In a reality where the public discourse is that we will forever sit on our sword, from a young age girls aspire to the war effort • However, female power is expressed at the end of conflicts • Opinion
Illustration image (photographed has nothing to do with the news)
Photo:
Eyal Margolin Ginny
If we thought that the petitions of the girls seeking to differentiate into combat roles in the army were superfluous 25 years ago, following the High Court of Justice Alice Miller, we were wrong. In recent days, the petition of female soldiers who were expelled from seamen's course , Deeply ingrained in the DNA of Israeli society and especially of the army. In a reality where public discourse is forever on our sword, from an early age girls strive to contribute to the country and the war effort. To this is added the motivation to fulfill the service in an interesting and challenging way. , As long as the army is considered a high social coefficient, those girls mark for themselves, as patrol graduates, the privileges and prestige that they will reap when they go out for citizenship.
Observing the female angle in armed conflicts and wars is not new.
Recently, the world, as well as Israel, marked 20 years since UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (Women Peace and Security). The resolution for the first time demonstrated the significant number of positions in which women are in war zones, both as combatants and combat supporters, and as uniquely peaceful and vulnerable. Women, along with their exclusion from the discussion tables dealing with peace and security and negotiations to end the conflicts.
Personally, Resolution 1325 greatly influenced my personal and professional development and flooded to the surface, the many and different identities that live within me.
The Israeli woman, the Jew, the Russian-speaking immigrant girl, the feminist lawyer, the human rights fighter, the mother, the soldier, the security worker at El Al and the activist, who decided 20 years ago that she would do everything she could to end the occupation. In the leadership of stubborn and uncompromising women.
Are the determined warriors, who have been expelled from the seamen's course and those who serve in the combat role they dreamed of, the leaders of our future?
By being an integral part of the fighting forces, will they succeed - from a broader perspective - in noticing that the reality in which we live, as Israelis, Jews, is only seemingly 'normal'.
In practice, we are occupying another nation and controlling the resources of a population of millions of people, in a protracted conflict in which women experience gender-based violence, the consequences of which cannot be measured, but it is clear to all, whether the perpetrators are us as a state, or an army, or a society. An interesting thing, one that hurts not only our 'enemies' but our sons as well.
Will they succeed in motivating broad political actions to end the wars?
World experience shows that protracted violent conflicts are only resolved when women are added to the negotiating table.
It has worked in South Africa, Ireland, Colombia and Sudan - but not yet in Israel.
Similar to the places reserved for men only in the army, the under-representation of women is also evident in civil forums of peace and security.
Although there has been a law in Israel since 2005, which requires women from a variety of population groups to be included in all negotiations to resolve the conflict - in 2021 it has not yet been implemented.
For the time being, women are absent from the official and secret negotiations, both with the Palestinians and with other countries and entities.
These days we are working on the establishment of a large database, which will include Ted-style videos on Resolution 1325, which will give a perspective on the resolution and the possible ways to express it in the public space.
Along with the struggle for a place in combat service, perhaps the time has also come for women, from various social groups, and not just those who serve in the army, to be heard and present wherever discussions are held to resolve the conflict and promote peace and security.
We will recognize that women have much to contribute, beyond their unwavering ability to serve as combatants in cruisers.
Thus, we can offer young women, on both sides of the conflict, to see and choose an alternative option - to take off their uniforms and work to rehabilitate the ruins of the war and build our two societies.
Whatever it is, the female voice will surely change the picture.
The author is a lawyer and director of the "City for All" program at the "With You Maaki - Lawyers for Social Justice"