This is part two of a two-part series from CADFA & FiLiA.

CADFA was formed to promote human rights and respect for international humanitarian law, and our main method has been to link people in order to build awareness and understanding and encourage people to be active in pursuit of human rights.

Special thanks to: Nandita, Khawla, Hiyam, Kifaf and Salma.

Here FiLiA spokeswoman Heather Brunskell-Evans joins CADFA to interview women from Palestine to hear directly what impact the  Israeli—Palestinian conflict is having on their lives.

Find out more: http://www.cadfa.org/

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Transcript:

 H:  My name is Heather and I am a part of a women’s rights charity called FiLiA.  And what FiLiA does is it likes to hear and promote voices from women in different parts of the world, to hear about their experiences.  And we’re very excited that you are here from Palestine, in the UK, so we decided to take the opportunity to interview you and to hear your voices.

S:  My name is Salma Owis.  Salma Owis.

H:  Welcome. 

K:  My name is Kifah Iriqat

H:  Welcome.  And I think you are both teachers?

K:  Yes

H:  And are you teachers at a girls school?

:  No, she’s a teacher of, yes, (laughs) she’s a teacher, a math teacher in Abu Dis secondary girls school, Abu Dis is a city adjacent to Jerusalem and Mrs Selma is the Principal of the Secondary school in Al Bireh city, it’s the same school in which Ahed Tamimi is a student there.  You know about Ahed Tamimi?  She’s a teenager that was arrested by Israeli guys because she stand in front of the soldier when he rushed in her home, just used the window of her home to shoot people in the street, so she stand in front of him and she just slip in his face and they come at night and arrest her.  Now she’s been in the prison for four months, without any sentence.

H:  I think in the West we have an idea that the position of girls in Palestine is much worse than it actually is, I actually lived in Palestine briefly myself for three months and I was very conscious of how families wanted their girls to be educated.

:  The situation of woman in Palestine is very different.  Maybe the father was responsible of the family, would think more and more times before sending his girls to the school, if the school is far away from her or his house, because she will be stopped by the checkpoints and many obstacles.  But I think that she as Principal, face some cases, that the father who is responsible of the family will keep his daughter in the home and not sending her to the school, if there is many problems, like checkpoints and these obstacles and he will afraid that his daughter will be arrested by the Israeli guys because they do not differentiate between teenagers and women and so on.

H:  So, it’s not that the father would not want his daughter to be educated, but the father would be worried about all the dangers that might befall the girl when she is outside of the house

:  Yes.  Because it is a problem of the urban planning there, because of the shortages of men, the neighbours or the boroughs are not designated, urban designated as you have here.  You have residential, you have schools adjacent to the residential, within a walkable distance, but in Palestine, the case is different, because we have many shortages in lands and the mobility is a great issue in Palestine, for both sexes.  One of the real stories related to this issue is her relatives, both girls were in the road to the school, they were shot by Israeli soldiers, one of them was murdered, killed and the other was injured and arrested by the Israeli guys.

H:  It’s very difficult for people in the UK to imagine the lives that you lead.  Do you think that girls are ambitious for what they are going to do when they become adults, become women?

:  Yes, I think, yes, absolutely.  Because we have many sexist stories, even though, in spite, we have all these obstacles, we have many sexist stories.  Maybe you heard about the teachers and the girls who were awarded international awards, because sometimes when you are under pressure, you made a lot.  The Palestinian woman is different woman because she’s like any mother in the world, any wife in the world, but in addition to that she has to deal with the social, economic, political conditions in Palestine, so she has a good experience to express.  She has a real story about this.  Her daughter invented something and win award and go to China

H:  Invented a.. this was a scientific?

:  She invented a kind of sensor to the smoking in the home is connected to the mobile of the owner of the house, when the sensors find some smokes in the home it will send alarm for the owner and so on. And the alarm is given also to the firemen and to the police.  So, it includes IT application and dealing with centres and with many things. 

According to her experience, as a Principal, there are many ambitious girls, but if the circumstances allow these girls to achieve what they want, they will continue, but if the circumstances is very difficult, according to what we have explained, then the marriage, in Palestine, the marriage of these girls will be bitter, but I think we have good, the percentage is this or that and the other areas, because in Palestine, you will find education percentage higher within the area, is the highest within the area, because nothing to invest in, the other guys still the main resources as lands are high, so, in which you have to invest?  You have to invest in humans, in girls, in boys.  The chances there are limited, if the girl find a supporter from her family, she will develop, she will get something, she will develop more academically.  There are many violations of their rights, of education, of health, according to the checkpoints.  But I want to elaborate something on Mrs Salma.  Mrs Salma, when you studied, when she studied in Iraq, she has graduated from Iraq, from Al Mosul in 1984, 1984, so this is what she is talking about, if the chance is given for the girl, she will continue her education.  Her father and mother, her family was in Jordan because they were refugees since 1948, so she went to Iraq and continue her higher education and she know her husband from the same university there and at the same time, we have another case here, she has born in Saudi Arabia, she was get her university degree from Jordan, she, during her experience, she found some cases that if the resources for the family are limited, then the priority of the education will be given to the boys, unfortunately.

H:  I think we should probably finish now, it’s so interesting, I just wanted to say that, it always astonishes me how over the ages and whichever country or whichever culture, girls struggle for their education and girls succeed in the most inhospitable circumstances, just give them a little bit and they will strive.

: Yes, yes.  The more you educated, the more you are dealing with your life issues, with religion

:  I’d like to add another small thing about her, it’s an astonishing story.  She didn’t able to say goodbye for her father while he was dying, because he was in Jerusalem and she was in Abu Dis and the Separation Wall was between them, so her father died before she could see him and say

H:  And say goodbye.  And for the people listening, they wont realise how close Abu Dis is to Jerusalem.

:  Yes, yes, it’s like Camden and some adjacent borough

LM:  And one last question, if you had to have in a sentence what is your hope for women and girls in education?

:  Women could do a lot in higher positions like in the councils and so on and she could be engineer, she could be doctor, effective rule in the community

H:  So, it’s not just educating the women, it’s getting the jobs that the women can go into and then the culture will change because women will have important posts within the culture, I understand

: Yes, yes.  I think, the more you are educated, the more you can open horizons, it’s not about just finding jobs, maybe your market is limited but if you are more educated, you can open many horizons, working for the community, developing your skills and so on, building your experience, building your network, this is result of education

H:  Yes.  Thank you very much.  You have been great.

:  Thank you