“I do not look at people on the basis of their religion. I believe in the separation between religion and the state.” Hanan Ashrawi was born in 1946 in Nablus in an Anglican Christian family; her father had settled the family in Ramallah after the 1948 war. She completed her BA in English Literature at […]
“Womens rights is an issue that impacts all society divisions, who have to rise up and protect those rights.” Amneh Abdul-Jaber Al-Rimawi was born in 1957 in Beit-Rima, a village near Ramallah. In 1977, she joined the Palestinian Labor Union (PLU) to improve working conditions of men and women through negotiation and mediation. She is […]
“In my view there is no more demanding work that deserves our dedicated collaborative efforts at the present time than inter-cultural understanding.” Born in 1927, Salma Khadra Jayyusi is a gifted poet, with a critically distinguished vision. Her contribution to shaping the Arab cultural landscape and its multi-disciplinary interface with the world spanned over 50 […]
“It is not strange that historical events of Palestine were the driving force that has determined my life. I grew up hating the Israelis without even knowing or meeting them.” Zahira Kamal, born in 1945, is a leading Palestinian activist who has worked towards the welfare of Palestinian woman. She obtained a BSc in Physics […]
“The three divine religions honor human beings. Injustice is not a matter of religious conflict; all I seek to achieve is equal rights for all people.” Born in Kafr Ne’meh near Ramallah in 1940, Nafeesa Al Deek is a womens rights activist and social reformist. Left by her husband, she has dedicated her life to […]
“The political situation today reminds me of the world fifty years ago.” Born in 1923 in Gaza, Palestine, Yusra Berbari began a successful teaching career. Raised in a scholarly renowned family, she was educated at the Schmidt School in Jerusalem. Yusra speaks three foreign languages beside her Arabic mother tongue and is the first women […]
“Despite Arab womens many achievements in political, cultural and social fields, a lot of work is still ahead of them if they want to participate in building up their communities as equal partners. Issam Abdul-Hadi was born in Nablus in 1928. She attended the first Palestinian National Council (PNC), which formed the General Union of […]
“Our decision to fight against the Israeli occupation stems from our determination to rise up firmly against aggression and to demonstrate our social and political presence in Lebanon.” Amneh Sulaiman, originally from Palestine, was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon in 1951. She graduated from Beirut Arab University (BAU) in […]
