Peace Talk: A Dialogue

Peace Talk was a public workshop organized by Naba Zouinati and Tamar Eylon[1] in Vancouver, Canada. The goal of Peace Talk was to discuss the work and ideas of Arab feminists and the work and ideas of Palestinian and Israeli Women’s Groups to end the occupation and start negotiations. Naba and Tamar spoke about their relationship to each other, their countries and the current Israeli State expansion. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation:

N
The Algerian national liberation fighters were well organized but they had the support of hundreds of thousands of women with the promise of equality and a change in their status.  After Independence, there were a few alterations but no true change in women’s equality.  Because a solid infrastructure was not immediately incorporated there was crisis, economic depression and that’s when people started turning to religion.  This contributed to the fundamentalism in the area. Men were forcing women back into the kitchen, raping them and chopping their heads off for not wearing veils.  Women were totally betrayed.  They had worked their asses off for Algeria but Algeria has given them nothing, nothing at all.  The freedom fighters, the guys, made the national liberation the priority and put feminist issues aside.   Women were shut down and cornered.  When feminists spoke about women’s freedom they would be accused of wanting to be part of the French. If they were not being called traitors then it was selfish for putting them selves before whole nation. This is what we are afraid is preventing many women from joining feminism in Palestine.

T
In the Palestinian national struggle it goes without saying that women contribute a large amount of the political momentum, organizing and labor.  This is so true that women in the refugee camps don’t feel a need to have to account for their share, seeing that their men were either in a different state working, in jail or at the training camps for military resistance. Palestinian women organizers paid close attention to the fate of Algerian women and pressed on with their feminist agenda.  The Palestinian Women’s Union drew up, ‘The Declarations of Principles of Palestinians Women’s Rights’ that they hoped would be included in the Constitution of Palestine, once it was established.  They presented it to the PLO, which responded by saying they would agree with it as long as it doesn’t conflict with the Koran.

N
Women have said it before and I’ll say it again; secularism needs to be at the top of the Arab feminist agenda.  Religion can be interpreted in a million ways yet no woman’s interpretation of the Koran is taken seriously and this applies to other religions too.  If religion is included in the constitution it will be used as a tool to excuse sexism.  Having a Muslim state means that women have two legal fights one with the state’s system and with one with the Sharia, which is the Muslim legal system.

T
The only way I see that feminists can avoid this is once the occupation is forced to end that they be the negotiators.  I don’t trust the UN to be interfering and since women are in the lead, like with the Jerusalem Link, (The coordinating body of two independent women's centers: Bat Shalom-The Jerusalem Women's Action Center, and Marcaz al-Quds la-Nissah-The Jerusalem Center for Women, Located in East Jerusalem) where they have already forged alliances as Israelis and Palestinians, they should decide what to do next.  But we know that this most likely is not going to happen. 

N
So what we are realistically looking at is a two state solution but if what we want is a Middle East free from violence, a two state solution does not necessarily solve that problem.  Once the colonizer is driven out, women still have to deal with the state, which is operated by men and for men and in that, women see no cease in violence.  Examples are the many countries that are not in a state of war but still have high rates of violence against women.  Getting rid of one form of oppression and substituting it by another in the form of an "independent nation" is not an efficient solution.  Both have the same root, being patriarchy, and patriarchy is a big problem.  As long as patriarchy is not dismantled, violence against women will not stop and therefore there will be no violence free Middle East. Peace is not only the end of bombs exploding and tanks driving down streets.  Peace is when all people live free from violence.  It has been very easy throughout history to forget that women are included in the people category, like it has been easy to ignore rape and battery as being war.

T
Look at the Jewish Israeli women; they are the occupiers yet men oppress them. There are several rape crisis lines and transition houses that are full with women through out the year because they are battered and raped like women all over the world.  How do you expect your man to go to war and be killing other people and then come home and be gentle?  Women know that there is an increase in violence against all women during war.   Jewish Israeli women need to empathize and identify with each other, other Israeli women and with Palestinian women because of their shared oppression as women.  Some have been dong this but not enough.  Jewish Israeli women would then fight in larger numbers for their own government to end the occupation for their own sake as well as for their Palestinian allies.  They would be doing this not because they are martyrs but because they see that their freedom is dependant on one another.

N
I agree that just like the Israeli women need to start empathizing and thinking of the Palestinian women I also think Palestinian women have to do the same.  If peace is going to happen in the Middle East it will be women from both sides willing to come together with the goal of true equality.  Of course the compromises would be different for each side considering the significant amount of power Israel has.  If this kind of solidarity grows amongst women there is more of a chance that the lives of all women from whatever country they come from will be better.

N
Successful liberation movements are those that have stemmed from the realization that liberation is not going to come from the hands of the oppressor. Freedom fighters such as those in Algeria and Morocco were very aware of this. They mobilized people by making it known that individual freedoms are tied to the freedom of the state, and that for the state to be free, they all had to fight and resist.  Women need to do the same in our liberation movement.  Men are not about to hand over their power because that would mean changes that would not serve their purposes.  The only way we are going to get free is if all women come together and demand freedom. Once we are large in numbers our demands and struggles can no longer be silenced, our voices will be heard and our actions will heavily impact our societies.

T
When we are suggesting for women to be thinking about themselves as women first we are not saying women only.  Racism and classism are feminist problems all the same.  Land and culture are not trivial.  The alliances that feminists have built across the border to end the occupation and bring about peace will need to continue regardless and despite a victory for Palestinians.   These feminists have a very difficult challenge.   The alliances they have spent decades building constantly need to change depending on the political climate and activity and still keep to an agenda of women’s rights. But we have numbers. Women are the majority of the people on this planet.  Women do most of the work in this world.  We are extremely intelligent, resourceful and strong.  Women’s liberation will be achieved.

Reprinted with permission from off our backs, july-august 2002, wherein this article was first published.
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 Aftermath

My name is Tamar.  I work at Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter. I was born in Israel with roots in Eastern Europe.   I have been living in Canada most of my life.

There was lots of media coverage on Israel/Palestine before and after the war on Afghanistan, but not very much recently.  Naba and I put together a presentation called Peace Talk in response to so much public talk about the Middle East.  We wanted to say something feminist because no one else did. 

Naba is an Arab woman on visa from Morocco.  We had come across a brilliant video from the Canadian National Film Board called Beyond Borders, Arab Feminists Speak about Their Lives East and West, in which a group of activists from different countries fight for women’s rights above nationalism.  

We would show the film, have an informal interview with each other about our lives and our feminism and then open the discussion.  We continue to do the Peace Talk.

We could use your help.

We are aware of organizations like Bat Shalom, The Jerusalem Link, New Profile, Women’s Peace Coalition and others which are either or both feminist and mixed Jewish and Arab.  (Not that one can’t be both)  However, we are very interested in rape crisis centers and transition houses.  We have learned that they are open to all women and have been historically.  We would like to know the analysis of women and war from front line anti violence workers. 

Rape Relief’s analysis of violence against women is that men hold power over women like the rich over the poor, like the white over people of color.  Rape and battery are a demonstration of that power as well as a means to keep women in their place, subordinate.  We organize as women only so that we may meet, rest and plan our fight for independence from our abuser and freedom from oppression.  Please visit our website to learn more http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca

Please tell us what you think, pass this on to other women and especially rape crisis workers and transition houses for battered women. Contact us at:

nabazouinati@hotmail.com and tamareylon@yahoo.com

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[1] Even though Tamar Eylon is the editor’s daughter, contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor.