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Middle East | Palestine | Activism

#BALANCEFORBETTER: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

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The Arab Women’s Organization of Jordan (AWO) held a conference on March 6 to shed light on issues relating to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Manal Al-Taleb, Program Coordinator for the Women’s Political Participation Program at the AWO, told The Media Line that the event focused on issues relating to labor law in the context of women’s rights, as well as social protection for women, girls and Syrian refugees in Jordan. It was held under the patronage of the minister of social development, and many members of parliament were scheduled to attend, as was the UN
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Women’s flotilla to Gaza is more than mere symbolism

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Amal and Zaytouna, a flotilla of two boats with all-women crews and passengers, set sail from Barcelona en route to besieged Gaza in another maritime attempt to break Israel's illegal blockade on the tiny strip of Palestinian coastal territory. This is a place where 1.7 million Palestinians have been locked for nearly a decade in what many describe as the "world's largest open air prison", a human laboratory that Israel uses periodically to test its weapons. As with previous civilian voyages to Gaza, these boats are carrying prominent international figures who hope to use their stature t
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Barcelona Hosts Women’s Boat to Gaza (WBG) for their inaugural journey

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From September 12-14, the sailing vessels Amal-Hope and Zaytouna-Oliva will moor at Bosch i Alsina dock in the port of Barcelona where various events (concerts, talks, nonviolent workshops, a street parade and visits to the boats) will take place as farewell for the women leaving to break the blockade on Gaza. According to Laura Arau, with Rumba a Gaza, Spain’s WBG partner, the launch point from Barcelona has special meaning for the community there.  “We have been a sister city with Gaza since 1998, yet we have been unable to visit with one another,” she says.  “We want our sisters
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

In Gaza, Bicycles Are a Battleground for Women Who Dare to Ride

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The four women pedaling bicycles with jammed gears and wobbly chains up Salahuddin Road,Gaza’s bumpy main highway, on a recent morning caused quite a stir. The driver of a three-wheeled tuk-tuk slowed down and a teenager on a horse-drawn cart sped up to match the women’s pace. A jeep filled with Hamas gunmen beeped and cheered as it passed, and a pack of men on motorbikes left a wake of catcalls. The sight of women on two wheels was so unusual that Alaa, 11, who was grazing sheep on the grassy median, assumed they were foreigners and shouted out his limited English vocabulary: “Hello! O
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

This Woman Is Using Graffiti to Change the Way Her Country Thinks About Girls

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On a concrete wall in the alleyway of a Palestinian refugee camp in Irbid, Jordan, Laila Ajjawi works quickly, switching between the three spray-paint bottles that sit at her feet. Within 20 minutes, she has scrawled Arabic letters onto the veil of a girl with cavernous eyes and painted a feather quill by her side. Her mural is nearly complete. Draped in a dark, paint-splattered cloak with a black respirator strapped over her hijab, Laila, 25, looks like a bona fide superhero. The petite graffiti artist even has a superpower: talking through walls. "My energy will be reflected from walls to p
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Palestinian women ‘show solidarity’ defending access to al-Aqsa mosque, clash with Jewish activists

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Dressed in hijabs, Huda Abu Sneineh and a group of Palestinian women congregate daily in an Old City alleyway just a few steps from an Israeli police barrier that blocks them from one of holiest sites to Islam. When an observant Jew strides up the stone path with a yarmulke and prayer fringes, the women shout out “Allahu akbar” and wave handbook-sized texts of the Koran at the passerby. “It’s because they hate Muslims,” Abu Sneineh explains. “They want to take our mosque.” Known as the mourabitat, Arabic for “the steadfast,” the female activists
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Palestinian women rescue child from attack by Israeli soldier

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This video shows several women preventing an Israeli soldier from abducting a Palestinian child in the village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank on Friday. The footage, shot by Bilal Tamimi, shows a masked soldier assaulting a child whose arm is in a cast. The child is clearly distressed. A man screams at the soldier “he’s a boy! he’s a boy!” but the soldier continues his attack. A short time later, several women appear and pull the soldier off the boy, braving his blows, but preventing the abduction from taking place. One of the women also pulls the mask off the woul
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

6 disruptors from a new generation of Palestinian women

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Palestine’s first wave of resistance poets arrived in the 1950s with Mahmoud Darwish and Samih al Qasim paving the way. In the time that has passed since, we have come to learn new generations of Palestinians who have been raised in exile, many of them women, expressing their views through poetry, art, film and music. Rafeef Ziadah Suheir Hammad Dalia Taha Annemarie Jacir Leila Abdelrazaq Shadia Mansour
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Hamas concludes first-ever military training camp for girls

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On Aug. 1, Hamas’ women’s wing opened the all-female “First al-Quds Army camp” to prepare academically exceptional girls aged 12-18 for the liberation battle of Palestine. This camp, which ended Aug. 10, is the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas has never organized a female training camp before. Around 1,000 girls attend the camp, which offered a special curriculum to resist the occupation taught by women affiliated with the Hamas movement. These women enjoy extensive military experience and know how to intellectually mobilize people against the occupation. Camp d
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Here are 6 women trying — against all odds — to build a future for Gaza

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Madeleine Kulab grew up by Gaza’s glistening blue sea, watching the waves crash into the strip’s 25-mile Mediterranean coastline. But at 13, when her father, who suffered from a form of palsy, could no longer fish, Kulab took the helm and became her family’s breadwinner. Now 21, she says becoming Gaza’s first and only fisherwoman was not easy, both because she is a women and because she lives in a society whose dysfunctional relationship with Israel takes a daily toll. “Even the sea isn’t free here,” Kulab says. “People always looked at me and teased or scolded my dad
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

I won’t apologize for being a Palestinian feminist

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I am neither a criminal nor a terrorist. Yes sir, I’ll admit it: I founded a women’s organization, and I wish to be judged severely for my actions. I want, once and for all, to hang the dirty laundry for all to see and be tried in a court of law. I recently came across a speech given by Sheikh Kamal Khatib, the secretary-general of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, in which he blames a young girl who was taken advantage of on social media. “You crazy idiot, you are superficial and hollow,” he tells her, before continuing with his scaremongering over what can happen to you
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Gaza women shed veil, spark conversation

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Two weeks ago, journalist and film director Razan Madhoon took off her veil and posted her picture on Facebook. The move stirred a fierce backlash of comments against her and her husband, who supported her decision. Some people even called on to return to Islam, as though taking off her veil were on par with forsaking religion. Madhoon and her husband are known for their Muslim background in the journalism world. Madhoon’s decision came as a shock for the Gaza public, given the region's rising religiosity. Women wearing the veil or niqab and frequenting mosques have become comm

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