Week 43: Women in Conflict Online Gathering

On October 26th we learned about the effects of conflict on women in Palestine. Our guest will be Sandrine Amer from the YWCA of Jerusalem.

More about our guest:

Sandrine Amer is a Palestinian living in Jerusalem, for the last 10 years I have been occupying the position of the executive director of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Jerusalem (YWCA). Sandrine comes from a law and human rights educational background. Alongside with management, advocacy and gender professional background.

Sandrine is committed to the promotion and the realization of gender equity, women empowerment, tolerance, cultural diversity and also committed in issues related to youth leadership and their freedom of expression to promote and advance their full participation in decision making as to contribute to building a democratic and free civil society.

I have been a volunteer at the YWCA for around 15 years prior to my current post and I have been promoting volunteerism as well. After being a program beneficiary during my childhood, I started to get involved at the association as a youth activist then to becoming a member at the Human Rights and Women rights committee, then joining the constitution committee to becoming a board member on the local and national level which did entail policy making and strategic planning After that I was elected to join the audit and monitoring committee prior to filling the executive director post.

This accumulated experience contributed positively to my work performance and enriched my understanding of the job requirements, deliveries and skills. Yet ,being a female youth; living under occupation and within a patriarchal system ; I am motivated to overcome these challenges by putting utmost efforts  on delivering the best to Jerusalem and its’ people throughout the different programs provided by the YWCA ;such as programs focusing on women economic empowerment and on raising the awareness of Palestinian women on their rights, duties and responsibilities, programs encouraging the civic engagement of youth and  programs promoting and providing as well the cognitive learning for children.

Within my work, I consider myself more as a team leader, rather than a typical director. I believe in the participatory approach. I am passionate of my work as it is in harmony with my personal values. I came to this job with lots of energy, commitment and determination towards achieving the aimed goals by adopting new techniques and styles in both management and in program implementation. I also give much attention to promoting team building and on boosting the staff commitment to their working place in addition to enhancing their working conditions for better delivery and work effectiveness.

Best ,

Sandrine Amer

Activism Time

Urgent Action:

On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be terrorist organizations. 

These organizations include: 

• Addameer
• al-Haq
• Defense for Children International
  Palestine
• Union of Agricultural Work Committees
• Bisan Center for Research and Development 
• Union of Palestinian Women Committees

The declaration enables Israeli authorities to close their offices, seize their assets, and ban support of their activities. 

We need you to support these organizations!

1. Begin by emailing your support to these organizations, thanking them for their tireless work for Palestine. Email addresses will be shared for each organization.

2. Share the “FOSNA Statement on Israel’s Labeling of Top Palestinian Human Rights Agencies as ‘Terrorist Organizations’” with everyone you can.

Email addresses for each:

• Addameer – info@addameer.ps
• al-Haq – info@alhaq.org 
• Defense for Children International
• Palestine – https://www.dci-palestine.org/contact
• Union of Agricultural Work Committees – info@uawc-pal.org 
• Bisan Center for Research and Development – info@bisan.org
• Union of Palestinian Women Committees – upwc@palnet.com

Article about this pronouncement: https://www.palestinechronicle.com/including-addameer-and-al-haq-israel-outlaws-six-major-palestinian-human-rights-organizations/ 

The FOSNA Statement: https://holylandjustice.org/2021/10/24/fosna-statement-on-israels-labeling-of-top-palestinian-human-rights-agencies-as-terrorist-organizations/

Citizens in the United States can also use this script and form from Jewish Voice for Peace to contact their representatives and senators: https://act.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/a/call-congress-defend-pal-orgs

Kumi Action is at:
https://kuminow.com/womeninconflict/#kumiaction

Take action and start a vigil on October 31! Follow this link to learn more about the general guidelines to start a Women in Black vigil. Coordinate with your local Kumi Community to publicize when and where your vigil will be. Take a picture of your vigil and share it on social media. Schedule your vigil so that you can stop and pray at 13:25 PM (1:25 PM) for one minute according to your timezone in honor of UNSC Resolution 1325. 

If you are unable to join or host a vigil you can call a women’s organization in your area and tell them about the resolution and ask them to speak about Palestinian women this week in honor of UNSC Resolution 1325. If they ask for ideas or more information you can suggest that they publish the story from the Kumi action. 

Post photos or videos from your vigil, or the messages you sent, on social media, tagging the women’s organizations you contacted. Include a link to this page of the Kumi Now website along with the hashtags #KumiNow and #Kumi43. 

From the Presentation/Chat

Coming after the session.