Paving the Way for Women’s Inclusion in Palestinian and Israeli Peacebuilding

By Orly Benaroch Light
WILPF San Diego

November 2021

Women have consistently been leaders in the process to bring peace to the Middle East. The exclusion of women from the political arena, heavily populated by military men, has empowered women and contributed to a different outlook on the central problems of Israel. Shaqued Morag is the executive director of Peace Now, an Israeli organization that says a two-state solution is the only way to secure Israel's identity as a Jewish state and a democracy—the very vision on which the state was founded.
 
At a time when inspiring acts of leadership and strategic judgment to secure the future Israeli-Palestinian people are needed, Shaqued Morag, leads women for peace with style, character and principles that are critical for building a world where Israelis and Palestinians aren’t enemies but neighbors and friends.
 
Before joining Peace Now as the executive director, Shaqued served in senior positions in the Meretz party, including as the party’s interim Secretary-General and as an adviser to Member of the Knesset Michal Rozin. Previously, she was a community coordinator in Jerusalem for Mahapach-Taghir, a grassroots Israeli Jewish-Palestinian organization for social change, of which she is now on the executive committee.
 
Watch my interview with Shaqued and find out what is the biggest challenge she is facing as a woman doing the work that she does, how her organization plans to overcome the obstacles in the Middle East to help strengthen and build peace, and how criticism of Israel and its policies is not hostility and prejudice directed against Jewish people.