Nobel Women's Initiative

In mid-2006 reports were leaked that the U.S., under the leadership of George W. Bush, was actively planning a military offensive against Iran, ostensibly to thwart Iran's development of a nuclear weapon. Tensions between the countries escalated, rhetoric ratcheted up and a stand-off has been underway since. Since his inauguration in 2009, President Barack Obama sought to patch relations by indicating a new willingness to reach out to Muslims and engage with Iran.

In response, Iranians have been toning down their anti-U.S. rhetoric, but relations remain tense between the two countries. Obama has repeatedly said that he will use all tools, including direct talks, to address Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran argues is for peaceful purposes.

(Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams with others during a public event in Washington, DC in January 2007. Ebadi, from Iran, and Williams, from the US, joined to speak out against a possible war between Iran and the US.)

Not wanting to see another Iraq and more violence in an already volatile and fragile Middle East, the Nobel Women's Initiative calls for constructive US-Iran dialogue and engagement. We believe such dialogue should be broader than just the heads of state. The parliaments, civil society, non-governmental organizations and academia of the two countries must play constructive roles not only in peace talks but also in broader interactions between our societies with the ultimate goal of normalizing relations between the US and Iran.

Like it has done in previous cases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has sought to justify military action against Iran by increasingly pointing to Iran's human rights record. Nobel Laureate and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi underscores the dangers of international punishment or military interference in Iran saying, “the people of Iran will not permit Iran to become another Iraq. It's the people of iran that have to gain their own freedom and human rights improvement."

For more information:

• Iran Nuclear Watch: News, analysis, and resources relating to Iran's nuclear program and US-Iran relations.

• Read more about the Nobel Women's Initiative's June 2006 civil society delegation to Vienna for meetings with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors to urge a negotiated resolution to the staff-off.

• Find out about Stephen Kinzer's, longtime New York Times correspondent and author of the book All the Shah's Men, trip across the United States to make the case for real diplomacy with Iran. Find out more.

Campaigns for Human Rights in Iran:

• International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
• Change for Equality

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After the attacks of September 11th, the United States used the excuse of weapons of mass destruction to invade Iraq. Since then, the U.S. invasion and occupation has left an estimated 100,000 people dead, tens of thousands more injured, and has cost more than 845 billion US dollars

The consequences to human rights and women's rights have been devastating, with gross abuses taking place daily across the country.
The war has also brought a humanitarian crisis to the region. More than two million Iraqis have been made refugees and at least that number have been internally displaced since the conflict began. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes has described Iraq as one of the world's "largest and fastest-growing humanitarian crises."

40th ANNIVERSARY

To mark the June 2007 40th anniversary, Amnesty International released a report called Enduring Occupation: Palestinians Under Siege in the West Bank, which draws a picture of the devastating impact four decades of Israeli military occupation has had on Palestinians. Restrictions on Palestinian movement have resulted in growing poverty and economic paralysis for the Palestinian population, says the report. It goes on to detail the ways Israel has seized or denied crucial resources, such as water, to Palestinians under occupation and documents a plethora of measures that confine Palestinians to fragmented enclaves and hinder their access to work, health and education facilities

(Left: Robi Damelin, of Israel, and Nadwa Sarandah, of Palestine, spoke at "The Nobel Women's Initiative's First International Conference: Women Redefining Peace in the Middle East & Beyond." They are members of the Parents' Circle Families Forum, an organization of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost relatives to violence.)

Speaking on the 40th anniversary, Mairead Corrigan Maguire echoed previous calls by the Nobel Women's Initiative. NWI feels believes it is the duty of the international community to reaffirm the supremacy of international law as the basis for the settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Many of these countries, particularly the USA and UK's unwavering support of Israel's occupation, prevented a just and peaceful solution to this conflict.

The way forward is unconditional, all inclusive dialogue between all parties to the conflict. The military mindset of the Israeli Government must change to one of conflict resolution and recognize that their mantra that they have no partners for dialogue, is a block to a peace agreement. We all know violence begets violence and is never excusable or acceptable, and all violent activities from Palestinian paramilitaries must cease if there is to be any hope for peace.

For more information:

• The Middle East Research and Information Project: A primer on Palestine, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

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