Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 27)

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Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 27)

المحتوى

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and about the Israeli practices in the prisons. There were two
workshops on Lebanese women, which also tied into the ques-
tion of Palestinian women and the whole question of the strug-
gle against Israeli occupation.
When you talked with other women delegates,
what was the most important thing you stressed
about Palestinian women?
Our most important task, as well as that for other liberation
movements, was to fight the US plan to depoliticize the confer-
ence. When we dealt with our liberation struggle in workshops,
it was important for us to point out that we as women cannot
isolate our struggle from the national struggle. We said that we
could not discuss the question of women without discussing
the whole question of national oppression. Our main battle is in
the occupied territories. Our dispersal throughout the Arab
world is a result of the occupation. We compared notes with
other women involved in liberation struggles, and we showed
our solidarity with them. We also wanted to teach women
something more about our struggle since this was the first
international women’s conference since the war in Lebanon in
1982. We really felt strength from comparing notes with other
women on the details of their struggle and how they fight their
enemies. We felt a real boost.
We told people about the effects of the war in Lebanon on
Palestinian women and children. There were terrible losses for
mothers, sisters and all family members. We talked about the
role of Palestinian women in the war - how they participated
socially in preparing meals for the fighters, organizing commit-
tees for missing persons, making links between family mem-
bers, trying to relocate people whose homes were destroyed,
and how many women participated in the fighting itself. We
talked about the political-organizational work of Palestinian
women during the war. We talked about women who were kid-
napped by the Phalange and were raped and tortured, or cap-
tured by the Israelis. We dealt with how women reorganizea
themselves after the war by opening schools and day-care
centers for children or by just carrying on with the tasks of
creating a new base for existence.
Did you have the opportunity to speak with women
from other liberation movements about common
problems you face as women in a national libera-
tion struggle?
With the African National Congress we discussed how
you manage as women within a national liberation movement
to achieve a political-fighter role for women. We face this prob-
lem. We live in a situation where we are often separated from
the extended family, where childcare is a problem and you
can't just throw your kids on your mother or mother-in-law’s
lap. They have similar problems but less than ours, because
they. are more established than we are. The ANC has kinder-
gartens that are open all day long. On their days off, they don’t
stop the kindergartens; the staff still works. They have
revolutionary schools for the children and they organize trips.
It really alleviates a lot of burdens for the mother and also
brings up the children in a way in which they develop socially
critical opinions. We are not able to do that yet because of the
difficult conditions in which we live.
In your discussions with members of other libera-
tion movements, did you find that the question of
women's social status within — transforming
societies was being resolved?
We all still suffer from some form of oppressive discrimina-
tion. We all expressed that. This is a historical condition which
will be difficult to eliminate even after the establishment of a
socialist state and the resulting resocialization. It would be
unnatural to be living in our difficult social situation and not to
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have these contradictions. The pressure of the general situa-
tion creates pressure on you. We have to put the problems in
a political context and distinguish the main contradictions and
realize that this is a process that we have to struggle with. The
male attitude within the movement is much better than the one
outside it. |
What did you feel was the main accomplishment of
Palestinian women at the conference?
27

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Democratic Palestine : 10

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