Al-Shabaka Policy Brief July 2019

THE POLITICAL MARGINALIZATION OF PALESTINIAN WOMEN IN THE By Yara Hawari

Overview also as fighters, organizers, and leaders with agency that is not defined by their relationship to men. Looking Though Palestinian women have always played a back through Palestinian history, women have always fundamental role in the struggle for liberation from been present and active at crucial political and national [email protected] the Israeli settler colonial regime, they have faced moments, though they have also had to navigate consistent political marginalization. This experience tensions among feminism, nationalism, and anti- has become more multifaceted and entrenched since colonial struggle. the 1990s, when the Oslo Accords unleashed a myriad of changes in the structure of Palestinian society and In 1917, Palestinian women took part in governance. demonstrations against the Balfour Declaration. Many women’s associations subsequently organized These changes have included a newfound dependence themselves under the Arab Women’s Congress, which on international donor aid among Palestinian civil convened in 1929 in Jerusalem. The congress created society, including women’s organizations, and the the Arab Women’s Executive Committee to carry bolstering of a corrupt and relentlessly patriarchal out decisions, and this served as the beginning of an Palestinian Authority (PA) that complements rather organized women’s movement in Palestine.1 Many than confronts the Israeli occupation and its oppression of the women involved in the committee were of of the Palestinian population, both male and female. the urban upper and middle classes, particularly of Such developments have caused today’s Palestinian Jerusalem, and were involved in community organizing women to endure perhaps even more formidable and charitable works. Still, the committee was also a challenges when it comes to activism and political political body, with members boldly making speeches participation. in spaces traditionally dominated by men, such as the Haram al Sharif and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. www.Al-Shabaka.org This policy brief addresses these issues, providing a historical consideration of Palestinian women’s political During the Palestinian uprising against the British participation and then examining the reasons behind in 1936, Palestinian women not only participated their de-politicization with a particular focus on the in demonstrations en masse, but were also part of West Bank. It concludes by offering some potential smuggling operations delivering weapons and supplies avenues for Palestinian women and their allies to to guerrilla fighters. Here, rural and working class disrupt this process and revitalize the Palestinian Palestinian women played a vital role. They hid guns in liberation struggle through feminism. their clothing or in the fields and traversed the terrain, sharing important information with guerillas such as Palestinian Women as Political Actors British troop locations and supply routes.2

Palestinian women have long been politicized Over a decade later, the Nakba, or Palestinian individuals not just as wives, sisters, or mothers, but catastrophe, of 1948 ripped apart Palestinian society,

1. The term “women’s movement” in this policy brief is used in a broad sense to refer to the collection of groups and organizations working to further women’s rights in Palestine. 2. Fayha’ Abdul Hadi, “Adwar al-mar’a al-filastiniyya fi al-thalathinat 1930 – al-musahama al-siyasiyya lil mar’a al-filastiniyya [The Role of the Palestinian Woman in 1 the Thirties, the Political Participation of the Palestinian Woman],” Al-Bira: Markaz al-Mar’a al-Filastiniyya lil-Abhath wa al-Tawthiq, 2005, 84. July 2019

devastating the social and institutional infrastructure Although organizing and participating in armed that the women’s movement had built in the preceding resistance helped challenge traditional assumptions decades. The establishment of the Palestinian Liberation about gender roles, tensions between female Organization (PLO) in 1964 provided centralization emancipation and nationalism remained entrenched. and an institutional home for many civil society Indeed, many Palestinian leaders privileged national organizations established before the Nakba. The fervent liberation over the emancipation of Palestinian women, institution building that followed created many more so much so that this stance became the norm. employment opportunities for women. In addition, the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) formed Two decades later images of women and girls throwing in 1965 and brought many women’s organizations stones, challenging soldiers, and leading marches during under its umbrella, reviving the Palestinian women’s the First Intifada showed promising signs of a social movement. These organizations offered educational, restructuring. Women’s groups were solidifying their medical, legal, social, and vocational services to women, involvement in social works and political organizing undertook advocacy, and created links with other during this period. This allowed women more women’s organizations around the world. movement outside of the home under the pretext of the struggle, bringing them into spaces that had previously After the occupation of the West Bank and been male only, such as political meetings and the front in 1967, the GUPW began responding to the most lines of demonstrations. This inevitably contributed to immediate needs of Palestinian women and children, an erosion of the familial patriarchal authority. including by establishing health centers and orphanages. In the late 1960s took over the GUPW, and has Yet the First Intifada is also often romanticized in since dominated the organization. Unlike some leftist collective memory and writing, not only in terms of political factions Fatah lacked an articulated stance or resistance and community organizing, but of the role vision for Palestinian women. Despite this, the GUPW of women in the struggle. It is important to note succeeded in opening branches in the diaspora, and has that some women faced societal backlash for political been particularly active in the Arab states with large participation. For example, although many women Palestinian refugee populations. Today, it continues as an who were imprisoned were glorified during their institution under the PLO. incarceration, soon after their release they often faced social obstacles, including not being able to marry or Around the time of the formation of GUPW, find employment. Furthermore, women were still often Palestinian women were also involved in armed seen in relation to male figures, such as mothers and resistance, and most major militant political factions wives, as demonstrated by many political posters from established training camps for female revolutionaries. the period. A particularly well-known revolutionary was Layla Khaled, a member of the leftist Palestinian Front Several years into the First Intifada, the Palestinian for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who captured delegation at the 1991 Madrid Conference included international attention for her role as commander of two women (Hanan Ashrawi and Zahira Kamal) out of the Dawson’s Field operation, which made her the first 21 figures. Yet the Oslo Accords several years later did woman to hijack an airplane. Khaled went on to become not feature any women. Palestinian women were not a speaker in the international solidarity scene. Another the only ones to be marginalized at Oslo, as refugees in member of the PFLP, Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, was among the diaspora and Palestinian citizens of were also the first Palestinian women to take part in military excluded. Oslo created a framework, albeit a limited resistance after 1967. She later died while preparing an one, in which the exiled male Palestinian leadership explosive device. Dalal Mughrabi, a Fatah member, was was empowered, rather than a framework for the involved in a 1978 military operation that resulted in her empowerment of the Palestinian people as a whole. own death as well as the deaths of 38 Israeli civilians. This exclusion further increased the tension between the national struggle and the women’s movement. Khaled, Abu Ghazaleh, and Mughrabi broke many traditional and nationalist conventions that had limited women’s role in the liberation struggle to caregivers 2 of sons or husbands, whether fighters or prisoners. to July 2019 July limited focus solely established by the established by many projects and campaign materials. and campaign materials. women.” press releases liberation over the liberation over women’s produce cooperatives women’s have privileged national have “Many Palestinian leaders “Many Palestinian emancipation of Palestinian its overall structure ofits overall apartheid, major contributing as factors to rights violations committed against “occupation” Indeed, the words women. Palestinian did let alone “apartheid” or “colonialism,” or “Israel,” not appear in This reflects a trend in the international aid and donor “issues” and “barriers” discourse in which community’s of rights are spoken in a political vacuum to women’s any Israeli discomfort. Thisto avoid is a clear example dependency on the donor community in which A more recent example of this donor-led transformation campaign can be seen in a week-long international UN agencies, in early 2019 by launched The campaign, NGOs. and Palestinian organizations, “to raise meant was Our Power,” called “My Rights, fundamental human rights” on women’s awareness It focused on five and domestic violence in particular. areas of concern: the right to a life free of violence, the help, the right to seek justice, the right to achieve one’s and the right to make right to equal opportunities, The omitted the Israeli military campaign choices. own as as well occupation of Bank and Gaza Strip, the West civil society. Many terms Many to used or buzzwords society. civil by UN been defined funding have obtain project agencies and other international organizations that them. conditions upon meanings and own place their the term example, “empowerment” is For empowermentsocioeconomic and participation in women rather than empowering “decision-making,” and build a vision for a to resist the occupation Indeed, postcolonial world. empowerment,on household economic aiming to help less dependent become financially on male women This in stark comparison to the stands breadwinners. established before Oslo cooperatives many female-led gainthat attempted to independence economic from articulatedIsrael and were as a form of such resistance, as the in the Committees Work Union ofPalestinian Women’s Bank and Gaza during the First Intifada. West

describes transformation of Palestinian , including the women’s movement. Foreign Foreign movement. , including the women’s This change is particularly noticeable in the post- Palestinian rights within Oslo lexicon of women’s within the women’s movement were also subject to this were movement within the women’s transformation. The shift to a donor-led agendaThe also distanced many shift to a donor-led organizations from the politicized rhetoric of liberation and nationalism. Many groups and organizations became centered on project deadlines, budgets, funding budgets, became centered on project deadlines, reports, all of and annual proposals, were which to the internationalanswerable donor community. civil society organizations civil created a distance between The focus them and local grassroots communities. factors affecting them.” factors affecting them.” The of professionalization and bureaucratization concern are transformed into projects in isolation without from the general they arise, context in which consideration of social, and political the economic, as “NGO-ization,” which Islah Jad aptly aptly Jad Islah which as “NGO-ization,” “issues ofas circumstances in which collective mainly supported civil society organizations, the post- mainly supported society organizations, civil and breaking of a deliberate weakening Oslo era saw process identified this have Many scholars these ties. aid flooded into Palestine and created a situation in aid flooded into society became dependent on external civil which Whereaspatronage. before Oslo political parties for “peace” and “state-building;” they also set in for “peace” and “state-building;” motion a fundamental society civil The Oslo Accords not only created a new framework The Accords not only created a new framework Oslo role of women. Palestinian The NGO-ization of Movement the Women’s the forces within the Palestinian and international and the Palestinian the forces within political to the weakened that contribute communities as well empowering patriarchal structures patriarchal through empowering as well and fragmentation ofits relentless colonization land it is also important to recognize Yet and communities. force has been and continues to be the Israeli regime, Israeli regime, to be the continues force has been and since the day women Palestinian has oppressed which through gendered established formsit was of violence multiple forces that actively suppress their politicization actively forces that multiple The overarching and participation in political spaces. The tension between nationalism and feminism has and feminism has nationalism The tension between has been period, and in the post-Oslo continued of the trend by accompanied facing women Palestinian Depoliticizing Palestinian Women Palestinian Depoliticizing

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July 2019 July This and for the has not been published has demobilized many has demobilized many Palestinian civil society civil Palestinian “The ‘NGO-ization’ of“The ‘NGO-ization’ by President Mahmoud Abbas to consolidate to consolidate Abbas Mahmoud President by groups, but women remain but women groups, disproportionately affected.” authority. authority. Bodies Women’s Weaponizing the are often lacking women The fact that Palestinian most basic legal protections and political representation means that they are particularly vulnerable when it ofcomes to the weaponization Sexual their bodies. topics in harassment and violence are sensitive stigma is often attached and a social society, Palestinian The PA attempted to elevate the status of attempted to elevate The PA Palestinian the UN Convention in 2014 when it acceded to women on the Elimination of of All Forms Discrimination without any reservations. (CEDAW) against Women the first countryIt was in the Middle East and North including some, heralded by Africa to do so and was as demonstrating those in the international community, Yet several rights. women’s significant progress on than it might issues render the accession less significant text the CEDAW seem. Firstly, remains non- Official Gazette and as such in the PA’s 2017 a November Secondly, binding for domestic law. the Supreme Constitutional Court, decision by which regulates the status of international agreements in the legal for courts system, allows to not apply Palestinian law. Palestinian agreements that conflict with powers for unregulated executive allows maintenance of legislature’s patriarchal the overarching efforts his party. within power are indicative Thesepower to consolidate attempts of of namely those in the PA, the politics inherent rule and presidential decree, by leadership, one-man judicial, and executive a failure to separate legislative, Furthermore, of the lack powers. democracy and into a decade – Abbas is well democratic processes termpast his mandated for nepotism and – has allowed It is thus unsurprisingpatronage. that under the PA solidified. tendencies have patriarchal recent gender units in all Palestinian gender units in all Palestinian created Fatah over the Palestinian political scene and the the Palestinian over Fatah exception ofexception background. come from a Fatah Ashrawi, This is unsurprising considering the domination of ministers out of 22 – Mai Kaileh, Minister of Health; Minister of Maayya, Rola and Amal Hamad, Tourism; with the These women, Affairs. Minister of Women’s and El Bireh has a female governor – Laila Ghannam. the government as ofSimilarly, April 2019 headed by has a mere three female cabinet Mohammad Shtayyeh – Hanan Ashrawi. Out of– Hanan Ashrawi. the 16 governorates in the only the governorate Bank and Gaza, ofWest Ramallah percentage remains low. Moreover, other bodies have have other bodies Moreover, percentage remains low. proportions of lower even inclusion. Of the PLO only one is female 15 members, Council’s Executive Legislative Council has maintained a 20% quota of Council has maintained a 20% Legislative activists Palestinian since 2006 – a development women organizations fought hard for – the and women’s Palestinian politics in the West Bank and Gaza Strip West politics in the Palestinian Although the Palestinian remains very shallow. gender-balanced political structure. political gender-balanced The current inclusion of within institutional women they were established to appease certain requirements, established to appease certainthey were requirements, particularly those of and respond to both funders, domestic and international pressures to create a more in institutional politics, yet their implementation and in institutional politics, that is likely it outcomes remain minimal. In reality, Haifa Al Agha it Thesegovernmental to units are supposed agencies. particularlydeal with gender female participation issues, liberation. In 2003, in part to alleviate this tension, the Ministry of established the Palestinian PA Women’s 2012 and 2014 under Minister and between Affairs, First Intifada who then lost their leadership roles to First Intifada who then lost their once again highlighting predominately male politicians, the national strugglethe tensions between and women’s Authority (PA) left many on the ground left many on frustrated, (PA) Authority grassrootsparticularly from the activists women The return of and Gaza Bank West the PLO to the into the Palestinian devolution Strip and its subsequent The Veneer ofThe Veneer Institutional Inclusion remain disproportionately institutional affected due to from the women tendencies to exclude patriarchal political sphere. While this process of has demobilized NGO-ization women society, many groups Palestinian within rendered organizationsrendered the in complicit unwillingly struggle.depoliticization of women’s Palestinian the

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 4 July 2019 July at the behest of the remains very shallow.” Palestinian politics in the politics in the Palestinian “The current of inclusion West Bank and Gaza Strip Bank and Gaza West women within institutional women have, for instance, long confronted the weaponization long confronted the weaponization for instance, have, of recognizing tactics as their bodies through such their right to remain silent during interrogations and remaining in groups or pairs at demonstrations. Indeed, Another tactic is to mentally compartmentalize. “I mentally prepare myself told this author, one activist body my ‘Today before the demonstration, I tell myself, is not mine.’” In more severe cases physical sexual harassment occurs, sexual harassment occurs, cases physical In more severe grabbed and gropedwith women at demonstrations. 2018 protest demanding the This the case at a June was loyalists Fatah lift the sanctions on Gaza, in which PA harassed and assaulted women The sexual harassment of security forces. PA women and deter them from spaces aims to punish in such taking part, to deter but it also encourages male activists female participation safety. out of women’s fear for not have women It is important to note that Palestinian face of in the been passive They gendered violence. Demonstrations and protests have often been sites been sites often have protests and Demonstrations of insults forces use security PA gendered violence. sexual to verbal often amount that and insinuations should they telling women in addition to harassment, This on draws streets. and not in the be at home misogynist notions of and global and shame, honor families. also be mobilized against can which women’s to visit women’s been known have security forces PA some For to “discuss” their activism. and girls’ fathers repercussions this has serious and means they women, families from taking part their by in are prevented also been cases in which There have political activities. place of gone to a female activist’s security forces have in an attempt to to her employer spoken and have work get her fired. This type of sabotage occurs more easily via social media, as rumors and slanderous language that and anonymously in ways can be spread quickly become nearly impossible to refute. as brutal techniques that Israeli soldiers took pictures of that Israeli soldiers took pictures of the December 2017 interrogation . to deny women sanitary their and restrict to deny women towels she reported leaked video leaked deter female participation in political activities. detention, interrogation, surveillance, limitations on It has adopted gendered mobilization, and attacks. cyber Israeli forces to similar to those used by mechanisms In recent years the PA has increasingly cracked has increasingly cracked In recent years the PA its that challenge and activities on activism down authoritarianism, using such harassed her and made comments about her body. harassed her and made comments about her body. and had previously been part of a raid that resulted in subjected her cousin being shot in the head. Ahed was verbally to an interrogation male officers two in which in a of arrested who was for the teenager Ahed Tamimi, her home slapping an Israeli soldier who had invaded sexual violence to pressure women and girls to sign sexual violence to pressure women information.confessions or give This demonstrated was Interrogations Israeli soldiers or security forces by or threats ofalso often include sexual harassment strip searches. The Israeli prison authorities are also strip searches. known menstruating. access to bathrooms when they are time her to unnecessaryher on their phones and subjected them. For example, Khitam Saafin, the leader of example, them. For the spent three Committees, Union of Women’s Palestinian detention. During that months in Israeli administrative During imprisonment, Palestinian women are often women During imprisonment, Palestinian subjected to gendered to “break” violence in an attempt imprisoned by the Israeli regime, including legislator the Israeli regime, imprisoned by Khalida Jarrar threats of and imprisonment, the latter sexual violence, to curtail work. political way being the most effective been consistently Indeed, female political leaders have excluding women from the political sphere or targeting from the political sphere or women excluding manifests Targeting active. those who are politically itself of in a variety and can include harassment, ways systematically used genderedsystematically used tactics to oppress This enforcement has contributed to the . of gender narratives, stereotypes and patriarchal Since its establishment the Israeli regime has Since its establishment particularly powerful weapons. Both the Israeli regime Both the Israeli weapons. particularly powerful gendered to deter violence used such have and the PA active. being politically from women to those who have suffered them. The them. suffered of threat have who to those sexual and the use ofviolence are therefore sexual harassment

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 5 July 2019 July democratic and democratic . This also requires moving toward . This toward also requires moving but also as a practice and way ofbut also as a practice and way life that works the liberation oftoward all people. While context of bearing in mind the specific should also women settler colonialism, Palestinian examine recent examples ofthe in other women been part ofregion who have processes of great and Sudan. It as in Tunisia such political change, is equally important to rebuild historic solidarities, Movement, Women’s as with the Kurdish such to learn and the West, rather than looking toward example. by develop nationalism has long focused around Palestinian imagerymacho embodied in the male fighter or often only discussed in with women prisoner, relation to men. This has resulted in a liberation and dominating ofpolitics that is not only exclusive but also oppresses men. There is therefore women an urgent need to incorporate into the feminism through the adoption political project Palestinian of a new document of liberation, a document that understand feminism not only as a theorywould to collectivism and tackle elitism within the NGO NGO the elitism within tackle and to collectivism more making processes by network representative the weaken ofgrip to self-sufficiency which donors, and system, a membership-based could include economic sovereignty. for way the pave engage must Groups and activists political with the marginalization of men In particular, women. of to be aware in these spaces need the power from participating women dynamics that prevent against in fighting and support them. women and discussions, in meetings, example, For men should step aside and create demonstrations, leading roles. can take space so that women not to rather than telling women Additionally, stand on the front line out of fear their bodies againstwill be weaponized them, men should join this to tackle in coming up with tactics women weaponization. Only through such actions can the Palestinian the Palestinian actions can Only through such society begin to tap the strength leadership and civil of struggle Palestinian in the women for Palestinian and equality. freedom, justice, 4. 5. 3.

politically active.”

way to reconnect both with the grassroots and the way to do this is to return One way liberation discourse. individual and collective and must not be separated and must and collective individual right offrom the collective indigenous Palestinians to be free of settler colonialism. groups and organizations find a must Women’s for women’s autonomy is imperative in a context is imperative autonomy for women’s of where male domination is present in patriarchy, Organizational does not mean a autonomy all areas. separation of struggles, a space but rather provides to think more freely and collectively for women be both must rights about liberation. Women’s organizations pursuing women’s rights and gender organizations pursuing women’s equality need to be restructured and revitalized into that struggles movement an autonomous women’s including liberation in all spheres, for women’s The need and social spheres. political, economic, Palestinian women, collectives, groups, and groups, collectives, women, Palestinian the Palestinian Authority Authority the Palestinian to deter women from being to deter women

“Both the Israeli regime and “Both the Israeli regime have used gendered violence have 2. 1. and revitalizing the liberation struggle through feminism: With this in mind, what follows are recommendations With this in mind, what follows for disrupting process of this political marginalization question Palestinians must ask themselves is whether is whether ask themselves must question Palestinians a path to liberation with halfthey can reignite of their process. population marginalized from the socially, and politically fragmented, resulting in a and politically fragmented, socially, situation of While discussions historic vulnerability. it, the important efforts around to revive revolve civil society and the grassroots. Moreover, the entire Moreover, grassroots. society and the civil liberation project has been geographically, Palestinian has accelerated with the entrenchment of with the entrenchment has accelerated the military Palestinian repressive occupation, the increasingly connection between and the weakening authorities, The aim of this policy briefbeen to has not to address period, but rather the pre-Oslo romanticize ofpolitical marginalization the how women Palestinian Liberating All Palestinian People People All Palestinian Liberating

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 6 Al-Shabaka materials may be circulated with due Al-Shabaka materials may Policy attribution to Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian The opinion ofNetwork. members of individual do not necessarily policy network Al-Shabaka’s reflect the views of the organization as a whole. Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network is Network Policy Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and human rights foster public debate on Palestinian and self-determination of within the framework be Al-Shabaka policy briefs may international law. reproduced with due attribution to Al-Shabaka, more For Network. Policy The Palestinian or contact information visit www.al-shabaka.org email: [email protected]. us by is the Palestine Policy Fellow of Fellow Policy is the Palestine oral history framed projects and memory politics, more widely within Indigenous Studies. completed her PhD in Middle East Politics at the Politics completed her PhD in Middle East ofUniversity focused on Her research Exeter. Yara Hawari Yara She Network. Policy Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian

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