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The Role of Palestinian Women from the Mid-sixties to 1982

The research explored the participation of Palestinian women in the armed Palestinian Revolution since 1965; their foundational work in the National Palestinian Front in 1970; their prominent role in the First Palestinian Uprising (the First Intifada) in 1978; their work in establishing pioneer feminist frameworks in the late seventies; and the role of the General Union of Palestinian Women from its foundation in 1965 to the Beirut Invasion in 1982 (Abdulhadi 2015). Fifty oral interviews were conducted with women who played a prominent role in the politics of 1965–82, or those who witnessed women playing a prominent political role during that time. The women were classified into two age groups: women older than 60 years, and women older than 50 but younger than 60 years, who witnessed the period from the mid-fifties to 1982. They were selected from Palestine (the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the 1948 areas, and Jerusalem), and from the diaspora in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. The interviews also covered Palestinian cities, villages, and camps.