The three-day conference in Beirut, Lebanon of the Forum of Arab Women and Armed Conflicts ended on Tuesday with a final statement that primarily condemned Israel and had precious little to do with women, per se.
The closing statement spoke of "the inhuman practices [the] Arab woman is exposed to under the Israeli occupation and Israel's violations of the international norms and conventions," reports Arabicnews.com. The Forum's final statement also emphasized "the necessity of distinguishing the legitimate right of resisting occupation from terrorism and the random killing of civilians, which is practiced by Israel."
The Arab Women's Forum concluded with a call for Israeli withdrawal "from all occupied Arab territories," for "compelling Israel to remove the apartheid separation wall in the occupied Palestinian territories," and for dismantling weapons of mass destruction, "top [priority] of which [is] dismantling Israel's weapons arsenal."
The predictable concluding statement of the Arab Women's Forum was foreshadowed by Syria's paper presented at the conference. Entitled, "The Situation of Syrian Women in the Occupied Golan and Effects of Israeli Occupation on the Family", the paper described what it claimed were the psychological and social as well as other consequences of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights. (Israel annexed the Golan in 1981 and extended Israeli law – including its civil rights protections – to all residents of the region.)
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the region, police in Madina, Saudi Arabia, arrested a Moroccan woman for being infected with HIV. She had escaped from a hospital in Jeddah last October, Al-Watan reported earlier this month. According to police, a Saudi man helped the woman escape and provided her with housing. Both the man and the Moroccan woman are in custody.
The closing statement spoke of "the inhuman practices [the] Arab woman is exposed to under the Israeli occupation and Israel's violations of the international norms and conventions," reports Arabicnews.com. The Forum's final statement also emphasized "the necessity of distinguishing the legitimate right of resisting occupation from terrorism and the random killing of civilians, which is practiced by Israel."
The Arab Women's Forum concluded with a call for Israeli withdrawal "from all occupied Arab territories," for "compelling Israel to remove the apartheid separation wall in the occupied Palestinian territories," and for dismantling weapons of mass destruction, "top [priority] of which [is] dismantling Israel's weapons arsenal."
The predictable concluding statement of the Arab Women's Forum was foreshadowed by Syria's paper presented at the conference. Entitled, "The Situation of Syrian Women in the Occupied Golan and Effects of Israeli Occupation on the Family", the paper described what it claimed were the psychological and social as well as other consequences of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights. (Israel annexed the Golan in 1981 and extended Israeli law – including its civil rights protections – to all residents of the region.)
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the region, police in Madina, Saudi Arabia, arrested a Moroccan woman for being infected with HIV. She had escaped from a hospital in Jeddah last October, Al-Watan reported earlier this month. According to police, a Saudi man helped the woman escape and provided her with housing. Both the man and the Moroccan woman are in custody.