Interview of Amal Kreishe - Part 3
- Were you confronted to a kind of resistance on the part of the women themselves in your attempt to make them participate in the political life?
Yes, because we have different ideologies in our society, as in any other society, because of the emerging of Hamas and mainly of the political Islamic groups. They try to express their power through women body, through women appearances, so in 89, during the first Intifada, while women were participating very strongly against the Israeli army, soldiers, occupation, Hamas tried to reinforce hijad (the veil) on women, so we struggled very hard at that moment. At the same time we struggle against the occupation on daily basis and we had to struggle against the Islamic political groups, because we consider these treatments as a violation of our human rights! It was difficult for us to convince the political parties to support us and publish a statement against this violation.
So there are some women who support the political Islamic groups and they believe that equality means being a good mother, a good sister, a good wife, and making it easy for your husband, and all these discourses. Many women believe in that. As a secular democratic women organization, we try to change this mentality and fight for a different image and for different rights for women in the Palestinian society, different ways of liberation.
So if women wear the veil because they are convinced, by themselves, that it is the right thing to do, I have to respect that. If I talk about democracy I have to respect that. I have to go by the rules of democracy. For me, our role is to open access for women, to give them information, to give them space, and then they decide what their lives will be, what their appearance will be, and I have to respect that.
But unfortunately what is going on in the Palestinian society is that because these political Islamic groups have no answers to the social needs of people, and because of the external pressure and the internal conflict, they choose to show their power against women’s body and appearance. This is what happened in Gaza, if I have to walk in a street with a man, I have to have the marriage contract with me in my pocket, and I have to wear special clothes for female lawyer.
Many women believe in all that, because they support the political Islamic groups, but the majority is a secular society. I remember, in the 50s, 60s, when I see my mother’s pictures, they were a generation who wore traditional clothes and they participate in conferences in the Arab world, in political movements, they struggled against the British mandate, the Israelis, …and I remember my mother and my grandmother danced together with male and female in weddings, in celebrations, … So there are differences between the Islamic political groups and Islamic ordinary people who are believers.
But in general, women support our activities. And we achieved a lot of changes and successes in women’s life in Palestine. We have women in local councils, and we have 5 ministers in the PA, the voices of women become stronger and stronger inside the political parties. So the idea of human rights and feminist concepts are growing in spite of all the challenges and the obstacles that the Israelis and the internal fights bring to the Palestinian life on a daily basis.
- What do you expect from this conference?
For me, it is very important to have more space for us to voice our rights and our perspectives concerning politics in Palestine, and to see politics from women’s perspective is very vital and necessary especially in such era, in Palestine.
And for us this will help cooperation between French, German and Palestinian, so we talk about different dimensions of relationships, it is not just woman and Palestinian NGO or Palestinian groups, it is also cultural activities, which I consider as very important because it is a different face of globalization, the solidarity and the understanding and the opening and the exchange of human views.
It is something else than greedy globalization, and it is thus a dehumanization of the other face of globalization. So it is very important, especially at that time when the process of stereotyping is very common about Arabs, in media agencies or some of the political circles in the West. It is really important.
But I would prefer, in the future, if we could also hear the voice of French women and German women concerning their participation in politics. It would become very important also for us, to exchange, and also to exchange on the idea that the struggle to have women rights is a worldwide issue, it is not just a local issue, it is an international issue. Maybe in the future…