Why is the Palestinian woman in the spotlight?
Security and freedom of movement, healthcare, education, food, clothing, housing, employment, retirement and essential social services are the simple rights of a woman. Since 1948, the Zionist regime has been depriving Palestinian women of these simple rights through its 76-year occupation of the Palestinian land. It does not matter whether the Palestinian woman lives in the Palestinian land or outside it and in other countries. The negative effects of the occupation have encompassed all aspects of the lives of Palestinian women, including personal, social, economic and political, and have turned them into a painful, difficult and different example from other women in the world.
The current state of a society suffering from occupation has not broken the will of the Palestinian woman and has not overcome her resilience; on the contrary, a woman different from other women has emerged from that pain and suffering. Palestinian girls are martyred at their school desks and women are martyred under the rubble caused by Zionist bombings.
Despite the difficult daily life of a destroyed house and usurped land, a sick child, a captive wife and a martyred father, and besieged cities and villages, women in Palestine plant seedlings of stability and hope. After the martyrdom of their men, they become the heads of the family and take care of their children, teaching them dignity, stability and resistance.
Also, every day, numerous news stories are published about the difficult situation of pregnant Palestinian women, women who, due to long delays at the Zionist regime’s checkpoints and lack of access to hospital facilities for childbirth, face the risk of death for themselves or their children or both.
Fortunately, despite the negative effects of the occupation, life in Palestine continues. In addition to being mothers, wives, and sisters, Palestinian women are educators, fighters, nurses, and teachers, and they are always active in political life and the jihadi movement.
The eyes of the world in the 21st century are witnessing the trampling of Palestinian women’s rights under the boots of the occupying regime in Jerusalem, while the issuance of international statements in support of Palestinian women and children has failed to awaken the dormant conscience of international organizations, and it seems that they have closed their eyes to what is happening to Palestinian women and children.