Rabat — Female representatives from the Justice and Development Party (PJD), also known as the OFJD, have called for a boycott on the upcoming World Forum of Women for Peace. They, along with other groups, accuse the inclusion of Israeli representatives in the forum of normalizing “the war of genocide being waged by the Zionist entity in Gaza and across Palestine.”
The forum is set to take place in Essaouira from September 19-21. Organized by Women Warriors for Peace, it advertises itself as a collective of Israeli, Palestinian, Iranian, Afghan, Moroccan, and other women activists and proposes an “international appeal by women for peace.”
The planned presence of Israeli women at the forum has drawn negative reactions from a number of prominent Middle Eastern and North African activists and women’s rights groups. A week ago, the Moroccan Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (MACBI) and its Palestinian counterpart (PACBI) issued a statement rejecting the forum. A joint petition crafted by the Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM) calls for the same and accuses the forum of being “deliberately vague” and “[obscuring] the daily massacres inflicted on the Palestinian people for almost two years.”
The latter petition has received signatures from over 50 women leaders and over 30 from women’s organizations, including the Al-Amal Association for Women’s Development and the Moroccan Women’s Forum based in Safi.
The forum usually hosts panels from prominent peace activists, dialogues about preventing anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and speeches from survivors of war and extremism.
It also hosts symbolic public demonstrations intended to champion peace. Such demonstrations have historically comprised of marches and, in 2023, a “call for peace” chanted in Arabic, Hebrew, English and other languages.
The boycott calls follow the United Nations’ decision to officially label Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023 as a genocide. It also comes after the forum’s parent organization, Women Warriors for Peace, received a nomination for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting “peace, justice, and equality.”
