Hundreds of women and representatives of the Palestinian NGOs and the civil society participated in a solidarity sit-in organized by the women sector of the Palestinian NGO's Network (PNGO) in Gaza as part of campaign 16 days of activism against gender violence within the project of Enhance Civil Society Capacity to Work for Democratic Independence in Palestine Project in Partnership with Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).
The participants raised unified posters and banners of hashtag (#ProtectUs_thanks). They called upon the international community to work to end all forms of violence against women, particularly the Israeli occupation's violations and aggression. They also called to end the internal division and achieve the national unity.
During the sit-in, the women participants repeated slogans as 'a tribute to the Palestinian women', 'yes to national unity', 'A tribute to the steadfast women', 'A tribute to women prisoners', 'women's voice is not a shame', 'It’s a revolution', 'Say loudly, No to discrimination against women', 'Yes, to live a life of dignity for women', 'No to violence against women', 'Violence against women a violation to human rights', 'Unite to end violence against women'.
Reem Frainah, director of Aisha Association for Women and Child Protection, emphasized in the statement issued by PNGO's women sector that “this event within the activities of the International Day for Combating Violence Against Women to mobilize the governmental and non-governmental efforts to adopt attitudes and raise their voices against all forms of violence against women."
She pointed out that "the 16-day campaign for combating violence against women conveys a national message that emphasizes the Palestinian women's right to return and right to live a life of dignity."
Frainah explained that 2016 is the worst year since more than 60 years for the Palestinian people in general and women in particular, since tens of thousands of women and their children left homeless, others experience poverty and unemployment amid unprecedented highest rates of poverty and unemployment.
Moreover, the frequent Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip for more than ten years left thousands of women either martyrs, wounded or widows in addition to those who sustained disabilities.
"The right to return is a legitimate, national and sacred right of the Palestinian people; a right that cannot be bargained or given up or extorted, '' .Frainah said, '' All the plots and plans that aimed to liquidate the Palestinian refugees issue and right to return, thwarted by the steadfastness of our people and the sacrifices of the Palestinian resistance as well as their adherence to the rights and constants not to mention their defense to their rights and their lives. "
Frainah called upon the Palestinian authority to demand the international organizations and the international community to assume their historical responsibility towards the Palestinian people under the international law and international resolutions relevant to the supreme national interests of the Palestinian people.
She stressed the need to emphasize on the justice of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people's right to resist the occupation to achieve freedom and establish an independent state with a capital in Jerusalem, in the international arena. She also stressed the need to mobilize liberation movements as well as the feminist movements worldwide against the Israeli occupation and boycott the occupation internationally.
Frainah affirmed the need to work within the national consensus program approved by the Palestinian factions, the most recently on May 4th, 2013, comprehensive national dialogue outcomes in Cairo and the reconciliation talks or understandings in February 2013.
She called to apply the decisions of the Central Council of the PLO of March 2015; especially with regard to the unity of the Palestinian action and restore the cohesion of the Palestinian national movement.
The participants of the sit-in called upon the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people and immediately intervene to protect the Palestinian women prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons. They also called to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to respect women prisoners' dignity. They stated that the Israeli occupation's violence is the main obstacle to achieve community development, democracy, equality, and social justice