Between Religion, Gender, and Colonialism: Women Leaders and Activists in the Islamic Movement within the Green Line

Volume 7|Issue 25| Summer 2018 |Theme of the Issue

Abstract

This paper analyzes the discourse and social and political activism of women leaders and activists in the Islamic Movement inside the Green Line, the pre–1949 boundaries of Israel. The author asserts that these women were recruited into these Islamist movements mainly because of their adherence to «orthodox» (Sunni) Islam, particularly in matters of gender. The findings of the paper demonstrate that the representation of these women in the official party decision–making apparatus is virtually non–existent. Similarly, their activity is largely devoid of militancy when it comes to changing this lack of representation or changing the concepts and practices of the movement in terms of gender equality. A few of them indicated their commitment to the Palestinian narrative and collective memory and political militancy, but from a Muslim vantage point. for the majority however, the political context is severely limited, and a problematization of the current political regime is absent. The author contends that understanding these phenomena would be impossible without accounting for the colonial context within which Palestinians within the Green Line exist.

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​Director of the Gender Studies Program, Mada al-Carmel: Arab Center for Applied Social Research, Haifa.

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