Middle East

Citation:

Jad, Islah. 2008. “The Demobilization of a Palestinian Women’s Movement: From Empowered Active Militants to Powerless and Stateless ‘Citizens.’” The MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies 8: 94-111.

Author: Islah Jad

Topics: Armed Conflict, National Liberation Wars, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2008

Citation:

Johnson, Penny, and Eileen Kuttab. 2001. “Where Have All the Women (and Men) Gone? Reflections on Gender and the Second Palestinian Intifada.” Feminist Review, no. 69, 21–43. doi:10.1080/014177800110070102.

Authors: Penny Johnson, Eileen Kuttab

Abstract:

The authors ground their reflections on gender and the complex realities of the second Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation in the political processes unleashed by the signing of the Israeli–Palestinian rule, noting that the profound inequalities between Israel and Palestine during the interim period produced inequalities among Palestinians. The apartheid logic of the Oslo period – made explicit in Israel's policies of separation, seige and confinement of the Palestinian population during the intifada and before it – is shown to shape the forms, sites and levels of resistance which are highly restricted by gender and age. In addition, the authors argue that the Palestinian Authority and leadership have solved the contradictions and crisis of Palestinian nationalism in this period through a form of rule that the authors term 'authoritarian populism', that tends to disallow democractic politics and participation. The seeming absence of women and civil society from the highly unequal and violent confrontations is contrasted with the first Palestinian intifada (1987–91), that occurred in a context of more than a decade of democratic activism and the growth of mass-based organizations, including the Palestinian women's movement. The authors explore three linked crises in gender roles emerging from the conditions of the second intifada: a crisis in masculinity, a crisis in paternity and a crisis in maternity.

Keywords: national liberation, nationalism, military occupation, maternity, masculinity

Topics: Age, Armed Conflict, Occupation, Civil Society, Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Nationalism, NGOs Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2001

Citation:

Flamhaft, Ziva. 2007. “Iron Breaks, Too: Israeli and Palestinian Women Talk about War, Bereavement, and Peace.” In From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Women’s Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, edited by Valentine M. Moghadam, 311–26. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

Author: Ziva Flamhaft

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Peace Processes Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2007

Citation:

Sharoni, Simona. 2001. “Rethinking Women’s Struggles in Israel–Palestine and in the North of Ireland.” In Victims, Perpetrators or Actors: Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence, edited by Caroline Moser and Fiona Clark, 85-98. London: Zed Books.

Author: Simona Sharoni

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Peace Processes Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Israel, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories, United Kingdom

Year: 2001

Citation:

Moghadam, Valentine M. 2007. “Peace-Building and Reconstruction with Women: Reflections on Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine.” In From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Women’s Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, edited by Valentine M. Moghadam, 327–52. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

Author: Valentine M. Moghadam

Abstract:

Valentine M. Moghadam looks at feminist insights into violence, conflict, peacebuilding, and women’s rights, as well as developments in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine, to make the case for the involvement of women and the integration of gender into all phases of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction and governance.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Peacebuilding, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2007

Citation:

Sharoni, Simona. 1997. “Gendering Conflict and Peace in Israel/Palestine and the North of Ireland.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 27 (4): 1061-89.

Author: Simona Sharoni

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Peace Processes Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Israel, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories, United Kingdom

Year: 1997

Citation:

Halperin-Kaddari, Ruth, and Yaacov Yadgar. 2010. “Between Universal Feminism and Particular Nationalism: Politics, Religion and Gender (In)Equality in Israel.” Third World Quarterly 31 (6): 905-20. doi:10.1080/01436597.2010.502721.

Authors: Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Yaacov Yadgar

Abstract:

This article argues that one of the many ‘idiosyncrasies’ of the Israeli case, namely Israel’s continuing, violent conflict with its Arab neighbours, is of highly influential relevance to the issue of gender relations. Viewed by many Israeli Jews as a struggle for the very existence of the Jewish state, the Arab–Israeli conflict has overshadowed most other civil and social issues, rendering them ‘secondary’ to the primary concern of securing the safe existence of the state. This has pushed such pressing issues as gender equality and women’s rights aside, thus allowing for the perpetuation of discriminatory, sometimes rather repressive treatment of women in Israel. The most blatant expression of this is the turning of the struggle for civil marriage and divorce into a non-issue. Following a short introduction of the relevant political context, we discuss women’s positivist and legal status, then conclude with an analysis of the women’s movement, highlighting the emergence of religious feminism.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Nationalism, Religion, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 2010

Citation:

Jad, Islah. 2011. “Islamist Women of Hamas: Between Feminism and Nationalism.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 12 (2): 176-201. doi:10.1080/14649373.2011.554647.

Author: Islah Jad

Abstract:

In December, 1995, when Hamas announced the establishment of the Islamic National Salvation Party, a political organisation separate from its military wing, it opened the way for involvement of the Islamic movement in the political processes brought about in the West Bank and Gaza with the signing of the Oslo Accords and the arrival of the Palestinian National Authority. In speaking of the rights of different groups, including women, in its founding statement, and in setting up in Gaza a Women’s Action Department, the new Party opened its doors to the ‘new Islamic woman’ and to a significant evolution in Islamist gender ideology in Gaza, if not in the West Bank – where, due to Hamas’ policy there of targeting only males, there exists no parallel to the Salvation Party or organisational support for women like that represented by the Women’s Action Department in Gaza. Hamas’ gender ideology, like that of the secularist parties, remains contradictory, and doors to women’s equality only partly open; nevertheless, Islamist women have managed to build impressive, well-organised women’s constituencies among highly educated and professional women coming from poor and refugee backgrounds; and the Salvation Party shows an increasing tendency to foster gender equality and more egalitarian social ideals, while holding fast to the agenda of national liberation. These advances have been achieved both through alternative interpretations of Islamic legal and religious texts, and through positive engagement with the discourses of other groups, whether secular feminists or nationalists. In contrast, secularists are losing ground by advocating a discourse of rights in isolation from the national agenda and in the absence of a mobilising organisation. These developments suggest possibilities for mutual accommodation between Islamist and other Palestinian groups. They suggest also that the nature of the state proposed by Islamists will depend to a large extent on the visions and challenges posed by other nationalist and secularist groups.

Topics: Armed Conflict, National Liberation Wars, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Nationalism, Political Participation Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2011

Citation:

Narlı, Nilüfer. 2007. “Women in Political Parties in Turkey: Emerging Spaces for Islamic Women.” In From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Women’s Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, edited by Valentine M. Moghadam, 73–96. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

Author: Nilüfer Narlı

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, Political Participation, Religion, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Turkey

Year: 2007

Citation:

Joseph, Suad. 1999. “Women Between Nation and State in Lebanon.” In Between Woman and Nation: Nationalisms, Transnational Feminisms, and the State, edited by Minoo Moallem, Caren Kaplan, and Norma Alarcon, 162-81. Durham: Duke University Press.

Author: Suad Joseph

Topics: Gender, Women, Governance, Nationalism Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 1999