This year, International Women’s Day, celebrated on May 8, carries the slogan “Time is now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives.” We happily celebrate the achievements of women achievers in academic, economic, and social fields, but we must also honor the contributions of the laborers who help feed our children and nations, the agricultural entrepreneurs, and the women who sell the fruits of their gardens on the sidewalks of our streets – they all contribute to our society and economy. We celebrate the shining stars, let us also honor and cherish the small candles that spread their light in villages and rural settings. We must recognize, acknowledge, and live up to the realization that investing into all segments of society benefits everyone.

This Week in Palestine would like to thank UNESCO, the Representative Office of Norway, and UN Women for their support of this issue and for the rich and valuable content they contributed and facilitated. Further and no lesser thanks go to UNDP for their contributions and for the continuous support it has pledged for the year 2018, helping secure our sustainability.

This issue contains articles by Lodovico Folin-Calabi, UNESCO Representative in Palestine; Norwegian Ambassador Hilde Haraldstad; UN Women Special Representative Ulziisuren Jamsran; HE Dr. Haifa Al-Agha, minister of women’s affairs; Siham Rashid, executive director of the Gender Policy Research Institute (GPI)/UNESCO; Majd Beltaji, gender equality program specialist at UNESCO; Aisha Saifi, program director at the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association, PFPPA; MIFTAH, a Palestinian civil society organization for the promotion of democracy and good governance; Amani Aruri, advocacy team leader at the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling, WCLAC; Malak Hasan, secretary general of the Palestinian boxing federation; gender expert Emmicki Roos; Nader Atta, deputy team leader at UNDP/PAPP, Willemijn van Lelyveld, program management specialist at UNDP/PAPP; Wafaa Al Kafarna, project management analyst at UNDP/PAPP; Geoffrey D. Prewitt, UNDP’s deputy special representative in the OPT; Inas Margieh, UN Women program coordinator; and Eunjin Jeong, advocacy and communications officer at UN Women Palestine Office;

Personality of the month is Muna Taneeb. Our deep condolences go to Majed Bamya; he paid a great tribute to his mother Samia Bamieh, our personality of the year, who passed away as this issue was going to print. Our artist of the month is Manal Mahamid. Enjoy taking a look the exhibition and two book reviews, and visit some of the many events that are listed this month.

The entire team at TWiP wishes a Happy Mother’s Day to all those who are celebrating this day on March 21, as is the custom in Palestine, and a healthy entry into spring season to all our readers.