Human & Inclusive Security

Reframing Security to Include More Than Military Security Alone

WHY THIS MATTERS

The issues at stake in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are broader than just military security and borders. The ongoing conflict impairs the rights and the ability of people on both sides of the conflict to live to their fullest potential and to have their basic needs met. Continuing restrictions on the daily lives and aspirations of Palestinians nurture deep resentment and frustration that can contribute to violence. Promotion of human security for Israelis and Palestinians is in the best interests of both peoples.

The exercise of hard military power is often counterproductive for democracy, human rights and secure conditions supportive of communities and families. Human security broadens conventional understanding of security to include that all people be protected from racism, persecution and environmental pollutants, and have access to education, employment, medical care, food, and potable water. 

J Street advocates for easing Palestinian access to work and other kinds of permits, especially those for health and individual workers’ economic activities, enabling economic development in the West Bank (and Gaza), and ensuring that projects such as the Palestinian city of Rawabi thrive and become a beacon of hope for the future.

The J Street Women’s Leadership Forum supports and advocates for the inclusion of women and civil society in any effort to address human security needs in Israel and the Palestinian territory. We must uplift regional efforts to address looming humanitarian crises such as the lack of potable water in the West Bank and Gaza.

KEY POINTS

  1. Reframing the concept of ‘security’ to encompass more than just military security is a necessary step towards ensuring durable peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
  2. Achieving an end to conflict through a two-state solution will improve the vast majority of human security challenges facing Israelis and Palestinians.  But, we don’t need to have an end of conflict to begin to address the myriad of human security crises affecting individuals and communities. For example, the lack of sufficient potable water in Gaza can be immediately addressed by increasing the amount of water Israel makes available to the Palestinians living there. Raw sewage going directly into the Mediterranean Sea could be dealt with by rebuilding the sewage treatment plant in Gaza.
  3. Promoting human security to create a future where all can live with dignity, free from fear and violence, requires including women and civil society at the negotiating table to offer solutions to the critical human security issues facing individuals and communities.
  4. J Street supports efforts that give the people trapped by this conflict a stake in their future and a way to ensure that their basic needs are met.

HOW YOU CAN PROMOTE HUMAN SECURITY IN ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

Educate yourself and others, with resources below, about the significance of expanding conventional understandings of security to include fundamental challenges in the day-to-day experiences of Israelis and Palestinians

ORGANIZATIONS

Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Israel

The Institute for National Security Studies launches and engages in innovative, high-quality research that shapes public discourse on Israel's national security agenda, and provides policy analysis and recommendations to decision makers.

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