The past fifteen months of genocide in Gaza have been beyond devastating for women who have had to fight to keep their families alive and together in the constant shadow of death. These women have lived through every kind of loss imaginable – a kind of grief and trauma that most people will hopefully never be able to comprehend. Any ceasefire would mean a stop to this daily aggression. But it’s just the first step.
Of course, before the genocide, our lives as women were far from perfect in Gaza. Like women all over the world, we faced discrimination and struggles for representation, leadership and equal roles in politics and in our homes and wider society. But on top of this usual discrimination that women face everywhere, Palestinian women have also had to resist an occupation trying to erase our identity. This meant that we long lacked basic resources, food, water, medicines and more because of Israel’s siege on Gaza. We couldn’t move around due to Israel’s occupation and check-points. To be a Palestinian woman was to face endless tragedies from all angles.
And yet, these past fifteen months of hell have made us consider life before as a blessing. Nowhere was safe. Any building could be targeted by a bomb at any moment – whether a home, school, hospital or UN building.
