Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women's Anti-Colonial Struggle within the Israeli Prison System

259 Pages·2014·3.07 MB·English

by  Nahla Abdo

Captive Revolution
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Captive Revolution
Palestinian Women’s Anti-Colonial Struggle
Within the Israeli Prison System
Nahla Abdo
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First published 2014 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Nahla Abdo 2014
The right of Nahla Abdo to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3494 3 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3493 6 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7837 1184 0 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1186 4 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1185 7 EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from
fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and
manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental
standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Text design by Melanie Patrick
Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK
and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
1. Forgotten History, Lost Voices and Silent Souls: Women
Political Detainees 14
2. Anti-Colonial Resistance in Context 42
3. Colonialism, Imperialism and the Culture of Resistance 84
4. Political Detainees and the Israeli Prison System 124
5. Prison as a Site of Resistance 167
Conclusion 208
Afterword 212
Notes 213
Bibliography 225
Index 241
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This book is dedicated to all women, especially Palestinians, who struggled
and continue to struggle against all forms of oppression, particularly
against colonialism and imperialism.
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Acknowledgements
This book would not have seen the light had it not been for the collective
efforts, time and stories of the many Palestinian women political fighters
and ex-detainees. The mutual trust expressed by all the women in the
conversations, their belief in ‘the cause’ and hope for a better future which
were at the centre of our conversations, both the one-on-one and the focus
group, have contributed to the depth of the information in this book. Each
of these women deserves a special thank you. Many thanks to Amne,
Rawda, Khuloud, Itaf, Haleema ‘F’, Haleema ‘A’, Ahlam, Rawda, Munia,
Aisha Ghada, Sonia, Ahlam, Ameena, Aida, Salwa, Doris and Iman. The
contribution of other women who I also met outside of these two major
events is also highly appreciated. I would also like to thank Mr. Issa Qaraqe
who at the time was the chair of Nadil-Asir (The Detainees Club) and
now is the Minister of Detainees. Many thanks to lawyer Walid Fahoum
whose direct information on some of the women ex-detainees was very
valuable. Thanks should also go to Ina’ash al-Usra organization for making
available their documentation on political detainees. My thanks also go to
the Social Science and Humanities Council in Canada for the institutional
grant provided to carry out the field research.
To reiterate, this is truly a collective project to which various other
people have contributed. Special thanks to my research assistant Maha
Abdo-Sabbagh, whose knowledge and activism made my task a pleasant
one. I am indebted to her for introducing me to these great women whose
voices and words gave this book the value it deserves. Special thanks should
also go to my editor Stephan Dobson for his extra patience with me and to
Thérèse Saba for her copy-editing work. Many thanks to David Shulman
from Pluto Press, whose enthusiasm and encouragement throughout
the writing process kept me going. Lastly, my gratitude to all those who
contributed to this book would not be completed without paying a special
tribute to my partner, Sami Zubi who did everything possible to keep me
going and interested, despite the many ups and downs I underwent during
the long process of writing this book. While all these people helped shape
the book, the responsibility for it is mine alone.
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Introduction
This book aims at making audible the hidden voices, stories and histories
of women political detainees while simultaneously raising international
awareness of the plight of over 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners who
currently suffer torture and inhumane treatment in Israeli prisons. The
significance of the issue of women political prisoners is rather clear, as it
occupies a central position in current international – and especially US
– politics. There is little doubt that the insistence of the United States
on pushing the current Israeli–Palestinian ‘peace negotiations’, in which
the issue of political prisoners is placed at the centre of the talks, is a
result of the failure of this imperialist power to bring about any stability
in the Middle East. The stories and documentaries produced on the
systematic torture, sexual mutilation, rape and atrocities committed
against women (and men) in the US controlled prison of Abu Ghraib has
drawn international public attention to the question of political detainees,
especially in the case of women.
The absence of academic and especially feminist institutional interest
in the lives and experiences of women’s anti-colonial armed struggle
casts a question mark around the so-called progressive leanings of such
institutions. Concerning Palestinian women’s political struggle in Israel/
Palestine, for example, an excess of feminist literature has been produced
worldwide about women’s involvement in the First Intifada (1987–92), and
a plethora of Israeli Zionist and overwhelming orientalist writings were
produced about Palestinian women freedom fighters and armed resisters
after the Second Intifada (2000–03), yet hardly any literature analysing or
accounting for the experiences of women’s armed resistance historically,
especially during the period of 1960–80 exists. All what existed then and
continues until this day is an Orientalist depiction of Palestinian women
as uneducated, anti-democratic and over-oppressed by their own culture
and religion.
The significance of this study goes beyond a corrective mission;
additionally, it voices what has been silenced or rendered invisible. This
study is also concerned with demonstrating the difference between
the status and role of Palestinian women (often lumped together as
Muslims, Arabs and even terrorists in the Western imagination) and
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