The Israeli authorities prevented Minister of Women’s Affairs Amal Hamad from travelling to Jordan today to take part in the Euro-Mediterranean conference on Launching the Regional Campaign on Zero Tolerance for Violence against Women and Girls.

Addressing the conference via Skype, Hamad expressed regret for not being able to attend the conference in person because of the Israeli ban on her travel.

She said that preventing her from traveling to Jordan to participate in the activities of this conference is clear evidence of some of the violence Palestinian women experience under Israeli occupation.

Hamad spoke in her intervention on the current political situation in Palestine and the Israeli measures on the ground.

She said that Palestine is committed to international resolutions on women, noting that President Mahmoud Abbas ratified the CEDAW agreement without reservations, as well as the Additional Protocol, the International Covenants, the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Palestine, she said, was the first to develop the national implementation plan for Security Council Resolution 1325, and sign the goals of sustainable development and the development of mechanisms to implement Goal 5 on gender equality.

Hamad reviewed government mechanisms in Palestine to protect women from violence, including activating the accountability clause within the framework of resolution 1325 Plan of Action to monitor and document the Israeli occupation army and settlers’ violence against Palestinian women.