Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 23)
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- Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 23)
- المحتوى
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but the family had found a way of hiding him: They put him on
a big mattress on the floor, and then the grandmother got in
the middle with all the children sleeping around her - and over
him, so the Israelis didn’t see him. Our two girls were able to
go to the village and bring him back to Ramallah where we
made an ID for him. Later this man and one of the girls met
again at a base of the revolution in Jordan. They had not
known each other by name before, only by face, but it was a
nice reunion.
On Christmas Eve, the Israelis take special precautions to
avoid anything happening in Bethlehem, to make it look as
thought the occupation is normal. The first year of the oc-
cupation, the Palestinian resistance planned to make an
operation in Bethlehem to show that life was not going on as
usual. We had three men arriving from Jordan to take part.
We needed to help them move from Ramallah to Jerusalem to
Bethlehem without ID cards. I went with one of them. We got
on a bus separately, but managed to sit side by side. When the
Israelis came to check, it was my job to laugh and joke with the
soldier so he would forget to ask for the comrade’s ID. It
worked! In another case, a woman comrade carried bombs on
a bus. She put them in a bag filled with apples. When the
Israeli came and asked what was in the bag, she joked with him
and offered him an apple, so he did not look in the bag.
At that time, we were able to utilize the Israeli perception of
Arab women to our advantage. They didn’t expect us to be in-
volved in the struggle, so we were able to do things without be-
ing suspected. Incidentally, this is one of the things that is no
longer the case. At that time, however, I was able to transport
a typewriter to the comrades in the Gaza Strip by playing on
my ‘weakness’ as a woman. I took a taxi with another woman.
I wrapped my leg in a plaster cast as though it was broken and
placed it over the typewriter. When we were stopped at an
Israeli checkpoint, I ‘tried’ to get out of the car, but pretended
I couldn’t, so the Israeli soldier told me to remain sitting. I also
avoided showing my ID by saying I didn’t have one, because
my name was written in my father’s ID since I was not yet
married.
Ordinary people also helped us completely spontaneously.
Once when a woman comrade was accompanying one of the
fedayeen onto a bus on the way to make an operation, a
woman on the street whispered to them to warn him that his
military fatigues were showing beneath his civilian pants.
RESOURCEFULNESS
We who were organized received training from the
organization. There were guidelines for what to do in case of
arrest, how to transport things secretly, etc. However, we had
to rely on ourselves to a great extent. We icarned through
practice and spread our experience. We had experience from
working in Jordan and on the West Bank under Jordanian
control before the occupation. Once we had carried things, for
which we could have received a death sentence, from
Jerusalem via the West Bank to Irbid (Jordan), and back to
Jerusalem.
It was our original intention to carry out more extensive
political education and mass organization before launching
armed struggle. There were always two aspects - working with
people and at the same time preparing for the future. We
wanted to build a strong organization, so there were others to
carry on if some were arrested or martyred. However, the
course of events and the new occupation in 1967, forced armed
struggle on us prematurely. In their enthusiasm, everyone
wanted to engage in armed struggle immediately. I always
stressed the need for prior training - political and military.
Some women cadres went to Jordan for training and returned.
After the occupation people were generally willing to do
whatever they could. Women and girls were quite resourceful.
The first handbills against the occupation were written on
typewriters and duplicated on machines we stole from the
schools in the first days of chaos. It was all girls doing this
work and bringing the materials. Some girls got the idea
themselves to make a formal marriage with a comrade so that
they could take a house to be used by the comrades. When the
Israelis made a census in the first months after the occupation,
they put different places under curfew on different days, and
registered names. We were able to register in different places at
different times to get extra ID cards. Later, there was strict
registration of rented houses, so doing such things became
more difficult.
In fact, most of the women’s activities were ones they
created themselves. We would sit down and discuss what to do,
make practical suggestions and carry them out. For instance,
we never had to ask directly for donations. We simply told
people we wanted to do something, and they offered help.
Young girls collected enough money for our activities in the
Jerusalem - Ramallah area by such things as sewing and selling
their embroidery work. All such work was done directly from
the homes.
UNITY IN STRUGGLE
At this time in the occupied territories, there was no dif-
ference between the resistance organizations. Everyone was
active together, organizing things together. Especially at the
beginning, the comrades of the PFLP and Al Fatah organized
many things together.
We tried to get everyone involved in the struggle according
to their ability. We tried to get them to express their commit-
ment in whatever way they could. We used the help of people
who had not yet taken the step to total involvement, but we did
this in a way not to endanger them, and we never lied to them,
so they continued to support us.
We also taught people how to avoid giving the Israelis any
information if they were asked about someone. We taught
them to say «I don’t know» to all questions to avoid bringing
harm to themselves or others. Keeping quiet became complete-
ly natural for people. For instance, when my mother and sister
were later interrogated about me, they said the same thing
although they were questioned separately. They had gotten
used to dealing with such things because they had helped alot in
our work without being organized. My mother and sisters
typed and carried messages; they carried small packages
without knowing the contents. They shared part of the work -
aware of some things and unaware of others.
In working with women, we were careful to involve them in a
way that would not totally disrupt their lives, so that they could
work with us without, for example, quarrelling with their
husbands. At the same time, we taught women who were ready >
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- Democratic Palestine : 27
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