WPS25 Policy Brief: Palestine

Based on discussions with feminist leaders advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), this brief highlights the growing challenges faced by women’s rights organizations and activists. Originally celebrated for elevating women’s voices in conflict and peacebuilding, the WPS framework promised a transformative vision of gender equality and feminist peace. For Palestinian women and girls living since many decades under Israel’s prolonged illegal occupation, this promise remains unfulfilled.

For the past two years, Israel has carried out an indiscriminate aerial and ground campaign against the Gaza Strip, subjecting more than two million Palestinians to extreme dehumanization. These developments over te last two years do not mark the beginning of Israel’s policies and practices in the OPT, but rather their culmination.