Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 16)
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- Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 16)
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she was killed in a battle with British soldiers at Wadi Azzoun.
In 1942, women’s solidarity associations were formed
with branches in the main cities. In 1947, upon the UN’s adop-
tion of the partition plan, she was alongside the Palestinian
man building barricades and fortifications, digging trenches,
transporting weapons and forming more associations, like the
one called Daisy Flower in Jaffa, which provided medical care,
food and water to those fighting to defend the land. Members
of this association included Yusra Toukan, Fatima Abdul
Huda, Juhenia Khorshid and Arabia Khorshid. Women also
joined the fighters in their attacks. Many were martyred, includ-
ing Juliet Zakka, Jamile Ahmad, Deba Atyeh and Helwe
Zaidan. The latter had taken the gun of her husband after he
and their son were martyred; she continued shooting at the
Zionist gangs until her martyrdom on April 9, 1948. On April 10,
1948, Hayat Balbisi, who taught school in Deir Yassin, upon
hearing of the massacre there, left her parents’ house in
Jerusalem and hurried to the village. There she was martyred
while helping the people and protecting school children from
the Zionists’ savage artillery.
Stage two: May 1948 - June 1967
Women’s struggle, like the entire Palestinian national
movement, suffered a recession after 1948. The reasons are
obvious: the partition of Palestine, with the Zionists occupying
the major portion, the West Bank annexed to Jordan, and the
Gaza Strip placed under Eayptian administration. The reasons
for the recession can also be traced to the nature of the leading
Palestinian national bourgeoisie, whose interests were now
directly linked to either the Jordanian or Egyptian regime.
A new characteristic of this stage was that women began
to join political movements, but this was minimal and limited to
women with higher education. In general, women’s activities in
this period were charitable and social endeavors, with some
superficial political work. Still, gains were made in the 1948
occupied territories, and more women in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip responded to educational opportunities.
Upon the occupation, the constirictions imposed on
women in the traditional society were compounded by. the
restrictions imposed on all Palestinians in the Zionist state,
which perpetuated the British Emergency Defense Regula-
tions to control the population under occupation. The Zionists
aimed to make the Palestinian Arabs ignorant; social activities,
clubs and national associations were prohibited, while
avenues to continuing education were blocked. Roughly the
same policy, in different forms, was applied by the Jordanian
regime in the West Bank.
In the 1948 occupied land, Palestinian women encoun-
tered difficult economic conditions. They could not be
employed in the productive sector and were generally barred
from higher education. Thus, women tended towards agricul-
ture and marginal jobs. Their social and political activities were
limited to those of a few who were able to work through the
16
Communist Party, Rakah. In the early sixties, more women
managed to continue their education. At the same time, the
founding of Al Ard (Fhe Land) movement afforded an indepen-
dent Palestinian political framework. Women immediately
joined this movement, and some like Najaa al Asmar rose to
leading positions.
In the Gaza Strip, the women’s role was minimal due to the
economic and social backwardness prevailing there. Yet they
participated in demonstrations: in 1954, protesting against the
project to resettle Palestinians in the Sinai desert; in February
1955, protesting the Israeli attack on the Gaza railway station;
on March 7, 1957, after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which
had been occupied during the 1956 tripartite aggression on
Egypt. Women also participated in the continuous one-week
demonstration which helped to foil the plan to internationalize
the Gaza Strip.
In this period, women also participated in the big demonst-
rations in the West Bank against the imperialist-reactionary
plan to form the Baghdad pact. This demonstration was prohi-
bited and brutally attacked by the Jordanian regime, resulting
in the martyrdom of many, including Raja Abu Amashe. Many
others were arrested in similar demonstrations, such as Widad
Qumri, Suad Hureish, Nahil Oweida.
In the Gaza Strip, women displayed greater interest in
educational opportunities, this being allowed by the Egyptian
regime. Thus, their employment opportunities began gradually
improving with the possibility of becoming a teacher, doctor,
engineer or social assistant. This gave women new and
broader prospects for joining the national struggle alongside
the men.
In 1964, the General Union of Palestinian Women was
founded, after the establishment of the PLO. This allowed a
greater number of women to participate. Through the Union,
many women attended the Palestinian National Council held in
Jerusalem at that time. The union held its first congress in
Jerusalem in 1965, and branches were set up in many cities
and villages of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Later in 1966,
upon the Jordanian regime’s decision to close all PLO associ-
ations, the union was closed. Yet it continued to function sec-
retly through associations and operating sewing centers, as
well as first aid and nursing courses, and political and cultural
sessions.
Stage three: The 1967 occupation and the rise
of the Palestinian Resistance
After occupying the remaining parts of Palestine, the
Zionists started once more enacting their plans to empty the
land of its inhabitants; more Palestinian families were dis-
placed, mainly to neighboring Arab countries. Under military
rule, political, social and ideological activities were prohibited
for Palestinians, while their land was confiscated. There were
laws aiming to make the population ignorant, interference in
education and prevention of employment opportunities, to - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 3
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