On the occasion of International Women's Day, which falls on March 8th of every year, Al-Haq extends its heartfelt greetings and deepest appreciation to all women worldwide, and particularly to Palestinian women, for their steadfastness, resilience, and vital contributions in every sphere of life. As we commemorate this important day, we reaffirm our unwavering support for the essential role that Palestinian women play across civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and national domains. This year, as we reflect on the significance of this occasion, Palestinian women’s struggles are exacerbated amidst Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, and its systematic erasure of the Palestinian people as a whole, which has persisted since the Nakba of 1948. These conditions have imposed increasing burdens on Palestinian women, requiring extraordinary resilience as they continue to fight for their survival and dignity.

Over the past two years, Palestinian women have borne the brunt of the ongoing violations against Palestinians. They have been disproportionately affected by Israel’s genocide in Gaza, with women, along with children, constituting the highest number of victims. Palestinian women are subjected to arrest, torture, forced displacement, and deprivation of vital healthcare services. These challenges have placed women in a state of perpetual distress, as their right to exist on their land and their ability to survive and endure is constantly under threat.

With Israel's use of similar genocidal tactics in the West Bank, Palestinian women share a common experience. They are targeted by both Israeli occupying forces and settler violence. Across cities and towns in the West Bank, including refugee camps, Palestinian women face direct threats of killing, injury, arrest, movement restrictions, house raids, home demolitions, and forced displacement. Prolonged and suffocating sieges exacerbate these conditions, while access to essential medical and health services is denied. In Israeli prisons, women endure some of the harshest forms of torture and abuse. In Jerusalem, they face systemic violence, including home demolitions under the pretext of lacking permits, the denial of building permits, physical violence, harassment, and arrest. Furthermore, Palestinian women are subjected to forced expulsion/eviction from Jerusalem and are denied access to holy sites.

Despite these violations, Palestinian women remain resolute in the face of Israeli settler-colonial apartheid policies, particularly the forced displacement of Bedouin communities, especially in the Palestinian Jordan Valley and the South of Hebron. This includes the demolition and seizure of Bedouin encampments, as well as depriving them of their livelihood sources and basic human rights, with their homes and agricultural resources being confiscated. Their right to education is also obstructed through the demolition of schools and the denial of access to them. These actions form part of the broader Israeli strategy to annex Palestinian land in the West Bank, violating international human rights law and humanitarian law, while the international community fails to take meaningful action.

Internal Palestinian crises are growing and intensifying day by day. The ongoing political division and the lack of general elections for the legislative, presidential, and national council bodies continue to pose a challenge to achieving national unity in the face of Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid and illegal occupation. Women remain excluded from reconciliation and reconstruction committees and political participation more generally, which marginalises them and fails to recognise their role in public and political life. In terms of protecting women from violence, the measures to protect women have not reached the required level. This is most evident in the failure to approve the Family Protection from Violence Bill, which hinders women’s access to justice and violates Palestine’s obligations under international human rights conventions. This requires an enhancement of the situation for women through the development of the legislative framework and special measures to strengthen their rights in all fields in accordance with the principles of equality and non-discrimination.

On this occasion, Al-Haq reiterates its commitment to addressing many issues in support of respecting and realising the rights of Palestinian women, as follows:

1. Enhancing the resilience of Palestinian society, particularly Palestinian women, against the backdrop of Israel’s settler-colonial violations, through comprehensive governmental and national programmes, robust executive mechanisms, and effective ground-level monitoring. This includes the provision of all necessary financial and human resources to support their struggle.
2. Fostering national, regional, and international efforts to hold Israel accountable by ensuring the implementation of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, halting the genocide in Gaza, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and guaranteeing comprehensive healthcare services, especially for women.
3. Strengthening international advocacy for Palestinian rights to prevent the forced displacement and expulsion of Palestinian Bedouin communities, ensuring their protection from further violations, and securing their basic human rights, including access to land, resources, and essential services.
4. Urging the international community and states to uphold their legal obligations to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and human rights law. This includes empowering the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination, ending the occupation, and facilitating the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and villages from which they were displaced since 1947.
5. The Palestinian authorities must take immediate and comprehensive measures to enact legislation, develop strategies, policies, and programmes that will fulfil their obligations under international conventions, ensuring the realisation of women’s rights across all fields.
6. Supporting the economic and social rights of Palestinian women, to ensure they and their families can live with dignity, including access to social security, fair work conditions, and the highest possible standards of healthcare.

A heartfelt salute to all our female colleagues at Al-Haq, our women partners, the women in the communities we strive to support and protect, and to all the brave and resilient women around the world. Together, we stand united in our collective fight for a better, safer, and more just world.