Fatima Shehada Ja’fari

Political activist, women’s organizer, and former political detainee

Fatima Jafari
No institution has given Palestinian women anything. Women have to grab their rights from men. I was the only woman invited to the anniversary celebration of the Fatah movement. I asked the men, “Was the revolution launched by men only? No, it was launched by men and women. Women have always struggled. Have any of you brought your wives, sisters, or mothers to the struggle? You only get us involved when you want us involved. Then you put us aside. You vote for women because you have to, not because you choose to.” [...]

Khawla Dawoud Ahmad Alazraq

Director of Psycho-Social Counseling Women’s Center

Khawla Alazraq
The occupation puts immense pressure on women. The men used to earn incomes by working in Israel, now they cannot go to Israel. They are frustrated, cannot feed their kids, and do not feel like real fathers who can support their families. This expresses itself in violence against women and children. [...]

Hekmat Bessiso Naji

Project Assistant with Medico International for health services

Hekmat Bessiso Naji
The world hides its ears and eyes from the miserable life of the refugees in the camps in Gaza and the West Bank. The issue is not just living here, but who’s responsible for this and when will this change. For refugees, all our lives have been under a question mark. [...]

Bushra Mukbil

Consultant with Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator

Bushra Mukbil
I was having lunch with a friend and her young son in Ramallah when Israeli soldiers attacked a café across the street. They had guns, shattered windows, threw gas bombs and sound bombs. The kid asked his mom, “What’s happening?” She told him, “It’s a Hollywood movie.” I said, “You have to tell him the reality.” She said, “No, I don’t want my kid to live in fear. At one point he will know it himself.” [...]

Jumana Odeh

Founder-Director of Happy Child Center

Jumana OdehI argue with Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints. I say “I am human,” but they don’t want to see me as human. They are in denial. They are there to defend and protect their country. When they pass by hundreds of Palestinians, they don’t want to see the suffering children.

Faiha Abdulhadi

Writer, poet, consultant, and lecturer
They lifted the curfew one day during the invasion of 2002. I went to the gym and was on the treadmill when a bullet broke a window behind me. I said to myself “I will not notice this, life has to go on.” Such actions are resistance—to continue your daily life [...]