Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 17)
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- Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 17)
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frameworks. The most prominent is the GUPW. Moreover,
every resistance organization has a women's bureau or
organization. The PFLP had a women’s bureau from 1972 until
1983, especially to organize women’s work within the Front.
However, with time, our work developed and expanded,
attracting women from outside the membership of the PFLP. In
order to continue this broader process, the Palestinian
Womens Orgnization (PWO) was formed as a popular democ-
ratic framework with its own organizational structure, program
and activities. The PWO will be having conferences in Leba-
non, Syria and other places where there are branches
(Europe, USA, the Gulf and North Africa).
Aside from the PWO, there are the Democratic Womens
Organization of the DFLP, which has held three annual con-
gresses; the Palestinian Progressive Womens Organization of
the PFLP-General Command, which has held its congress; the
Women's Bureau of the Popular Struggle Front, etc. Of course,
the ideal situation would be to have a framework for coordina-
tion between these organizations, i.e., the role the GUPW
should play. The more organized the women's activities, the
more progress we make. Yet now that there are congresses
and elections, the women's organizations have shed their
more restricted role and become popular democratic women’s
organizations. This is a development of the women's work. It
gives the opportunity to all women to be in a women’s organi-
zation. They need not be members of a resistance organiza-
tion or party as a prerequisite for engaging in organized
women’s work. These democratic organizations are ultimately
to the interest of the party as well.
Of course, there are discrepancies from one womens
organization to another in terms of their internal structure, the
nature of their activities and which sector of women they focus
on. This is where the difficulty lies. It is beneficial that these
organizations exist because it means more women s work, but
it is negative that there is a lack of conviction in the GUPW as
the representative of all Palestinian women.
Another way to look at this issue is related to the
shortcomings of the GUPW, which prompted women to
organize popular organizations or institutions particular to their
organization, instead of organizing centrally under GUPW
auspices. This should have happened long ago so that the var-
ious frameworks together would constitute the union. Unfortu-
nately, things took another course. The GUPW has not
functioned as the union of all the active women’s organiza-
tions. Rather women were hastily collected in membership
drives just prior to congresses in order to maintain the domi-
nance of a single faction through undemocratic elections.
Proportional representation of the active forces and other
basics of union work were absent. Rather there was factional
domination - I'm the biggest, so | should lead, whether qualified
or not. There are many women who are qualified to be leaders
in the union, but were put aside for political reasons. This is the
problem. The union should be for all Palestinian women
regardless of their political affiliation. Otherwise it cannot be
called a union, but the women’s organization of Fatah or PFLP
or DFLP. As a union it should represent all lines in the Palesti-
nian arena. There should be collective leadership, not indi-
vidualistic decision-making.
Palestinian Womens Organization
The Palestinian Womens Organization is a national
democratic, social organization which encompasses in its
ranks women from all classes of the Palestinian people. on the
basis of free choice. It also includes Arab and non-Arab women
married to Palestinians. The PWO is an inseparable part of the
Palestinian women’s movement. It is the popular women’s
framework of the PFLP. It is not a substitute for the GUPW
which we consider to represent the Palestinian women’s
movement. This is the basic definition of the PWO.
The PWO's program is very broad and aims mainly at rais-
ing the consciousness of Palestinian women. It is the PWO's
duty to provide women with opportunities to learn and be
acquainted with all political matters relevant to the Palestinian
people’s struggle. This can be through workshops, literacy
programs, showing political films and exhibitions of Palestinian
heritage. We will work to preserve traditional Palestinian
embroidery which is based on the cross stitch.
The PWO program takes into consideration the objective
conditions of each arena when defining its activities. For exam-
ple, in the occupied territories, there are 40 comittees in the
Cities, villages and camps of the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
including hundreds of women. The women there set their work
program, and have been issuing a publication Women’s Voice
for over a year. On August 17, 1985, they held a congress with
the slogans: «Cancel the Amman accord» and «For a united
womens movement.» The most prominent activities in the
occupied territories are production workshops and social pro-
jects, including literacy programs, moveable medical clinics,
booster lessons for students and community centers for semi-
nars, rallies and courses.
Also of importance is a complete program of activities for
children to develop their patriotic awareness. This is essential
in order to counter Zionist propaganda and interference in the
school curriculum. There are also bazaars and exhibitions
where items produced by women are displayed on occasion or
on a regular basis, and sold at low prices so that all can afford
to buy. Moreover, women organize hunger strikes, demonstra-
tions and sit-ins. They have been particularly active in solidar-
ity with the prisoners in the Zionist jails. March 8th is consi-
dered a special occasion and is celebrated in the occupied ter-
ritories.
Concerning the PWO outside Palestine, we have formed
a preparatory committee for our congress. It includes rep-
resentatives of Palestinian women from all Arab countries and
the socialist countries. Elections will be held in the branches in
syria and Lebanon and the external department. This will cul-
minate in the general congress in June. In most PWO centers,
we now have a wall newspaper. We will be issuing a bulletin on
the occasion of the preparatory committee meeting at the end
of January, explaining the purpose of the PWO and the bulle-
tin. We will also have an issue for March 8th, and a third issue
will cover the congress in June.
WIDF conference in Prague
We do not envision the PWO as an alternative to the
GUPW. However, we will develop relations between the PWO
and other women s organizations internationally, especially in
the socialist countries. We were invited to the Womens Inter-
national Democratic Federations Conference in Prague in
November, and benefited greatly from our attendance. There
were 111 countries and 136 organizations represented by 260
women. It was very important to discuss with them. We also
had the opportunity to discuss with women from the occupied
territories, who gave us first-hand descriptions of the problems
they are currently encountering.
Unfortunately, Isam Abdel Hadi, who spoke on behalf of
the GUPW. objected to the addition of a clause denouncing the
Amman accord, in the final resolution of the conference. The
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