Palestinian Media Watch documents how Dalal Mughrabi is presented as the role model for Palestinian women and girls.
By Rachel Avraham
In the State of Israel, young girls aspire to be professors, lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers, actresses, singers, Olympic athletes, and even prime ministers, like the late Golda Meir. Gender equality is enshrined in Israeli law and the sky is the limit regarding what young Israeli girls can aspire to. However, young Palestinian girls are living a very different reality. Their role models are not people like Gal Gadot, Neta Barzilai, or Yael Arad. Rather, their role models are far more sinister in nature.
According to a recent report in Palestinian Media Watch, “On Palestinian National Women’s Day, PA District Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghannam chose to single out terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi who led the murder of 37 Israeli civilians as a role model for Palestinian women.” For decades, the Palestinian Authority has been glorifying Mughrabi as a role model for Palestinian girls. There are schools and streets named after her, and Palestinian artists have painted murals with her picture on it.
According to Ghannam, “On Palestinian National Women’s Day we salute with pride and respect every Palestinian woman whoever she is, as she faces the cruelty of the occupation (i.e., Israel) with unbreakable willpower and determination that knows no defeat… On this day, we remember our female prisoners (i.e., terrorists) who face the chains and prison guards with patience and resilience. We pray for the souls of the female Martyrs and leaders who paved the path to freedom with their blood, from Dalal Mughrabi to Samiha Khalil (i.e., politician connected to DFLP terror organization), [former PA Minister of Women’s Affairs] Rabiha Dhiab, and other prominent figures of our national struggle.”
Palestinian Media Watch reported that Palestinian media figure Marwah Al-Bakri equated female terrorists with teachers and doctors, stressing the Palestinian woman’s significance in producing Palestinians “for the struggle” against Israel: “”The Palestinian woman… continues to be a symbol of resolve and giving, because she is the mother who raised the generations of the struggle, the wife who stood resolutely in the face of life’s challenges and the cruelty of the occupation (i.e., Israel), the prisoner, the Martyr, the teacher… the doctor, and the fighter.”
Palestinian Media Watch reported, “PA Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa chose to accuse Israel of the PA’s own shortcomings. Instead of mentioning progress in gender equality – of which there is none in the PA – he used a common PA strategy for explaining away internal societal problems. He blamed Israel, calling it “the main obstacle to empowering the Palestinian women”.”
According to Al Hayat Al Jadida, “In a speech written for Palestinian National Women’s Day, [PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa said: ‘Today we honor the women of Palestine, who throughout history have served as the most wonderful example of resolve, willpower, and giving. We honor authentic partners in the national struggle…’ Mustafa stressed that the Israeli occupation remains the main obstacle to empowering the Palestinian women, as it deprives them of their basic human rights and doubles their daily suffering through policies of murder, arrests, demolitions, and siege.”
However, if you speak to Palestinian women, they will claim that the conflict with Israel is only one factor that makes their lives unbearable: “Palestinian women already face deep-rooted gender discrimination within their own society. Patriarchal attitudes limit their opportunities and confine them to traditional roles. I remember my mother telling me about being denied an education in her youth, despite her academic excellence, because of the prevailing belief that education was only for boys. Forced to leave school at the age of fourteen, she was expected to work in the fields with her father to support her brother who was studying in India. Meanwhile, she and her sisters were denied education.”
Another Palestinian woman spoke of “female relatives in her village who were forced into early marriages, often as young as fourteen or fifteen, without their consent and sometimes through violence. Women were also denied their inheritance rights due to entrenched societal beliefs that men were the sole inheritors.” Honor crimes also remain rampant in the Palestinian Authority, despite recent efforts to curtail the phenomena. The Palestinian nongovernmental organization Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) documented a total of 23 killings of women in the West Bank and Gaza in 2018. There are likely a far greater number that go unreported. Ikhlas Sufan, who directs a shelter for victims of violence in Nablus, told Human Rights Watch in 2018 that domestic violence continues because “there are no legal or social deterrents” and the abuser “knows he can get away with it.”
It should also be emphasized that Palestinian rape victims live an especially dismal existence. As one of them reported, “Nothing is left for a girl after she loses her virginity. All I see is my deep need to die and to run away from my shame. He forced himself on me and I could not even stop him. Death is the best solution for dirty girls like me. How can I look in my father’s eyes without feeling the shame and the fear? How can I look into my mother’s eyes when I know that she’s planned for my wedding all her life? What is she going to do with all the embroidery she prepared for my wedding? There is nothing I can tell them. All I can do is kill myself and bury the secret of my rape with me.” According to a study conducted by Hebrew University Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, out of the 22 rape cases that she studied in the Palestinian Authority, the results from twenty of the cases stressed that the social and legal reaction to the rape would cast the blame on the victim and her family, not the rapist.
All of these issues plague the status of Palestinian women and prevent young Palestinian girls from having a bright future. However, it should be emphasized that if a Palestinian state were created tomorrow, none of these issues would be resolved, hinting that Israel is not the main impediment for gender equality in the Palestinian Authority.
Photo from Palestinian Media Watch: https://palwatch.org/page/41648
