ISRAEL/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Nobel Women's Delegation Touring The West Bank

Jody Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to prohibit landmines through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which shared the Peace Prize with her that year. At that time, she became the 10th woman in its almost 100-year history to receive the Prize. She is part of the Nobel Women's Initiative, an organisation founded in 2006 by six Nobel women to bring together their extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality.

The women's delegation throughout the West Bank aims to spotlight the creativity and the work of Palestinian peace builders. “Emotions, identities and stories cannot be negotiated” wrote in these days Jody Williams on the delegation's blog.

On the first day, the delegation visited Jerusalem. Whilst during the second day, they joined Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, to take part in the conference entitled “We Can Change,” a conference organised by the Palestinian NGO, Health Development Information Policy Institute (HDIP), that focused on empowering Palestinian Women Capacity Building for Developing Palestinian Society.

Palestinian women face major difficulties due to the hardships imposed on them by the Separation Wall and the closures that have affected their lives in general. Despite the Israeli occupation causing these insecure conditions, Palestinian women play a key-role in the protection and care of their families as well in all institutions at the national level. Moreover, historically they have played an important role in the mobilisation and resistance of the Palestinian people, serving as an example of struggle and organisation against the occupation power.

HDIP, an organisation for the development of the Palestinian civil society, has tried in these years to support the empowerment of women as an essential component of the sustainability of communities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The conference was the final step of a project carried out by HDIP in order to highlight major issues related to women and the improvement of women's status.

Palestinian women in the occupied territories are increasingly facing the burden of balancing traditional gender roles with the harsh economic realities of living under occupation. According to the data collected and analyzed by HDIP's experts, the major problem affecting Palestinian women inside West Bank is unemployment, followed by a low access to an adequate health system. In the Gaza Strip, along with the unemployment, women suffer from early marriages and lack of opportunities to participate in the political and public sphere.

Data about presence of Palestinian participation inside institutions highlight that it is lower than expected. Female participation in the Palestinian Legislative Council is 12,9%, in the municipalities 18%.

More than 400 women took part in the conference. Women from Gaza, prevented to enter West Bank from the Israeli blockade, had the chance to express their thoughts and opinions via videoconference. Peace Nobel Laureate Jody Williams and the delegation listened in Palestinian women's stories.

During the afternoon, the delegation visited the West Bank's villages of Bi'lin and Ni'lin, meeting with the popular committees representatives. Since the construction of the separation Wall began on 16 June 2002, Palestinian villages across the West Bank have cooperated in non-violent resistance. The communities of Bil'in and Ni'lin as well as other villages throughout the West Bank have all non-violently resisted the Wall being built around them. Weekly non-violent demonstrations against the Wall have are being held in both cities, bringing together Palestinians and Israelis, as well as international activists.

Unfortunately, the Peace Women's visit was also characterized by an attempt of Israeli authorities to weaken the worthiness of the delegation.

Israeli authorities refused on Tuesday to allow Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire into Israel: she was detained at the country's Ben Gurion International Airport. The Irish Peace activist – who won her Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work to bring peace to Northern Ireland – arrived at the Tel Aviv airport Tuesday morning from Frankfurt Airport. Airport authorities allowed Maguire's travel companion and colleague, Ann Patterson, into the country. Ms Maguire was supposed to take part into the conference “We Can Change”, in Ramallah and to be part of the delegation with Jodie Williams.

Adalah's lawyers appealed for an injunction preventing Maguire's immediate deportation. But an Israeli Judge denied the appeal on Friday. The Israeli Judge gave Maguire's lawyers an additional 48 hours to petition the Supreme Court and ruled that Maguire continue to stay in the Ben Groin International Airport, where she has been detained since Tuesday.