No Entry: How Israeli Women Were Barred from Peacemaking

Conservatism, in the context of the Middle East, is linked to deep cultural beliefs about the inability of women to perform high leadership roles and to societal norms that prohibit or limit their political participation. These values, Aharoni argues, are shared by Israelis and members of Arab countries or groups that engage in official negotiations in the region from time to time (Egypt, the PLO, Jordan, Syria, Hamas, Lebanon, and the Gulf states). Although this pattern may not appear as a linear trend, it is dominant and disturbing. Reckoning with this pattern is essential to move forward toward the full inclusion of women and other minority groups in future attempts to resolve regional conflicts, especially the question of Palestine.