Joint Ventures for Peace: Women and Sustainable Human Development in the Israeli-Palestinian Context

Abstract

A long-lasting peace is dependent not only on elected decision makers but also on “ordinary people” who, in their everyday practices, carry out justice and peace on the ground. Therefore, peace and justice have to be present in a myriad of ongoing joint Israeli and Palestinian economic, business, and social ventures that are based in the principles of sustainable human development. This chapter discusses such work, with a focus on women’s roles and activities in justice and peace building.

We must understand the role of human rights as empowering of individuals and communities. By protecting these rights, we can help prevent the many conflicts based on poverty, discrimination and exclusion (social, economic and political) that continue to plague humanity and destroy decades of development efforts. The vicious circle of human rights violations that lead to conflicts—which in turn lead to more violations—must be broken. I believe we can break it only by ensuring respect for all human rights.

(Mary Robinson, 1998, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)