2018/02/02 by Islah Jad · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies #Middle East Politics and Society #Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts
paper · doi:10.4324/9780429492921-10
openalex publication_date 2018/02/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The formal Palestinian women&s;s organizations that emerged before 1967 were characterized and limited by their urban, upper-class leadership and their ancillary status to the male-dominated nationalist movement. These groups shared the national priority of ending both British and Zionist colonialism and a focus on charitable and humanitarian activity. Paradoxically, the heightened nationalist activism and responsibilities undertaken by women during the intifada led to a new gendered consciousness among Palestinian women activists. For many, the organizations&s; emerging feminist orientation has pushed them to deemphasize service programs. Increased institutionalization led some committees to substitute internal relations of a voluntary, democratic type for ones that were centralized and businesslike. Women&s;s committee activists, representatives of the General Union of Palestinian Women, leaders of the charitable societies, and women from all parts of the Occupied Territories gathered to hear the declaration read and explained by leading activists. In 1988, Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded by activists of the Muslim Brotherhood.