On 18 March 2026, the 麻豆APP Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People convened its 427th meeting on “Discriminatory Laws and Policies against Palestinian Women and Girls under Israeli Occupation: Justice Demands Accountability” held on the margins of the seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women at 麻豆APP Headquarters. However, four of the participants spoke by video from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, due to a combination of United States visa restrictions on Palestinian passports, and the unpredictable airspace in the Middle East.
In her opening remarks?Mona Al-Khalil, Minister for Women’s Affairs for the State of Palestine, stressed that Palestinian women have always been a fundamental pillar of resilience as mothers, community leaders, teachers and healers. ?In the current Israeli aggression, “daily life for Palestinian women has become much more difficult, while the responsibilities within families and societies have multiplied”.? Women’s economic empowerment is one of the “key elements of Palestinian society’s recovery”, she said.
The meeting examined how Israeli occupation policies affect Palestinian women’s rights, particularly their access to justice and essential services. Speakers highlighted how conflict, displacement and legal barriers disproportionately affect women in Gaza and the West Bank, stressing the need to end impunity for human rights violations. “I am speaking to you today” from “a Gaza Strip that is without justice”, Amal Syam, Director of the civil society organization Women Affairs Centre, said, addressing the gendered impact of the war on Gaza. ?Access to justice requires a fair legislative environment and supportive social and economic structures so that women can enjoy their rights without fear of destruction or displacement. ?But international laws and human rights conventions failed to protect the 33,000 women, including 9,000 mothers, killed by Israel, or the hundreds of thousands who now live in overcrowded, unsanitary camps, she said.
The Committee also heard from two human rights lawyers who addressed access to justice and accountability, including through reparations and restitutions.
Sawsan Zaher, speaking from Haifa, stressed that the Israeli legal system was intentionally created to allow for impunity, as repeatedly demonstrated through various military campaigns against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. ?It has never been neutral. Citing several specific cases that failed to bring about accountability, she declared: “The system is basically built to defend any operation of the [Israeli] army.” Grave violations that continue to go unpunished include rape, taking humiliating pictures of women and their intimate clothing and looting Palestinian homes.? Meanwhile, she said, the Israeli High Court, the only body able to provide judicial review over the Army, refuses to engage with international fact-finding missions or intervene in such cases.
Speaking from Ramallah, human rights lawyer Lina Fattom highlighted the need for reparations — a mechanism well-enshrined in international law to restore a situation to how it would have been without the wrongful act. The primary form of reparations has been “restitution”, and this can take many forms, including the return of people to their land. ?When restitution is not available, it can take the shape of compensation and rehabilitation — including medical, psychological and legal — among others. She went on to detail the many different types of violations in the West Bank and identify possible reparations. ?For instance, reparations for the violation of the right of return are restitution, compensation for losses and guarantees of non-repetition. ?“While reparations can happen during a peace treaty, they can also happen through justice mechanisms such as courts,” she pointed out, adding that third States can and must enable Palestinians access to justice through international or State-based courts. Reparations must be gender-sensitive and consider the heightened harm women and girls experience in occupation, she added. ?Loss of property disproportionately affects them because they often bear the burden of maintaining families. ?They also face increased risk of sexual violence and exploitation during displacement and detention.
Along similar lines, Carol Daniel-Kasbari, Senior Associate Director for Conflict Resolution at the Carter Center, stressed the need to bring a gender lens to current political initiatives for the reconstruction of Gaza.? This is not just about including women, but about helping them have a real voice in shaping the future, she said. ?She cited a recently released Palestinian detainee who described feeling as through she “had disappeared into a system where no one could see or hear us”. ?“That invisibility is, in itself, a form of discrimination,” she said. She detailed how detention, movement restrictions and loss of documents impact Palestinian women in ways that are both political and personal. ?“Losing papers is not symbolic,” she said — without records, people cannot prove land ownership, unify family members or access public services. ?For female-headed households, this causes prolonged legal uncertainty. ?The implementation of General Assembly resolution? is key because it will impact how political and administrative arrangements are designed, she said. ?It will shape the institutions that shape recovery and if the gender lens is ignored, “inequalities risk being built into the system”.
