We send love and solidarity for your March that expresses women’s absolute opposition to the Wall’s ghettoisation of Palestinian society, the theft of its land and water, and the genocide of its people. You act for women all over the world who face unending violence, as well as for all – Muslim, Jewish, Christian, atheist . . . – who oppose the particular form of apartheid you confront daily.

We are women from an international network which has been campaigning since 1972 to make visible women’s unwaged caring work and our right to society’s support for this work. Our central demand is that society Invest in Caring, not Killing, and that military budgets be returned, first of all to carers.

The struggle in Palestine is portrayed as a struggle only of men. Yet it is clear that the Occupation which has imposed racist violence, daily loss of life and heartbreak on the entire population, also has meant a tremendous workload for women, especially as every source of income is blocked. Without the caring work that women do, families and communities would not survive or be able to sustain the extraordinary resistance to the occupying force that we witness every day. Yet women’s vital contribution to this struggle is hidden and unrecognised, and women’s demands are as invisible as our work.

The Occupation of Palestine is never connected with any other imperialist occupation – just as the holocaust against Jewish people has been disconnected from the many holocausts, beginning in modern times with that of Indigenous people and enslaved Africans hundreds of years ago, which continue to this day.

All over the world, populations are organising massive resistance to US economic domination enforced by military might. US military spending is more than half of the $900+ billion world expenditure. Israel, the US policeman in the Middle East, is the third largest world military power.

From Colombia and Venezuela to Angola and Congo, Vietnam and East Timor, we have faced invasions, military dictatorships, coups, death squads, assassinations, disappearances . . . We have had governments forced on us, while those we have chosen were eliminated. And every time, it is women, starting with mothers, who have organised for the right to survival and to food for our children, spearheading movements which have led to the defeat of our oppressors.

In London (England), Galway (Ireland) and some US cities we hold weekly pickets against the occupation and exploitation of Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Congo and other countries where imperial powers are perpetrating genocide for the benefit of corporations and political and military domination. Women in our network have held anti-war actions in many countries. We bear witness in order to save lives by publicising and supporting the struggles of our sisters in Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere.

Today, we will publicise your March on our pickets and through whatever media we have access to. We are with you, women of Jayyous; we are with you, women of Palestine; we are with you today and every day until the walls and those who build them fall.

Global Women’s Strike Argentina, England, Guyana, India, Ireland, Peru, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, United States, Venezuela

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Original Message From International Solidarity Movement

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT October 21, 2003 For Immediate Release

***Media Advisory***

WOMEN MARCH AGAINST THE WALL Mothers demand right to feed their children

[Jayyous, Qalqilya] For the first time since the construction of the Separation Wall, Jayyous women will collectively demonstrate their opposition to the Israeli Occupation and the confiscation of their farmland. The Jayyous Women's Charitable Society will be organizing and leading a women's march on Thursday, October 23 beginning at 8 am. The march will proceed from the Jayyous Charitable Society Building down to the West Gate of the Separation Wall.

The Wall is built 6 km inside the Green Line, cutting through Jayyous farmland and impeding the natural agricultural cycle and olive harvest. The farmland in Jayyous, and all over the West Bank, provides the major source of income to Palestinian families, and the recent gate closures mean financial crisis for much of the local community. International women are invited to join the women of Jayyous in solidarity to draw attention to the suffering of men, women, and children.

The Jayyous Women's Charitable Society was founded in 1980 to promote the social, political and economic development of women in Jayyous. The Society currently has 200 active members in the 3,000 person town.

For more information please contact: Huwaida +972-67-473-308 Francesca +972-66-290-618

For transportation information please contact: Laura +972-58-628-014

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The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led nonviolent initiative supported by International Peace Activists from all over the world. ISM aims towards ending the Israeli Occupation in Palestine through nonviolent means.
Tel: +97222774602 Fax: +972227744773 e-mail:  ism-alert@palsolidarity.org Web: www.palsolidarity.org