Dear Haneen Zoubi and Dear Sevahir Bayındır,

We wanted to write you this common letter after you were both subjected to a similar act of violence in separate parts of the planet. What you have experienced is truly unbelievable, yet it came to the attention of only a few, as racism and sexism are normalized as ever. Due of the unimaginable weight of what you are going through and also because how busy your own schedules must be, you might not have had the chance of learning about each other. So in this short letter we first want to introduce you each other.

Sevahir Bayındır is an MP in the Turkish Parliament from BDP (pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party). One of the precious few woman MPs, Sevahir Bayındır became a target of racist and sexist violence. On June 4, she participated in the latest Peace Walk which aimed to stop the operations against Kurdish people and their politicians and also to impede the police violence in universities. While the group was marching from Silopi to the Habur Border, state violence took the stage in order to silence the voices of the civilians and their elected representatives, who were actually protesting it. Police intervened the peace demonstration with pepper spray and water cannons. Sevahir Bayındır fell because of the high pressure water aimed at her and broke her hip. After she was transferred to Ankara for treatment, only her fellow party members and former MP’s came to visit her in the hospital. By remaining silent, the Turkish Parliament has participated in the state violence directed towards one of its own as well towards civilians. The prime minister, other members of the cabinets and women MPs have remained silent.

Haneen Zoubi is the only Arab woman in the Israeli parliament, otherwise known as Knesset. She got elected in 2009 from the list of the Israeli Arab BALAD Party. Zu’bi had already been in contact with the international women’s peace movement before she joined the Freedom Flotilla to show her support for the international resistance against the Israeli blockade on Gaza. She was on board in Mavi Marmara during the Israeli attacks. After she was taken from the ship she went into custody and was released on bail, but she had to serve five days of house arrest and is not allowed to leave the country for forty-five days. While she was narrating her experience of what happened on board, she was protested by some Israeli MPs who yelled “You traitor, go back to Gaza!”, and she got physically attacked. On June 7, Knesset House Committee of the Israeli parliament revoked Zoubi’s parliamentary privileges and protection while male MK’s were shouting sexist insults. Minister of Interior Affairs Eliahu Yeshai is campaigning to strip Zoubi of citizenship. Zoubi experienced a racist and sexist assault within the parliament she was a member of.  Knesset has remained despite the emotional and physical violence one of its woman members experienced under its own roof; many MK’s personally took part in that violence. Haneen Zoubi is receiving death threats at the moment. The final decision about her privileges will be made this week.

Dear Sevahir Bayındır, Dear Haneen Zoubi,

We believe that if we are to talk about the presence of democracy in any given country, there should be just and fair representation. That is why we care about the Kurds in the Turkish Parliament, Arabs in the Knesset, and the existence of women in both. We also care about increasing their numbers and their freedom to engage in politics. Unfortunately, not only is this not the case neither in Israel nor in Turkey, but also you, who have had to overcome so many obstacles to occupy these positions were subjected to a racist and sexist violence. The prime ministers of these two countries are now bickering at each other over the horrifying violence Israel used against the civilian activists in the Freedom Flotilla and against Palestinian people. Within this context, the two coinciding incidents of violence against MPs of the two countries lead us to ruminate on the sinister cooperation of racism and sexism.

We wish we could have protected you as the apples of our eyes. We wish we could have done more than writing this letter to elevate your voices crying out for peace and justice, and to make the violence you have experienced more visible. We are truly ashamed that we could not do more after all you have been subjected to. We hope that, in this letter, you find an echo of your voices. We also hope that this letter becomes the seedling of women’s solidarity that extends beyond borders to resist racist and sexist state violence.