PAJU was founded in November of 2000. In February of 2001, PAJU began its series of weekly vigils every Friday based on the vigil held every Friday by Women in Black in Israel. We began our Friday vigil in front of the Israeli Consulate at the corner of René Lévesque Boulevard and Peel Street in Montreal along with the Jewish Alliance Against the Occupation. The vigil lasted every Friday – winter, summer, spring and fall – for seven years, at which point Israel moved its Montreal consulate to quieter corners, citing our vigil as its reason for moving.
Subsequently, the weekly vigil was moved to different points of the City of Montreal whereby PAJU distributed (and forwarded via internet) a weekly tract drawn from a news item highlighting the abuses brought upon Palestinians by Israel’s illegal occupation of stolen Palestinian land, as well as explaining the nature of the Palestinians’ legitimate claims to justice and nationhood. Beginning with the first vigil, a PAJU committee chose a particular news item from different world sources – including Israeli sources such as Haaretz – to be printed and distributed to passersby at our vigils, one side of the tract in French, the other in English.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, PAJU has suspended its weekly Friday vigil until such a time as it is safe to begin anew. However, we continue to forward news items to our mailing list. The present news item regarding the emergence of women (and feminism) in Israeli politics is article number 1 000. In other words, PAJU is hereby sending out its 1 000th consecutive weekly news item which began in February, 2001. We will continue to express our solidarity with the legitimate claims of the Palestinian people for peace with justice. END THE OCCUPATION!
Meet the women of the Knesset’s Joint List
Eetta Prince-Gibson
Women have not fared well in the recently instated Knesset. All the major parties are currently led by men. The number of women in the Knesset has decreased from 35 to 30, and women make up only 25% of the overall elected members of the Knesset.
Yet women in the Arab Joint List have done well: Out of the Joint List’s 15 members, four are women — double the two in the previous Knesset.
The Joint List is made up of four different parties running together as a bloc, and each party has one woman member. (more…)