**Date: March 7, 2012**

Yes to Ending the Division… Yes to Ending the Occupation

The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP) – Gaza, extends its greetings of pride and appreciation to the women of Palestine, wherever they may be in the homeland and the diaspora, on the occasion of March 8th, International Women’s Day. We say to every Palestinian woman struggling in her position, whatever her political orientation, in the home protecting the family, at work being productive and generous in giving, in the halls of study and science filled with the determination to continue progress and success, in the occupation’s prisons struggling and clinging to the message of defending the cause of her people, we say to them all on International Women’s Day that March 8th must be an occasion to raise our voices high and to repeat together: We, the women of Palestine, reject the division, and the political forces and parties must bear their national responsibilities before our steadfast people by accelerating the achievement of national unity because the national issues of our people in liberation and independence cannot be achieved in light of the continuing division. We, the women of Palestine, reject the occupation and insist on continuing the struggle for the liberation of our homeland, the achievement of our independence, and the building of our national democratic state with Jerusalem as its capital. In order to achieve these goals, we women must continue our struggle from our various positions and in our community institutions in order to achieve our demands for our civil and political rights on the basis of participation and equality, because it is the main path to building Palestinian society and achieving social justice for every individual in it. We also extend our greetings and appreciation to all women throughout the Arab world and the world with our sincere greetings and say to them, let March 8th be a day of international feminist solidarity in order to triumph for the issues of women’s rights and interests, which are necessarily the interests of peoples in all countries of the world. Let us all work together in March, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, to achieve our goals of freedom and independence, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, for just laws that guarantee women social justice and equality, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, for the freedom of our brave prisoners and our heroic female prisoners, foremost among them Hana Al-Shalabi. Glory and immortality to the souls of our martyrs, men and women. Long live our national unity… No to division… No to occupation.