particularly to
raise the possibility of solidarity between Israeli and Arab women.
The Tunisian director, Moufida Tlatali, was invited by the Israeli
Foreign Ministry, and meant to be present at our event, but the
fact that she did not come was a very important reminder that the
Palestinian-¬Israeli conflict is not resolved and constitutes
a border that Arab and Israeli women's solidarity cannot
cross.
The Israeli Cinematheque, on the border between East and West
Jerusalem, was packed with activists from Bat Shalom: women from
low-¬income neighborhoods who had never before been in such a
palace of elite culture in Jerusalem; female Knesset members;
grassroots activists; and male supporters. There were Palestinian
women from the Jerusalem Link who later told us how difficult it
was for them to come - not only because they do not have permits to
enter Jerusalem in these days of closure, but also because of
psychological fears of entering a zone which is not theirs. There
are deep gaps between us, and there is still a long political
struggle ahead.
Rather than write about women's solidarity, I would like to focus
on the complexity of the joint work, and raise some of the problems
which we deal with at the Jerusalem Link.
In 1990 Palestinian and Israeli women signed a joint statement
calling for "peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict" and for recogni¬tion of the PLO as the legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people. The precedent set by the
joining of the voices of women activists calling for an end to
Occupation revealed the potential for understanding between
Palestinians and Israelis. The idea of establishing two women's
centers, one Palestinian and one Israeli, actually materialized
after the Oslo accords had been signed. With all the misgivings and
critiques of the Oslo accords, the political context in which we
are working today is completely different than that which existed
prior to September 1993. There are new questions about the
legitimacy and role of such joint ventures.
The main question we are dealing with is that which is termed
"nor¬malization." How do we work together when the Occupation
is still in force, when there is no Palestinian state, when there
is still an asymmetry of power between us; when we, Israeli women,
are occupiers, and the Palestinians are still living under
Occupation? How do we combat the erroneous impression within the
international community - that the Palestinian problem is
solved?
International Pressure for 'Positive Cooperation'
The Oslo accords, the celebration of the signing of the Declaration
of Principles at the White House, the Nobel Peace Prize granted to
Arafat, Rabin and Peres, have all contributed to the creation of
the myth that there is peace in the Middle East and that the
Palestinian problem is over. Funding agencies are eager to fund
projects which emphasize only the pos¬itive aspects of the
peace process. Every week a journalist or a filmmaker (apparently a
third of the world's filmmakers are shooting films about the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict) calls to ask whether we can show them
a nice situation of social or cultural exchange between Israeli and
Palestinian women - and we have to be very clear, explaining that
we do not want to be made into a pretty postcard of women who are
former enemies and are now smiling in understanding, that we do not
simply applaud the peace process, but point to the problems in its
implementation as well.
Agenda and Priorities
The Jerusalem Link focuses on women's rights, women's leadership,
and feminist social change, as well as on broader issues of justice
and human rights for Palestinian and Israeli people. There is no
doubt that feminist, and peace and human rights issues are
connected, but priorities must continu¬ously be defined, and
consensus cannot always be reached. Palestinian women more often
argue that the "national" struggle is more important, that as long
as there is a closure, and no breakthrough in the negotiations,
femi¬nist concerns should not be raised, at least not in our
joint work. Some Israelis tend to push for the feminist agenda as
long-term strategy for changing both societies toward more
tolerance and understanding. In this process of thinking and
rethinking our agenda and priorities, we must always remem¬ber
the basic inequality between us, and its implication for our
strategy.
NGO-Government Relationship
The Jerusalem Link is an NGO, but also includes women involved with
the established authority, on both the Palestinian and Israeli
sides. There is an ongoing tension between the "grassroots"
tendency and the need to influ¬ence the central authority. On
the Israeli side, Bat Shalom has many activists who have
participated in different grassroots organizations such as Women in
Black, the Israel Women's Peace Net (Reshet), Women and Peace, as
well as four Knesset members who belong to parties which are
members of, or support, the coalition government. On the
Palestinian side, the Jerusalem Center for Women, like other
Palestinian NGOs, is currently dealing with a new political
situation in which the formerly outlawed PLO is now the new,
legitimate governmental authority. The situation is doubly
complicated as the new authority is in many cases still subject to
Israeli authority. Since we are women from different political
streams, struggling to maintain the independence of our
organizations, to retain not only our grassroots foundation but
also access to policymakers, the decision-making process is always
long and complicated.
Political Outreach and Cooperation
Groups of Israeli and Palestinian women activists have always been
very small and elitist. Yet enlarging the circle is very difficult
as there is much hesitation on both sides to work with the "enemy."
Each center has connections with a large group of women who see the
advantage of a women's organization but are not ready to engage in
joint work. Our work, thus, is not solely joint work, since we see
the importance of working in each society separately.
I do not have conclusions. I can only have qualified answers. In
fact I only have many difficult, challenging questions versus one
strong intuition that what we are doing is right after all. What
are the goals? Why a joint venture? What is the connection between
feminism and peace'? How much do we play into the hands of
international forces who want to forget about the Palestinian
problem? In the present strange political situation, we will always
operate with these questions, unanswered, in mind.
This strong intuition was only strengthened at our joint
demonstration and on that evening at the Cinematheque which I
described above. It is ironic that I reveal all of my difficulties
in a journal which is probably struggling with the very same
questions, of why do anything jointly now, in this strange
political situation.