Resistance, Repression, and Gender Politics in Occupied Palestine and Jordan

Paper $24.95s   |    0-8156-3087-5    |   2005

Examines gender, women's involvement, and sexuality in the ideologies and strategies of a transnational Palestinian political movement.

Reviews
"It is an insightful study, not only of a transformation in the women workers’ consciousness, but of the history of the Palestinian nationalist movement itself. She demonstrates that the authoritarian Jordanian state and the authoritarian Israeli occupation produced different models of opposition. In Jordan, almost half the population worked for the state and this hindered the development of autonomous political organizations. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, however, the entire Palestinian population opposed the Israeli military government. This enabled leftist organizers to develop a successful model of mass-based mobilization that was democratic, flexible, and decentralized. Women were able to organize themselves and to play a much larger role in public life than in previous years..." read entire review (PDF)
—Nancy E. Gallagher, Ph.D., University of California-Santa Barbara

"Frances Hasso has carefully woven together the complex threads of external developments, regime type, political party evolution, and gender politics to tell the story of the rise and demise of arguably the most important instance of grassroots Palestinian women's activism since the Mandate period. . . . Her close, careful study offers important insights into battles over gender issues as well as over national and ideological identity. This work explores the sources of the conflicts and contradictions that have shaped the role of Palestinian women in their struggle against occupation and Jordanian women against authoritarianism, but its conclusions are applicable to the situation of women in many other parts of the world."
Laurie Brand, School of International Relations, USC, and author of Women, the State, and Political Liberalization

"Masterfully puts together (with great ease) the multiplicity of factors that shape the ability of women to advance their feminist agendas. Moving beyond, yet addressing normative understandings, this book sets the stage for new research in this area."
Amaney Jamal, Princeton University

Description
This book focuses on the central party apparatus of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Democratic Front (DF) branches established in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Jordan in the 1970s, and the most influential and innovative of the DF women's organizations: the Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committees in the occupied territories. Until now, no study of a Palestinian political organization has so thoroughly engaged with internal gender histories. In addition, no other work attempts to systematically compare branches in different regional locations to explain those differences.

Students of gender and Middle East studies, especially those with a specialty in Palestinian studies, will find this work to be of critical importance. This book will also be of great interest to those working on political protest movements and factional ties.

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Author
Frances Hasso is associate professor of gender and women's studies, and sociology at Oberlin College. She is the author of numerous articles and reviews on gender issues.

6 x 9, 216 pages, works cited, index