Hayat Al-Balbisi: Women's Role As A Political Activist

In the early hours of April 9, 1948, commandos of the Zionist groups Irgun and Stern Gang, attacked the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin with the intent to kill as many Palestinians as possible. The Zionist gangs fired at the entire village, families were rounded up and executed, and about twenty five pregnant women were killed. The final death toll was about 254, half of whom were women and children. Hayat Al-Balbisi, a 19 year old schoolteacher and Red Cross worker, heard about the massacre and rushed to the village to help as many people as she could. She rounded up about fifteen children and took refuge at a school, turning it into a rescue center. Hayat was shot dead by a Zionist while attempting to rescue more injured people. Hind Al-Husseini …show more content…
From that point on, women’s participation kept increasing against the British mandate. After the end of the First World War, women took part in huge demonstrations at the time of the Balfour Declaration. Four years later in 1921, Emilia As-Sakakini and Zalikha Ash-Shihabi established the first Palestinian Arab Women’s Union. The Union played an integral role in organizing protests and demonstrations against the British mandate and Zionist settlers. During the 1929 Western Wall riots, women took part in demonstrating and participating and nine were killed by British forces. This lead to the establishment of the first Palestinian Arab Women’s Conference. The Conference worked with the Arab Women’s Union to embark on efforts to continue to organize protests and demonstrations. They even sent a protest letter to the King of England and the League of Nations, which is now the UN. The conference also resulted in the formation of a 14 member delegation of women to meet with the British High Commissioner. They demanded an annulment of the Balfour Declaration and to halt Jewish immigration into …show more content…
This work is both seasonal and contractual and thus lends itself to exploitative working conditions. Palestinian women inside the Occupied Territories, although denied the right to return to their homeland to live, are recruited to cross the Green Line on a daily basis to work in Israeli factories. In terms of pay, Palestinian women from the Occupied Territories as a group are the lowest paid with Israeli Jewish men, Israeli Jewish women, Arab Israeli men, Arab Israeli women, and Palestinian men all considered more ‘valuable’ workers. Within this context, Palestinian women have been unable to organize their labour or participate in unions. (Loubani