The dual struggle of Palestinian women: “We defend our rights and at the same time live under colonial occupation”

This activist works with Spanish NGO Alianza por la Solidaridad in the West Bank, where Palestinians live in a kind of isolation due to Israel’s blockade. Hussein, accompanied by a Palestinian activist, has been in Palma for several days to talk about the situation in the occupied territories. Hanan Kaud, participating in the international women’s meeting Les Elegides.

“live in West Bank It’s getting harder and harder,” complains Hüseyin.. “To move to other places, you need a permit that Israel has given you or not. We cannot go to Gaza without its permission. If we want to go to the airport, we have to go to the one in Jordan, but we have to go through the military checkpoints. They may be open or closed, you won’t know until you arrive. It is a life of uncertainty where you are not in control. And that is humiliation because you are in your own country. It’s like living in a big prison with a land confiscation policy.. We live in a permanent system of military and colonial violence,” says this activist.

This gender expert puts Palestinian women at the center of her story and talks about their “double struggle” in such a complex environment. “Palestinian society is conservative and becomes more conservative because it has to defend itself against everything that is going on around it. In this context, women are in the private sphere rather than the public sphere. We are working to gain a public presence, but the occupation colony strengthens this structure.. There is a double fight because we are talking about our rights as women and at the same time we are living under a colonial occupation that reinforces this culture and domestic violence,” explains Hussein.

He accuses the Palestinian authorities of “lack of a social agenda that protects women and children” and a “lack of interest” in half the population. “The cause of feminism requires a lot of hope and faith, as the Palestinian authority ignores women. And this does not protect the entire population from groups that use religion for political gain. We need him to be determined to say we want a secular Palestinian state. Women are being attacked by these groups and have to be defended by the Palestinian authority, which is not doing enough.”criticizes this activist.

ukraine war

Hussein is suffering from the great attention drawn by the Ukrainians, despite the fact that the Palestinians have lived in a critical situation for decades. “Europeans unmask bombings over ukraine. In the beginning, there were those who said, ‘Look what’s going on, the victims have blue eyes, they’re blonde, and they live in houses like ours’. And they’re bombing us.’ This was so hard because apparently if you’re brunette it doesn’t matter if they bomb you.. Palestine has experienced four wars in 74 years. There is a generation that has lived through four wars, and in the case of Gaza, they live in a big prison that they cannot leave without permission. There are people with cancer who die because the Israelis don’t let them go out to buy medicine,” he complains.

And he concludes by calling for an end to all wars and condemning equally the suffering of one and the other: “On the first day of the war in Ukraine, the Palestinian people were very bad because they know very well what it means to lose their fathers, mothers, children and to separate families.. We know this trauma and that’s why it left us in ‘shock’. What happened in Palestine defies human rights, they kill children, and Europe should be as angry with Ukraine as what is happening in Palestine.”