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the history of the violation of Palestinian bodies, both living and dead, has always made it clear to the Palestinians that we are not entitled to bodily integrity, and has specifically emphasized the importance of the matriarch – women are often symbolically associated with land
women are at the frontlines of colonial violence - we are bound to be silent around issues of bodily violence by the oppressor and our communities because the community itself at large prioritizes a desire to maintain a united front against the bigger fight to freedom.
it leaves our resistance often only recognized in the form of motherhood and familial obligation, as social spheres and systemic structures confine us to it. what constitutes resistance? and how, as a Palestinian woman, are we able to incorporate liberatory politics in our lives?
‘sumud’ (steadfastness) is the idea that women resist colonialism through existence in what is socially/culturally deemed their ‘role’. it is especially complex for Palestinian women to resist erasure by confining resistance to the socio-cultural/colonial spheres we are placed in
for instance, wives and mothers of prisoners mediate between prison and family life by navigating through the multiple dynamics of Israeli securitization and geographic incarceration, political invisibility in the Palestinian struggle, and social isolation in their communities.
since the Naksa of 1967, ~70% of Palestinian men have been incarcerated and most on ‘administrative detention’ without charge, leaving generations of Palestinian women to navigate the occupation, their families and societies without them.
the “choice” women take to endure humiliation to visit their incarcerated family members is a steadfastness that tolerates prisoners under torture. their “choice” to visit, knowing the hardships, is a “choice” to be debilitated by the colonial power.
these are many thoughts after speaking to my grandmother, and are specifically about palestinian women without enough developed enough yet at the intersections of other aspects of identity. thinking about how as an artist, I can incorporate liberatory politics into my work too.
for us who grew up outside Palestine, thinking about how sumud is resistance as our existence in exile is resistance (holding onto who we are by passing down our history and memories intergenerationally)
