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Combating Violence and Advancing Arab Women
Aida Touma-Suliman, an Arab citizen of Israel, is the sixth of seven girls, born in 1964 to a Palestinian Christian Family from Nazareth. For Aida, every day is a battle – a battle against all odds, a battle for the Arab woman, her body and her protection. Aida has succeeded in placing what was taboo in Arab society on the public agenda – the issue of sexual, physical and emotional violence against women. In her struggle against this phenomenon within Arab society in Israel, she has brought about meaningful change. In 1992, The New Israel Fund helped Aida establish Women Against Violence (WAV), which created the first domestic violence shelters for Arab women in the world. And In 1993 Aida co-founded Al-Badeel, Coalition to combat "honor killings” crimes. Her work became an international paradigm for other societies addressing this problem. Together with her tireless work on behalf of women, Aida has also worked to promote peace and dialogue throughout her career. From the beginning, Aida and her peers were caught between a rock and a hard place as “double minorities” – Arabs and women. “The fact that we are part of the Palestinian people also makes it difficult for us, because whenever we, as women, want to talk about our problems, the public discourse is, ‘It's not time to deal with these issues. We have more important things.’… We are accused of airing our dirty laundry, and our critics say ‘this can be used by the West or by [Israeli mainstream society] against us.’” But Aida decided that the safety and security of women could not wait until the rest of the challenges her community faces would be addressed. Based in Nazareth, WAV has developed into one of the leading Arab women's organizations in the country. It was the first organization to establish shelters and rape crisis centers for Arab women, and initially focused on violence against women. Recognizing the need to address the roots of the challenges facing Arab Israeli women, it has broadened its focus to include promoting women's involvement in public and political power centers and the employment of university educated women, while raising awareness of women's unconditional right to employment in the Arab sector.
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