Update on Israeli-Palestinian Adaptation of "Our Bodies, Ourselves"

The latest newsletter from Women and Their Bodies (WTB), an Israeli-Palestinian initiative that is adapting “Our Bodies, Ourselves” into Hebrew and Arabic (see our previous post), includes this update:

We continue to undergo the massive and vital task of creating local and culturally adapted Hebrew and Arabic editions of ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’ (OBOS). Women and Their Bodies is fortunate to have generous an unbelievable network of over 300 devoted women volunteers giving of their time and their skills towards the writing, editing, research, etc. of the book.

We are women from a wide spectrum of Israeli society, including religious, progressive and secular women of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities around the country. We come from a wide range of backgrounds and specializations: psychologists, facilitators of women’s groups, gynecologists, midwives, sexologists, gender and social studies researchers and more. We are all activists, each in our own way, promoting women’s equality, justice and human rights.

After 4 years of hard work, out of the 32, 20 Hebrew chapters are complete and 12 in various stages of preparation. 10 Arabic chapters are complete and 22 in various stages of preparation. The book in Hebrew shall be published in June 2010. Initially we intended to publish the Arabic edition a year after that. Instead, we have decided to publish the Arabic in three parts. The first part, including 10 chapters shall also be published in June 2010. We feel that it is essential to get this information out in the first part due to the general lack of accessibility to information of this kind within the Palestinian community.

WTB’s online information and action center, http://wtb.org.il/, is scheduled to go live this month. It too, will feature information in both Hebrew and Arabic.

Want to help support this project? WTB is raising support for the book by offering “social stock” in their organization. Your investment of $150 includes a copy of the Hebrew edition of “Our Bodies Ourselves” and printed acknowledgement of your investment in the the book. Secure online donations can be made here. Tax deductible donations can be made by check, payable to: The New Israel Fund. On the memo line, please write “for Women and Their Bodies” and the NIF identification number, 5459. Mail checks to NIF / P.O.Box 91588 / Washington, D.C. 20090-1588

Plus: Check out other OBOS projects underway in China, India and Nigeria, among other places.