Last Friday as the UN Commission on the Status of Women’s 57th session drew to a close, a text on the Situation of and Assistance to Palestinian Women, was approved. Israel and the US were the only two countries to vote against the resolution of the 37 delegations present.
The, now annual, resolution was the only one before the Council that focused on a specific situation, indicating the continued selectivity UN bodies employ with regards to Israel. Thus prompting Israel’s delegate to call it “one-sided”, “biased” and “”unhelpful.”
In essence, the resolution would have the Economic and Social Council affirm that the “Israeli occupation remained the major obstacle” for Palestinian women’s “advancement, self-reliance and integration in their society’s development.” As usual it refrained from mentioning any internal causes of human rights violations against women, such as Hamas’ implementation of their extremist ideology in Gaza; or the patriarchal nature of Palestinian society which resulted in much “domestic violence, discrimination, stereotypes and honor killings” in the West Bank and Gaza – therefore, vindicating the Israeli delegate’s claim that the draft presented a “distorted and inaccurate” version of the reality on the ground.