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For Immediate Release
March, 10 2015, 10:30am EDT
Contact:
Christine Ahn, Women De-Militarize the Zone: (310) 482-9333 (in English)
Hyun-Kyung Chung: (347) 622-1014 (in Korean)
International Peacemakers Announce Women's Walk for Peace and Reunification of Korea
During the 59th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting, leading global women peacemakers will announce their plans for a women's peace walk calling for an end to the Korean War, which is technically unresolved without a peace treaty. Millions of Korean families remain separated as both Koreas live in a state of war. Gloria Steinem, Abigail Disney, Ann Wright, Suzy Kim, Keum-ok Kim, Hyun-Kyung Chung and Christine Ahn will speak.
What: Announcement of International Peacemakers' Walk for Peace in Korea
NEW YORK, NY
During the 59th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting, leading global women peacemakers will announce their plans for a women's peace walk calling for an end to the Korean War, which is technically unresolved without a peace treaty. Millions of Korean families remain separated as both Koreas live in a state of war. Gloria Steinem, Abigail Disney, Ann Wright, Suzy Kim, Keum-ok Kim, Hyun-Kyung Chung and Christine Ahn will speak.
What: Announcement of International Peacemakers' Walk for Peace in Korea
When: Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 at 11:00am
Where: U.N. Correspondents Association Meeting Room S-310, U.N. Secretariat
In May 2015, international women peacemakers will travel to Korea to meet with women leaders to embark upon a peace-building initiative to formally end the Korean War, including the launch of a global petition urging signatories of the 1953 armistice agreement to replace the cease-fire with a permanent peace treaty.
The delegation includes two Nobel Peace Laureates, Mairead Maguire from Northern Ireland and Leymah Gbowee from Liberia, and women leaders from over a dozen countries, many of which participated in the 1950-53 Korean War. At the press briefing, representatives of the women's peace delegation will give an update on the governments' approval to cross the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ, that separates the two Koreas) on May 24th, International Disarmament Day.
Gloria Steinem, renowned American author and Honorary Co-Chair of the international delegation, says "If this division can be healed even briefly by women, it will be inspiring in the way that women brought peace out of war in Northern Ireland or Liberia. In Northern Ireland women crossed the boundary of religion and region, and said, 'No more'. For generations, the divisions seemed inevitable but women managed to cross it and now Ireland is a peaceful country."
Suzy Kim, professor of Korean history at Rutgers University, explains, "Known as the Forgotten War, the Korean War claimed 4 million lives, mostly Korean civilians. The brinkmanship we witness today, from war games to nuclear weapons, stem from that historic fact that a peace treaty was never signed."
"American women have a very important role to play in this, not as people who dictate the solutions, but because of the role our country played in drawing the line and now very aggressively plays in enforcing it," says the award-winning American filmmaker and philanthropist, Abigail Disney.
According to retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, "My government should support the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas by de-escalating military tensions. Although both sides claim defense, when there is no communication and just a show of force, the chances for "miscalculation" are unimaginably high and very dangerous. We need to de-escalate tensions, engage North Korea in talks, and sign a peace treaty."
"We are collaborating with the international women to mobilize Korean women," says Keum-ok Kim, Standing Representative of Korean Women's Association United, the largest umbrella organization of South Korean women's NGOs.
Christine Ahn, one of the organizers, says, "We are walking to unite Korean families tragically separated by an artificial, man-made division, and to re-direct government investment away from the military towards improving the welfare of the people, in particular women, children and the elderly."
International Women's Delegation
Honorary Co-Chairs
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate 1976, Northern Ireland
Gloria Steinem, Author and Founder of Ms. Magazine, USA
Executive Committee
Christine Ahn, Women De-Militarize the Zone, USA
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder Code Pink, USA
Hyun-Kyung Chung PhD, Professor, Union Theological Seminary, ROK/USA
Gay Dillingham, Filmmaker & Environmental Advisor to Governor Bill Richardson, USA
Suzy Kim, PhD, Professor, Rutgers University, USA
Vana Kim PhD, Spiritual Teacher, Canada/USA
Gwyn Kirk, Co-founder Women for Genuine Security, USA/United Kingdom
Sung-ok Lee, United Methodist Women, USA
Cora Weiss, President, Hague Appeal for Peace, USA
Ann Wright, Former U.S. Army Colonel, USA
Aiyoung Choi, Korean American Family Service Center, USA
Jean Chung, Co-Founder Action for One Korea, USA
Abigail Disney, Filmmaker, USA
Jodie Evans, Co-Founder Code Pink, USA
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate 2012, Liberia
Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas Director, Amnesty International, USA/Mexico/United Kingdom
Patricia Guerrero, League of Displaced Women, Colombia
Meri Joyce, Peace Boat, Australia/Japan
Jane Jin Kaisen, Artist, Denmark
Deann Borshay Liem, Filmmaker, USA
Brinton Lykes, Professor, Boston College, USA
Liza Mazza, Gabriella Network, Philippines
Ann Patterson, Peace People, Northern Ireland
Suzuyo Takazato, Okinawan Women Against Military Violence, Japan
Katharina Zellweger, former Swiss Development Corporation DPRK, Switzerland
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Rights and Relief Groups Welcome 'Long Overdue' Gaza Cease-Fire Deal
"Continued pressure is needed to ensure the terms of the deal are followed and push for a long-term political solution that brings an end to forced displacement, occupation, and apartheid in Palestine," said one group.
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While welcoming government mediators' Wednesday announcement that Hamas and Israel agreed to release captives and cease fighting in the Gaza Strip, human rights advocates, humanitarian groups, and United Nations leaders also renewed calls for accountability and an influx of aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The three-phase agreement—negotiated by Egypt, Qatar, and the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations—comes after a 15-month, U.S.-backed Israeli assault that has killed at least 46,707 people in Gaza and injured 110,265. Experts warn the true death toll since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack is likely far higher.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, said that the final details are still being sorted out, but several organizations and leaders around the world framed the "long overdue" deal—set to take effect Sunday—as progress and issued clear calls about what should come next.
"Our most urgent call is for immediate and unhindered access to humanitarian aid and support, ensuring that vital resources and medical assistance can reach those in dire need."
"After so much devastation and death, we celebrate this cease-fire deal even as it comes far too late," said the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which has supported humanitarian efforts in Gaza since 1948. "We urge those in power to abide by the terms of the deal and their obligations under international law."
Noting that "in Lebanon, Israel has violated the cease-fire terms approximately a hundred times without consequence," AFSC stressed that "continued pressure is needed to ensure the terms of the deal are followed and push for a long-term political solution that brings an end to forced displacement, occupation, and apartheid in Palestine."
"As a U.S.-based Quaker organization we want in particular to hold our own government accountable," AFSC added. "We need an embargo on U.S. arms sales to Israel in order to deter future atrocities. Genocide on this scale would not have been possible without billions of dollars in U.S. military funding, and the Biden administration could have forced a cease-fire at any time over the past 15 months."
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for slaughtering tens of thousands of Palestinians, decimating Gaza's civilian infrastructure, and significantly limiting the flow of necessities including food into the enclave. AFSC said that "it is imperative that the cease-fire brings a measure of relief and a surge of lifesaving humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza."
Many other groups also demanded a flood of aid, including the International Rescue Committee, which has had teams on the ground in Gaza. Calling the cease-fire "essential and overdue," IRC president and CEO David Miliband said that "we are determined to expand our scale and impact as conditions allow. The scars of this war will be long-lasting, but a surge of aid is desperately needed to provide immediate relief to civilians. This will take flexible funding and the free flow of aid and aid workers."
Refugees International explained that "the deal, while a start, does not go far enough in outlining the explicit protections Israel and Hamas are obligated to provide Palestinian civilians. We are particularly concerned that the agreement ties the delivery of humanitarian aid and civilian protections—which are obligations under international law—to both sides' compliance with prisoner exchanges."
"Every cease-fire attempt between Israel and Hamas has ended in violations, and this should not be permitted to again imperil humanitarian action," the group said. "Humanitarian aid is a right under international law, not a bargaining tool. Humanitarian access must be ensured under any scenario, and the Israeli government must allow unimpeded humanitarian aid and access into all parts of Gaza, through all functional border crossings."
Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam's regional director in the Middle East and North Africa, similarly said that during the initial phase, "our most urgent call is for immediate and unhindered access to humanitarian aid and support, ensuring that vital resources and medical assistance can reach those in dire need. The opening of all crossings for aid deliveries is vital. Israel must allow the unhindered flow of aid and restore commercial activity to reach every corner of the besieged enclave to avert famine."
"Israel has waged terrible collective punishment upon Palestinians in Gaza including crimes against humanity—using food and water as weapons of war, forcibly displacing virtually the entire population, besieging North Gaza, and rendering Gaza virtually unlivable," the Oxfam leader added. "Thousands of Palestinians have been unlawfully detained and tortured without due process. These actions must not go unanswered—international law and norms must be applied universally, including to Israel, who must be held to account for its war crimes, to ensure justice for victims and deter future violations."
Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of MedGlobal, which has provided medical care in Gaza, pointed out that detainees in Israeli custody include doctors who attempted to care for war victims as Israel laid to waste the strip's healthcare system.
"This cease-fire is cause for celebration, even as we know that it was needed many months ago, and that far too many have been killed, maimed, and rendered homeless or bereft of their family," said Sahloul. "We cannot forget that many Palestinian healthcare workers, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and six other MedGlobal colleagues, remain unjustly detained and imprisoned by Israel. These medical personnel must be immediately released, and the safety and neutrality of healthcare providers and facilities must be guaranteed—as required by international humanitarian law."
"To promote true peace, prevent further suffering, and to help the people of Gaza recover from their terrible ordeal, all phases of this cease-fire must be fully carried out to bring a definitive and lasting end to the war," the doctor added. "The United States and the entire international community must commit to a massive program of aid and rebuilding in Gaza."
Welcoming the agreement and commending the mediators, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said that "the United Nations stands ready to support the implementation of this deal and scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer. It is imperative that this cease-fire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza."
"I urge the parties and all relevant partners to seize this opportunity to establish a credible political path to a better future for Palestinians, Israelis, and the broader region," Guterres continued. "Ending the occupation and achieving a negotiated two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, in line with international law, relevant U.N. resolutions, and previous agreements, remain an urgent priority."
Other U.N. leaders echoed his remarks, including United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell, who noted that "the war has exacted a horrific toll on Gaza's children—reportedly leaving at least 14,500 dead, thousands more injured, an estimated 17,000 unaccompanied or separated from their parents, and nearly 1 million displaced from their homes."
"The cease-fire must, finally, afford humanitarian actors the opportunity to safely roll out the massive response inside the Gaza Strip that is so desperately needed," she said. "This includes unimpeded access to reach all children and families with essential food and nutrition, healthcare and psychosocial support, clean water, and sanitation, education, and learning, as well as cash assistance and the resumption of commercial trucking operations."
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk also emphasized that "food, water, medicine, shelter, and protection are the top priorities. We have no time to lose."
"Those responsible for the heinous acts of October 7, the subsequent unlawful killings of civilians across Gaza, and for all other crimes under international law must be held to account," Türk added. "The right of victims to full reparations must be upheld. There is no true way forward without honest truth-telling and accountability on all sides."
Some organizations, like AFSC, called out their governments for enabling the devastating Israeli assault. As the United Kingdom's prime minister, Keir Starmer, addressed the deal in a lengthy statement, Tim Bierley, Gaza campaign manager at Global Justice Now, said that "far from using its position to help end the bloodshed, the U.K. has provided Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover throughout its attacks, even seeking to deepen trade ties with the country amid daily massacres."
"While the U.K.'s role in this atrocity cannot be reversed, Keir Starmer's government must now work with other countries to prevent further violence, seek justice for Palestinians, and address the root cause of the conflict: Israel's occupation of Palestinian land," he argued. "This means pulling every lever necessary to end the occupation, including suspending the U.K.'s cozy trade relationship with Israel which serves to prop up the illegal occupation, supporting international measures to hold Israel's leaders to account, and suspending all remaining arms sales to Israel."
U.S. campaigners also urged their government to cut off weapons to Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace said that "as Americans, we understand that the Israeli genocide has been carried out with U.S. bombs, U.S. funds, and U.S.-facilitated impunity—we continue to demand a full weapons embargo now. We also demand an end to the complicity of corporations that profit from genocide."
"Left in the hands of the U.S. and Israeli governments, weapons manufacturers, and warmongering institutions, this fragile respite will not mean an end to Israeli genocide, or to the violent status quo of Israeli apartheid," the group warned. "Every day of the last 467 days, millions of people around the world have come together to demand an end to the genocide and Palestinian freedom. Together, we must ensure this agreement becomes a step on the path toward Palestinian liberation—the only way to achieve a just peace for all."
Some critics specifically took aim at outgoing President Joe Biden, who proposed a very similar cease-fire agreement back in May. The Democrat is set to leave office on Monday and, because Vice President Kamala Harris lost the November election, he will be replaced by Republican President-elect Donald Trump—who has been pushing for a Gaza cease-fire, or at least the appearance of one, before he returns to the White House for a second term.
"A recent YouGov poll found that 29% of nonvoters who supported Biden in 2020 cited ending Israel's violence in Gaza as the primary reason they chose not to vote for Kamala Harris," Uncommitted National Movement co-chairs Layla Elabed and Lexis Zeidan highlighted. "This underscores the Biden-Harris administration's failure to exert meaningful pressure on the Israeli government at critical moments when decisive action could have saved countless lives."
"We are also alarmed by reports that the Netanyahu government has allegedly struck deals with the Trump administration—promising settlement expansion, the curtailment of humanitarian aid, and an eventual return to Gaza military operations—in exchange for boosting Trump's image ahead of his inauguration," the pair added.
Center for International Policy president and CEO Nancy Okail said, "The fact that Netanyahu is finally accepting the deal mere days before his favored candidate in the recent U.S. presidential election will return to the Oval Office is confirmation of what Israeli, Arab, and even some U.S. officials involved in negotiations have been saying for months—that Netanyahu obstructed and delayed a cease-fire and hostage release to further his own personal political interests."
"Netanyahu's acquiescence to Donald Trump's insistence that a cease-fire be in place when he takes office next week ironically shows how effective actual pressure can be in changing Israeli government behavior," she continued.
"It will forever be part of the legacy of President Biden and his top foreign policy advisers that they not only provided diplomatic cover for and enabled Netanyahu's prolonging of this horrific war, but continued to arm Israeli atrocities against civilians in Gaza in clear violation of international and U.S. law," Okail added. "Thanks largely to his role in sustaining the carnage in Gaza, Biden hands over to Trump a foreign policy landscape in which international norms and U.S. credibility have been further eroded rather than strengthened."
Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian pledged that "as details emerge over the exact contours of the interim cease-fire agreement, we will continue to pressure Congress and the incoming administration to support a permanent, comprehensive end to this conflict—one that addresses its root causes, secures the release of all hostages, and paves the way towards a durable two-state solution that respects the rights, security, and dignity of all parties."
"Additionally, it is imperative to immediately begin the unimpeded delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza and the restoration of full funding to UNRWA," Kharrazian said, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. "We also continue to oppose the proposed
$8 billion arms sale to Israel and, while we support related efforts to negotiate for regional stability and peace, we strongly reject any plans for a defense treaty with Saudi Arabia."
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Report Says Biden's 'Empty Threats' on Gaza Fed Israeli Impunity
One Middle East expert said that it's "hard to avoid the conclusion" that the U.S. administration's ultimatums to Israel "have all just been a smokescreen."
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New reporting published Wednesday details the impotence and insincerity of President Joe Biden's "multiple threats, warnings, and admonishments" to Israel as it annihilated the Gaza Strip, killing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians while receiving tens of billions of dollars in U.S. arms and unwavering diplomatic support.
Writing for ProPublica, Brett Murphy showed how multiple "red lines" issued by Biden administration officials were ignored by Israel with impunity. Murphy highlighted Secretary of State Antony Blinken's October 2024 demand that Israel take "urgent and sustained actions" to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza—mainly by allowing far more aid into the embattled strip—within 30 days or face a military aid cutoff.
"Netanyahu's conclusion was that Biden doesn't have enough oomph to make him pay a price."
Thirty days came and went without significant improvement or letup in Israel's onslaught. Yet the Biden administration insisted it found no indication that Israel was using U.S.-supplied weapons illegally. The arms flow continued.
As Murphy reported:
That choice was immediately called into question. On November 14, a U.N. committee said that Israel's methods in Gaza, including its use of starvation as a weapon, was "consistent with genocide." Amnesty International went further and concluded a genocide was underway. The International Criminal Court also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for the war crime of deliberately starving civilians, among other allegations.
"Government officials worry Biden's record of empty threats have given the Israelis a sense of impunity," wrote Murphy.
This reporting is so utterly damning. www.propublica.org/article/bide...
[image or embed]
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) January 15, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told Murphy that "Netanyahu's conclusion was that Biden doesn't have enough oomph to make him pay a price, so he was willing to ignore him."
"Part of it is that Netanyahu learned there is no cost to saying 'no' to the current president," al-Omari added.
Conversely, Murphy noted: "On Wednesday, after months of negotiations, Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire deal. While it will become clear over the next days and months exactly what the contours of the agreement are, why it happened now, and who deserves the most credit, it's plausible that [U.S. President-elect Donald] Trump's imminent ascension to the White House was its own form of a red line."
"Early reports suggest the deal looks similar to what has been on the table for months," he added, "raising the possibility that if the Biden administration had followed through on its tough words, a deal could have been reached earlier, saving lives."
As Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, told Murphy, "It's hard to avoid the conclusion that [Biden's] red lines have all just been a smokescreen."
"The Biden administration decided to be all-in and merely pretended that it was trying to do something," Walt added, as Israel kept killing Palestinians with U.S.-supplied weapons and continued a "complete siege" blamed for widespread starvation and sickness in the Gaza Strip.
Murphy wrote that Trump "will inherit a demoralized State Department" in which many officials who haven't already resignedhave "become disenchanted with the lofty ideas they thought they represented."
As one senior department official told Murphy, Gaza "is the human rights atrocity of our time."
"I work for the department that's responsible for this policy. I signed up for this," the official added. "I don't deserve sympathy for it."
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'Office-Peddling' Pam Bondi Grilled by Senate as Watchdogs Blast Trump AG Pick
"The U.S. Attorney General should be the American people's lawyer—not a corporate lobbyist with a closet full of conflicted clients," said the head of the watchdog Accountable.US.
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As President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general pick Pam Bondi faced Senate questioning on Wednesday, progressive critics opposed to her nomination cited her record as a lobbyist, her role in amplifying Trump's claims of election fraud in 2020, and her history of catering to corporate interests to argue she is unfit to lead the U.S. Justice Department.
Bondi, for her part, told senators in the first of two scheduled hearings that her Justice Department would not be used to target people based on their politics—though she stopped short of saying that the agency would not investigate foes of Trump. She also spent much of her confirmation answering questions about Kash Patel, Trump's controversial pick for FBI director whom she repeatedly defended, according to Politico.
Jon Golinger, democracy advocate for the watchdog group Public Citizen, was among Bondi's detractors who argued Wednesday that she is deeply unqualified to be the nation's top law enforcement officer.
"The U.S. Attorney General should be the American people's lawyer—not a corporate lobbyist with a closet full of conflicted clients, many of whom seek government contracts or are being investigated by the very Justice Department Bondi now seeks to lead," Golinger said in a statement.
After eight years as Florida's attorney general, Pam Bondi left that post in 2019 and joined Ballard Partners, a corporate lobbying firm that has also employed Trump's pick for White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. At Ballard Partners, Bondi worked on behalf of numerous corporate clients, including the private prison firm the Geo Group, Uber, and Amazon.
Bondi also served as a lawyer for Trump during his first impeachment trial and pushed Trump's claims of election fraud in 2020.
Tony Carrk, the executive director of the watchdog Accountable.US, went after Bondi's time as Florida Attorney General, writing that she "frequently played favorites with big corporate donors and political insiders at the expense of everyday consumers, patients, and the public good" while she held that office and that "nothing indicates Bondi would change her office-peddling modus operandi as America's top justice official."
Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert, who will testify as an outside witness Thursday at day two of Bondi's hearing, said Wednesday that Bondi's record could lead to a politicization of the agency and called her "unsuitable" for the role given her ties to powerful corporations.
Meanwhile, the civil rights coalition the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, joined the pile on in a statement submitted Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Ms. Bondi lacks the commitment to defending the core tenets of our democracy and the civil and human rights of all people. Indeed, her active participation in and support of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election ought to be disqualifying in itself," the group wrote.
But Bondi—who "acquitted herself coolly," according to press account—appears on track for likely confirmation.
Raising the specter of the pressure Trump has placed on his Department of Justice in the past, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) asked, "let's imagine Trump issues a directive or order to you or to the FBI director that is outside the boundaries of ethics or law. What will you do?"
"I will never speak on a hypothetical, especially one saying that the president would do something illegal. What I can tell you is my duty, if confirmed as the Attorney General, will be to the Constitution and the United States," said Bondi.
Bondi would not answer directly when asked whether Trump lost the election in 2020 and also would not denounce some of the former president's extreme stances, like calling those arrested for participating in the January 6 insurrection "hostages" or "patriots."
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