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NEW YORK -An international women's
commission met with UN officials urging that women play a
stronger role in talks between Israelis and Palestinians and use
the newly elected Hamas government as a vehicle for peace
negotiations.
Members of the International Women's Commission, comprising
Israeli and Palestinian delegates, urged Wednesday that peace
talks between Israel and Hamas continue despite the deep
political disagreements on both sides.
"The more we say this is impossible, the more impossible we will
make it," said Colette Avital, deputy speaker of Israel's
Parliament, the Knesset, and a key presenter at the panel
discussion.
Avital, a Labor Party legislator and former consul to New York,
pointed out that for the first time since 1967 the majority of
Israeli parliament members openly support a peaceful resolution.
While most consider it a "necessity" for coexistence, they also
called for help from the U.S. government to succeed.
"For the past three or four years many of us have been advocating
for the Bush administration to get out of its lethargy and to try
to help us," Avital said. So far, the "administration has no
great successes."
The Palestinian delegates agreed that American support was
needed, but argued that while Hamas is subjected to international
pressure to recognize Israel and renounce suicide bombers, it was
elected in a democratic process and should be an equal partner in
a two-state solution.
"In this kind of conflict there should be no losers. If one side
feels defeated that is not peace," said Maha Abu Daiyeh Shamas,
director of the Women's Center for Legal Aid, a Palestinian
nonprofit organization. "We have to break the way things are
being handled."
Members of the commission are traveling to Washington on Thursday
to meet with members of Congress and U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice in hopes of triggering new peace negotiations.
"As women, we have a key role to play in meeting challenges and
starting the longer-term process of rebuilding communities,
reviving dialogue among all parts of society and showing that
there are other ways to live," said Naomi Chazan, former deputy
speaker of the Knesset and a Meretz Party MK, who participated in
the discussion at Norway's UN Mission.
The International Women's Commission, established in July 2005,
works toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict between
Israelis and Palestinians. It comprises 20 Palestinian women, 20
Israeli women and 20 women from various countries around the
world
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