women are resisiting

the recent events in gaza have made me very excited...watching the developments within the palestinian resistance has been amazing. typically, the resistance which palestinians engage in takes many forms from the daily and mundane, to the heroic and sensational. these acts of daily resistance, from circumventing checkpoints to housing wanted men are typically unreported, and as a student of gender, i have seen these 'support roles' to be largely the place where female palestinians find their nook in the movement. typically you do not see armed women marching in parades, attacking invading armies or firing rockets, though i have found hundreds of examples in which just this occurs. we can sy it is within their realm of atypical involvement, not unseen, but unusual. for the majority of the cases reported in the media, the faces of the armed resistance are male.

within the last three weeks in the gaza strip, the women of palestine have been shown to be on the forefront of a newly adopted tactic of resistance in support of the armed movement, human shielding.

friday, november 3, after palestinian resistance fighters were pinned down in a mosque in beit hanoun, palestinian women marched to the site to shield and help free the men. a number of women were shot and killed during the march, but the women were able to reach the mosque and free the men. to view this posting in the blog, including mainstream news links to the story, check out:

saturday, november 18, occupation authorities informed a fighter that his house was to be bombed, once again, palestinian women and men flocked to the home to place themselves in the way. to view this posting in the blog, including mainstream news links to the story, check out:

today, monday, november 20, the same thing happened. after occupation authorities informed a fighter that his house was to be bombed, palestinian women and men went to the home, and placed themselves on the roof, in the building and around the outside. for the second time in three days, the bombing attack was prevented. to view this posting in the blog, including mainstream news links to the story, check out:

i feel that while it is too early to call this series of events a movement, it certainly seems to be some momentum in the palestinian resistance to utilize non-violent direct action to resist occupation. furthermore, the large participation of females is intriguing.

one point of caution i feel needs to be raised before we proceed. with the tactic of human shielding, and the participation of women, we begin to hear arguments from some that the palestinian men (active) are USING the palestinian women (passive); that the women act because of the will of the man, and not their own politicalization. people looking to discredit community-based action and women's participation will argue that the women are pawns of terrorists; hiding behind those that draw the most sympathy is killed in conflict. i say that this is a point of caution, because if you do see these events covered in the media, this is likely the analysis you will receive.

as feminists, accurate readers of history, and just plain old logical people, we must shout back loudly at these people making these arguments and tell them, 'NO! WOMEN CAN RESIST ON THEIR OWN!’ the arguments about male control and a female lack of agency are ridiculous, essentialist and out dated. while palestine, like the rest of the world, is fucked up and patriarchal, women still determine where and when they stand in front of a building, facing down f-16 fighter jets and tanks.

as far as how the actions were organized, from what i can determine, the calls for human shields in connection to the house bombings were placed through the mosque and word of mouth after receiving orders to evacuate the home. the palestinians were given less than 30 minutes to organize and assemble, and in these cases, the women were there in force. the march and shielding at the beit hanoun mosque seems to be a more organized action, and which jameela al-shanti, a female hamas parliamentarian discusses in her article, "We overcame our fear," available on the blog, in this entry:

the trend of female involvement in the palestinian resistace is not new, and as i pointed to earlier, and neither it is purely in the non-violent or support roles. in the same day as the beit hanoun mosque stand off, a palestinian female from jabalia carried out a suicide bombing operation aimed at occupation soldiers invading homes. she is far from the first palestinian women to carryout such an operation, and she will likley not be the last.

the upsurge of female-led, non-violent resistance in gaza is something we should all watch. while it was all over the TV when a palestinian home made rocket killed an israeli in sderot, the resistance of the palestinian women will likely not cross your radar accidentally. so tell your friends that women in palestine are rising up. they are rising up to protect their neighbors and their communities. keep an eye on them....

FUCK OCCUPATION!
NO TO AIR STRIKES, ASSASSINATIONS AND HOME DEMOLITIONS!
NO TO SETTLEMENTS, WALLS, CHECKPOINTS AND SNIPER TOWERS!
YES TO RESISTANCE, ARMED AND UNARMED!
YES TO THE INVOLVEMENT OF ALL OF SOCIETY!
YES TO WOMEN FIGHTING OCCUPATION!
YES TO VICTORY!