Kayan

Activities

• Kayan aims to “Develop[] and Institutionaliz[e] the Grassroots Movement of Arab Women in Israel” and allow them to consider lifestyle choices different from the “traditional role in the domestic sphere.”
• Kayan provides “legal consultations and representation in individual cases,” most of which deal with family law for low-income women. Kayan also works to “foster employment” among Arab women by providing information and encouragement on benefits and rights.
• Kayan runs a project with the Association for the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID) called “My Return” that aims to “raise the awareness of women in all aspects of the Nakba, displacement and the policy of ethnic cleansing practiced by the Zionist organizations and the Israeli army and are still practiced by successive governments against our Palestinian people” (emphasis added).
• In February 2024, Kayan was a signatory on a letter calling on the EU and its Member States to “ensure that the ICJ Provisional Measures against genocide are complied with.” The letter additionally called to “ensure that they do not cooperate on potential genocidal acts by suspending arms trade with Israel.”
• In November 2022, Kayan General Director Rafah Anabtawy participated in a conference on the “effects of the current political system and Apartheid on women and children.”
• In October 2022, Kayan was a signatory on a statement condemning the decision by the Israeli Ministry to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. According to the statement, “We will continue to cooperate with our Palestinian partner organizations to defend Palestinian rights, and we call on the international community and all states to take immediate steps to defend the organizations and their vital human rights and humanitarian work.”
• In May 2021, Kayan published a press release addressing Israel’s alleged “Racist Zionist Colonization” and “ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination against Palestinians.”
• In a project called “Women Demand Mobility,” in partnership with the Ministry of Transportation and supported by the Hadassah Foundation, Kayan campaigned to bring public transportation to Arab towns and villages in Israel.
• Kayan also provides information on the Ecclesiastical courts that preside over the Christian community in Israel and advocates for their “transparen[cy] and equal jurisdiction.”
• In 2005, Kayan submitted a joint report with Ittijah to United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The report blamed underemployment of Palestinian women on Israeli actions which constitute “violation of international human rights law.”
• Kayan co-authored a report with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel which characterized Israel’s Nationality Law as “racist.”
• Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) originally included Kayan as a signatory on a letter to the Norwegian Government Pension Fund calling “upon the Norwegian people to join us in our efforts and to stop investing in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.” According to Kayan Development Coordinator Dr. Bettina Suleiman, “We had no memory of having signed the petition, nor does this petition fall within our mission or usual scope of activities…our name had been added by mistake.”