Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 16)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 16)
- المحتوى
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glitter, or to reyect them totally, retreating further into backwara-
ness as a refuge. These two reactions are equally harmful in
our society. The Palestinian woman is not immune to this for
she is part of the Arab society, especially in view of our disper-
sion throughout the Arab world.
Women in confrontation
The exception to this is women living under Zionist occu-
pation which does not leave much room for anything other than
resistance. In Palestine, women play a more advanced role
than women in exile. They are totally absorbed in the everyday
resistance to the Zionist occupation, if not directly, then indi-
rectly. They may have sons in prison or outside the country,
either to work for a better salary or unable to return due to
Israeli repression. This situation minimizes the negative influ-
ence of the West on women. Their daily life is devoted to end-
ing the occupation through the channels open to them: semi-
nars, social and medical work, nurseries, bazaars and exhibi-
tions, production workshops, etc. The activity of women in
occupied Palestine is in direct proportion to the number
involved in the struggle. There the woman has only to see what
havoc and destruction Zionism is wreaking to be motivated to
resist. Every day renews her determination to challenge the
occupation, and her effectiveness increases.
Another example is in Lebanon where the confrontation
has caused women to be more active and tied to the struggle
than Palestinian women in the Gulf countries or even in Syria.
With the occupation of Lebanon in 1982, the women’s confron-
tation developed even more, because an entirely new situation
developed. All of a sudden, everyone was involved. Every
Palestinian was a target, even those who had not been
involved in the struggle due to their class status. A face to face
confrontation with the enemy evolved. Thus every Palestinian
woman, regardiess of class status, was targeted. Her son
could be arrested and harassed simply for being Palestinian.
Every Palestinian family in Lebanon was motivated to rid them-
selves of this oppression, especially when the Lebanese Army
started treating them the same way the Israeli occupiers did.
Lebanon became the second hot spot after occupied Pales-
tine.
Although some Palestinian women in exile may on the
surface lead a normal life, they are still affected by the fact that
part of their family remains under occupation. This can moti-
vate women for struggle. The level of activity is much lower, but
there are other ways of raising women’s consciousness such
as showing patriotic films, political seminars, etc. This keeps
alive their adherence to our cause and country. However, this
task is very difficult due to the dispersion of Palestinian women
all over the world.
Social effects of backwardness
Women are not the only victims of social backwardness.
Both men and women still contain the seeds of this. The
degree of backwardness varies from one person to another in
proportion to his/her consciousness. Men are more
enlightened, even if not educated, because the society permits
them to leave home to get an education, earn a living, etc. This
gave men achance to develop that women were not given. The
result was a gap between the consciousness of the two sexes.
Yet the man too remains tied to his family and the society.
Overstepping the boundaries of social traditions means risking
being branded as different or a social outcast. This would
naturally affect the rest of the family as well. While the family
and society gave the men certain privileges, they expect them
16
to follow in their path, and not make waves due to acquired
knowledge or worldiiness. If the man ts not ideologically aware,
he cannot be liberated. No matter how many progressive ideas
he may convey, he remains a prisoner of the society he lives in.
He can only apply his ideological convictions with great diffi-
culty because this goes against the majority.
Women and the revolution
In any case, what takes priority on our agenda is the liber-
ation of our country. We, men and women, are so engrossed in
our cause, and the rapidly changing developments, that not
enough attention is focused on the question of women’s libera-
tion. There is, of course, some progress, but it is not up to the
standard to which we aspire. However, it is a step forward in
women's liberation and men’s as well. However, the men's
consciousness must be reflected in the smallest unit of the soc-
lety - the family. If not, our revolution will not succeed.
It is my evaluation that the PFLP represents an advanced
model on the women’s question. The fourth congress in 1981
posed the question of women. This means that despite all our
problems as a revolution, we can attend to the women’s ques-
tion and evaluate it highly enough to be a subject considered at
our Congress. There was a decision to draw up an internal per-
sonal statute (behavior code) to be adopted at the fifth con-
gress. | believe that we will succeed in this, and set an example
to be emulated by others. We consider ourselves to be the first
building block. We have not reached the point where we have
the authority to impose our ideas on the Palestinian revolution
as a whole.
Previously, the General Union of Palestinian Women
(GUPW) was to propose such a personal code to be
implemented by the PLO. This was before the 1982 Israeli
invasion of Lebanon. However, as always, events which we do
not control were ahead of us, and the plan was put aside.
Organized women’s work
In the occupied territories, there are the Union of Palest-
nian Womens Committees, the Womens Work Committees,
the Working Womens Committees and the Womens Social
Work Committees. The last is very broad, encompassing many
sectors of women, but is not as organized as the first three
which have adopted progressive ideology.
The Working Womens Committees initiated activities
among women, and the Palestinian Womens Committees and
Womens Work Committees followed soon after. These three
have already convened congresses and held elections. They
are very active and have programs which are close to being
comprehensive. The first congress of the Union of Palestinian
Womens Committees was held in 1983, the second in 1984.
There is coordination between all four of these organizations.
In addition there are numerous societies of a social nature.
formed by women patriots, such as the Society for the Preser-
vation of the Family, the Society for Orphans, the Society of Al
Bireh, etc.
The framework that shou/d interlink all these committees
and societies is the GUPW. However, their work is being con-
ducted more or less independently. We in the PFLP formerly
suggested that all these committees and societies be rep-
resented in the GUPW, and that all of them should meet and
form a representative body in order to complement each other.
It goes without saying that organized efforts give better results
for women, especially in the occupied territories, because our
Cause is one and the situation in which women live is one.
Outside occupied Palestine. there are a number of - هو جزء من
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