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THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
November 2 to 7, 2003
WOMEN'S VOICE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PEACE-BUILDING
THE GOLDA MEIR MOUNT CARMEL INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CENTER, Haifa
In cooperation with
SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF ISRAEL

sponsored also by
Mashav - Center for International Cooperation, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem The Soroptimist International, German Union.



Background on MCTC
MCTC on the internet
Delegate from 50 countries took part, among them Ministers, Undersecretaries, Parlamentarians.
The only soroptimist was the president of the Nederland Union, Ms. Mariet Verhoef-Cohen.
We took part, as observers, only on the first three days which were held in Haifa.
There were two working sessions daily and social events on the second and third evening.
On Sunday (2.11) was the festive opening session. The session was opened by Ms. Mazal Renford, our Clubsister of the Haifa-Nave Shaanan Club. The other speakers were
Haifa's Mayor, Yona Yahav,
Ms. Yehudith Plotkin, Director General of the office for Women's Status at the Prime Minister's Office,
Arieh Arazi from Mashav,
Ms. Hava Inbar, Israel Soroptimist International President.

The session was chaired by the Honorable Mobina S.B. Jaffer, Q.C. Senator from Canada who also gave the Keynote Address. Ms. Jaffer related an interesting Simulation in Conflict resolution. She took advantage of the fact that Canada harbours many minorities, some of which are in bitter ethnic or religious or gender conflict in their homeland. She mentioned as examples Afghan woman, Sri Lankan Singhalese and Tamil women, Israeli and Palestinian women.
She initiated bilateral work groups, to try and find common ground upon which a resolution of the conflicts could be based. She mentioned that she intends to expand the simulations to Iraq.
The panel members from the Phillipines and Guatemala spoke of the terrible effect violent conflict has on women and children, beyond its effect on males.

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--.

Golda Meir, as Foreign Minister, forged the ties of Israel
with many countries of the developing world









04-11-2003 Morning Session was not covered by us


Visit to the Haifa Arts Center "CASTRA"
Hosted by Ruth Ashkenazy, Advisor to the Mayor on Status of Women
Evening of 04-11-2003