Who Is Palestinian Feminism?

Palestinian feminism is a global movement through which Palestinian women oppose patriarchal values and the violence of the Israeli occupation, and fight for human rights and equal treatment for all Arabs regardless of gender or sexuality. Palestinian feminism’s story is largely unknown. From the birth of powerful women’s organizations to viral Internet campaigns by young progressive activists during the Arab Spring, the motives and successes of Palestinian and Arab feminists rarely make headlines. Western feminists often refuse to hear the voices of Palestinian women that challenge their ideas of womanhood, so the story of Palestinian feminism is often overlooked in the Western world (Al-Sweel).
Palestinian feminists today and in recent history have placed more importance on combatting the overarching oppression inflicted by the Israeli occupation than on changing traditional patriarchal values. Although …show more content…
It is also about how Palestinians have been devalued and silenced in a system of exploitative inequality, occupation and violence. Critics have argued that Israeli occupying forces have deliberately perpetuated naturalized hierarchies between ethnicities and genders. Amnesty International said that, “Palestinian women have borne the brunt of the escalation of the conflict and decades of Israeli occupation, while in Palestinian society they are subjected to a system of laws and norms that treats them as unequal members of society,”(Palestinian Women Carry the Burden of Israel’s Occupation). The restrictions enforced by the Israeli military have inevitably caused unprecedented amounts of poverty, unemployment and health issues for Palestinians. Still, Western feminists often say that the oppression of Arab women is merely a result of Islamic fundamentalism rather than of Israeli occupation