Livni urged to make room for women at negotiating table

Israeli women’s groups asked Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who is in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians, to include women in the team that will sit at the table during peace talks.

Ynet reported on Monday that in a letter to Livni the women noted that, according to equal rights laws, women must have a fair representation in all government committees and negotiations.

“Our requests include an aspiration to bring to the talks a gender-orientated point of view which, until now, hasn’t been present,” the women wrote. “In order to fulfill that aspiration, women should also be appointed to the team.”

The letter was sent on behalf of the Women’s International Zionist Organization, the Naamat organization for working women, the Israel Women’s Network, and Itach, a movement of social justice for women.

Pushed by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel and the Palestinians have been inching closer to restarting talks that ground to a halt three years ago. A resumption in the next week or so in Washington, DC, was announced on Friday by Kerry.