palestinian women movements

Selective Memory, Gender and Nationalism: Palestinian Women Leaders of the Mandate Period
Author(s): Ellen L. Fleischmann
Reviewed work(s):
Source: History Workshop Journal, No. 47 (Spring, 1999), pp. 141-158
Published by: Oxford University Press
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FEATURE:
NARRATIVES, MEMORIES

0

Delegation of Arab Women to see the British High Commissioner for Palestine, Jerusalem,
1929. Matiel Mughannam is second on the left.

Selective IMemory, Gender and
Nationalism:Palestinian Women
Leaders of the M4andate Period
by Ellen L. Fleischmann

INTRODUCTION
During the British Mandate period in Palestine (1920-1948), organizations
established by Palestinian Arab women evolved into a dynamic movement
which, while working within the framework of the (male-led) nationalist
movement, developed its own distinct character, leadership and identity. A
group of educated, urban, elite women, only vaguely remembered today,
acquired leadership skills through their political work, and became
renowned in the press as well as among the British government officials with
whom they did battle in the struggle for Palestine.
This essays deals with the nexus of memory, gender and history in the
construction of national narratives. At the crux of this issue are questions
about how the leadership of the Palestinian women's movement during the
British Mandate -period is remembered and forgotten in the nationalist
lexicon. When it is convenient to remember women, why are some
expunged from the historical narrative while others are elevated to cele-
brated prominence? How does a dominant nationalist interpretation

History Workshop Journal Issue 47 C)History Workshop Journal 1999

142 HistoryWorkshop
Journal

intrudeupon individual collectiveremembrances women'shistorical
and of
role, inventing and re-inscribingan imagined history? Specifically,I
examinewhy certainleadershave been relegatedto historicaloblivionin
collective memory while one in particular, Zlikha Shihabi,is continually
-
evoked in nationalistnarratives or myths,even - whichcontradictother
historicalsources.But althoughselective memoryoccasionallypropelsan
isolatedfigureto the forefront,ultimately, women'smovement,Shihabi
the
included,has been relegatedto the marginsof the nationalnarrative.Its
historyis only invokedwhenconvenientfor contemporary politics.The dis-
juncture between historical rememberingand forgetting highlights the
politicization memory,genderand history.
of

MYTHS,LEGENDS,AND THE MEANINGOF
'COLLECTIVEMEMORY'
Nothing but a legend, you say? You want nothing but facts? Facts are per-
ishable, believe me, only legends remain, like the soul after the body, or
perfume in the wake of a woman.1
Amin Maalouf

The questionsraisedin this paper originated,as such issues often do, as a
puzzlewhichemanatedfromresearch. Whilelookingfor empirical datain a
research projectwhichaimsto answerspecific, historicallyframedquestions,
the historianoften becomesderailedby the questioning process,whichitself
provokespreviously unimagined Thus,whileplumbing sources
inquiries. the
for the history of the Palestinianwomen'smovement,I continuallycon-
frontedodd disjunctures discrepancies
and amongthe data.A kindof refrain
kept recurring,particularly contemporary
in sources, that was not only
absentfrom coeval ones, but even contradicted them. (By contemporary, I
mean 'current, modern'of our own period;by coeval,I mean 'of the same
age' - withinthe historicalperiod understudy.)I kept hearingor reading
whatI cameto regardas nationalist mythsor legends.I myselfhadunreflec-
tivelyrepeatedthese mythsin my ownwriting, it was onlywhenI delved
and
into extensive researchin primarysources that I began to examine their
origins and assumptions. Divertingthe inquirywas analogousto opening
Pandora's soon otherquestionstumbled one afterthe other,pushing
box; out
methodological issuesto the forefrontof my researchagenda.
One couldbe forgivenfor assuming thatmy use of the words'myth'and
'legend' (particularly quotes) indicatesthat what is at issue here is the
in
seeminglypasse question of how historiansauthenticatethe veracity of
sources,and attemptto sort throughthe conflicting data collectedin order
to arriveat some sort of objective,empirical,verifiable'truth'.Truthhas
become a slippery,contestedconcept recently- to the extent that, as one
scholarobserved,'it is not altogetherfashionable' speakof it anylonger.2
to
Relativism, positionality of researcher and researched, recognition of

Palestinian
WomenLeaders 143

competingnarratives claimsto representations truth,andaccusations
and of
of essentialism3 have causedhistorians (amongothers)to rejectnineteenth-
centurypositivism's once rulingbelief that the simpletask of the historian
is to revealthe past 'as it reallywas',in Ranke'sfamousaxiom.Indeed,one
can say that 'thereis no suchthingas Truth,in the sense of knowledgethat
transcends definitions,
the values,andrulesof any or all specificknowledge
communities. visionof a Truththattranscends
The historicalcircumstances
and societalcontextis ultimatelya dreamof powerover others'.4
And yet, a cautionarynote needs to be interjected.Despite new ques-
tioningof old assumptions that an 'objective',empiricallyprovabletruthis
retrievable, suchinterrogations not absolvescholarsfromresponsibility
do
aboutthe use of sources,as if we were entitledto concludewhateverwe like
We
from our investigations.5 must,rather,be self-conscious aboutour own
role as interpreters the past, and attemptto engage in a 'cautiousjuxta-
of
position of alternativetruths'.6 point is, that until fairlyrecently,his-
The
toricaltruthwas not, in fact, perceivedin the pluralbut insteadsingularly
definedby rigidrules and conventionswhichconvenientlysilenceduncon-
ventional, alternative,subversive or 'unauthorized'sources and voices.
Although these rules are currentlybeing contested and transformed,a
certainamountof resistanceand confusionnonethelessreigns.How does a
historian evaluate sources? This question raises fundamentalquestions
abouthistory'svery essence.
In this essay, I am not interested in necessarilyverifying'supposedly
neutral historicalfacts', while invalidatingmyths and legends; nor do I
propose to release alternativetruthgenies out of some bottle where they
have lain captive,repressedand silenced.Rather,I explore the politics of
conflicting historical interpretations representations.7 examining
and In the
processesby whichhistorical narratives constructed, askhow historical
are I
representations used ideologically.These processes, and the political
are
and epistemological assumptions whichundergird them,tell theirown kind
of 'truth'aboutthe use of history.
Whatdo I mean here by 'myths'and 'legends',andwhatis theirrelation
to so-called 'valid'history?8 using the terms myth and legend, I do not
In
intendto disparage theirveracityandpassjudgmenton it, althoughI admit
that by using this languageI do call it into question;establishinga 'truth'
scale, however, is not the point. Myths and legends constitutetheir own
form of historicaltruth.But, as with any source,we need to considerideo-
logicalor social functionsas well as actualmessagesand content.
Mythsandlegendshave been commonlyconsideredfictitious even fan--
tastic- symbolicandallegorical explanatory devices,often deployedby cul-
tures to explainthe unknown,or to constructfolkloricrepresentations of
culturalcharacters,stereotypes,or histories.Roland Barthes emphasizes
myth in its form as a 'systemof communication', 'message'and 'type of
a
speech'which'hasthe task of givingan historical intentiona naturaljustifi-
cation.'Mythis infinitelyflexiblein its composition,since 'anymaterialcan

144 History Workshop Journal

arbitrarily endowedwith meaning'.Myth's'unityand coherenceare ...
be
due to its function'.9Barthes claims that 'mythis depoliticizedspeech', a
statementwhichseems to contradicthis (and others')linkingof myth and
historicalrepresentation.10 nationalist'myths'whichkept croppingup
The
in my research,for example,were clearlyendowedwith politicalmeaning
and served ideologicaland politico-nationalist functions.Indeed, the very
subjectof these mythicalnarratives was expresslypolitical,coveringsuch
mattersas the historicaloriginsof politicalmovementsand leaders.This is
not to say, however,that myth'sfunctionand content are alwaysexplicitly
(or implicitly)political;myth can incorporatemanyideologicalfunctions-
cultural,social and even spiritual- whichmay overlapwith, or be distinct
from,politicalones.
A useful idea that helps clarifythe political potential and meaningof
myth is Liisa Malkki'sconcept 'mythico-history', definedas a kind of col-
lective narrativewhich subversivelyrecasts and reinterpretshistory in
'fundamentally moral terms'.For our purposes,mythico-history cast in
is
nationalist, political terms that have an underlying moral message. What
makes a narrative mythical,according Malkki,is not its 'truthor falsity'
to
but rather,its concernwith 'ordering reordering social andpolitical
and ...
categories.... It seize[s]historicalevents, processes,and relationships and
reinterpret[s] them withina deeply moralschemeof good and evil'.1"
A legend, accordingto Palestinianethnologist Sharif Kanaana,is a
device which 'in some way helps people to come to termswith the powers
which cause ... collective stress'. Legends, myths, and mythico-history
enablepeople to defineandmouldrepresentationsof collectivestress,effec-
-
tivelyopeningan outletfor theirparticipation the construction whether
in
oral or written- of their own history.12
A crucialaspectto myth,legendsandmythico-history theirorigination
is
from the repositoryof collective memory:in order to enter mythological
lore, the narrativemust be recounted and retained in memoryby many
people. The boundaries betweenmyth,legend,mythico-history, collec-
and
tive memoryare thereforequite tenuous.Indeed,the relationship between
history and memory is a thorny one for scholars:some highlight the
"'fundamental opposition" betweenthe two, claimingmemoryis "anunre-
liablesource"of history,while others,more accurately, identifytheir'inter-
dependent yet contestive relationship" '.13
Collectivememoryhasbeen definedas 'a sociallyarticulated socially
and
maintained"realityof the past"', inherent in a 'communityof memory'
whichis createdanddefinedby its remembrance a traumatic
of event.14The
act of remembering not necessarily isolated,individualistic
is an activitybut
one whichtakes place in a social and politicalcontext,resultingin the con-
struction of memory.15Ultimately, the community is defined by 'the
meaninggiven to the event, ratherthan the event itself16so that members
of the community not necessarily
do need to haveexperienced traumatic
the
event, but do need to share in the interpretations its meaning.A clear
of

Palestinian
WomenLeaders 145

exampleof this kind of collectivememoryis how the childrenof Palestin-
ian refugees 'remember'their parents'villages throughestablishingtheir
own identitiesfrom a sense of belongingto place - even places they have
never seen; thus, the child of a villagerfrom Asdud (Ashdod) calls himself
an 'Asdudi'regardlessof not havingset foot on Palestiniansoil.17
Collectivememoryis not only interpretative can itself be a complex,
but
eclectic,politicizedconstruction, with sourcesrangingfrommyths,legends,
oral and personalnarratives writtendocuments.I should note that, for
to
the purposesof this essay,I sometimesuse the termscollectivememoryand
collectivehistoryinterchangeably; collectivememoryis in most respectsa
constituentpart of collectivehistory.
It is perhapsaxiomaticto note that the producers 'facts'suchas those
of
inscribed documentary
in recordsare humanbeingswho interpret truth
the
as subjectivelyas an individualwho transmitsinformationorallyor infor-
In
mallythroughpersonalnarrative. examining meaningsandprocesses
the
inherent in the constructionof mythico-history, however, we arrive at
anotherkind of truth,for such an explorationrevealshow mythico-history
informshistory-writing. also revealsmuchaboutthe ideologiesandpower
It
dynamicsembeddedin this kind of history.

REMEMBERINGAND FORGETTING:
SELECTIVE
NATIONALISTHISTORY
... memoryis, by definition, termwhichdirectsour attentionnot to the
a
past but to thepast-present
relation. is because'the past'has this living
It
existencein the presentthat it mattersso muchpolitically.18
PopularMemoryGroup(1982)

In this section I examinesome specificmythsand legends whichinformed
the historicalnarrativeof the Palestinianwomen's movement. How are
women rememberedand (significantly) forgotten?
When I started my research,I conceived the task rather simply:the
straightforward (I thought)was to deepen understanding the emer-
goal of
gence and developmentof the women'smovementthroughreconstructing
its chronologyand uncovering richdetailsaboutits key figuresand events.
The bare outline of the story is as follows: in the early 1920s, educated,
upper-middle-class Palestinianwomen began to organize politically and
sociallyin women'sorganizations aroundthe nationalissue. They, like the
rest of the Arab populationin BritishMandatePalestine,were galvanized
by the violent disturbances between Arabs andJewsin 1929,knownas the
Wailing Wall incident. The mainstream,male-led Palestinian national
movement,whichhad begunto organizein the 1920swith the conveningof
seven PalestineNationalCongresses by the Arab ExecutiveCommittee
led
(AE), became increasinglyradicalizedin the 1930s.The AE dissolvedin
1934, debilitatedby increasingpoliticaldifferencesbetween the voices of


'moderation'(compromisewith the Britishgovernmentand the Zionists)
and 'radicalism' (complete rejectionof Zionism).With the onset of a six-
month GeneralStrikein 1936,the struggleevolved fromone of diplomatic
wranglingwith the Britishgovernmentinto a three-year,full-scale,armed
revolt which ended only when the Britishput it down with great military
force in 1939. The movement never entirely recoveredfrom the Revolt,
weakenedas it was by internaldivisionsand the imprisonment exile of
and
its leadership. the 1940sit was unableto mountan effective,unitedfront
In
against the far better-organizedand extremely well-trainedand armed
Zionistmovement.
The women'smajorentry into the nationalarenaoccurredin 1929with
the conveningof the Palestine Arab Women'sConferencein Jerusalem,
attendedby hundredsof womenfrom all over the country.The conference
was immediatelyfollowed by a motorcadedemonstration againstBritish
government policies,and the dispatchof a delegationto presentgrievances
to the BritishHigh Commissioner Palestine.The conferenceanddemon-
of
stration,widely consideredthe key events which launched the women's
movement,constituted primary
the impetusfor the establishment numer-
of
ous women'sorganizations throughout countrythatformedthe nucleus
the
of the newly emergentmovement.From the 1930s on, these groupswere
actively involved in: demonstrations; fundraisingfor prisonersand their
families;smugglingand providingarmsfor the 1936-39 Revolt; garnering
regional and international supportthroughpropagandaand the press for
the Palestiniannationalcause;offeringservicessuch as medicalcare and
education within a nationalistframework;and participating regional,
in
pan-Arab,'Oriental',and international women'sconferences.19 move-
The
ment remainedactive and viable until the events of 1948 dispersed,dis-
rupted and fractured Palestinian society and its attendant social and
politicalinstitutions.
The major,recurring 'myth'about the movementon whichI focus con-
cerned the role of individualwomen leadersin the seminalearly years of
the movement'sestablishment. continually
I stumbledacrossdiscrepancies
in contemporarysources centred upon the revered figure, Miss Zlikha
Shihabi,who, from 1937until her death in 1992,was presidentof the most
prominentwomen'sorganization, Arab Women'sUnion of Jerusalem
the
(henceforthAWU). The recurring line, or refrain,about her ran like this:
she was the 'founder',and 'the firstpioneer'of the women'smovement;'the
highestmodel for all Palestinianwomen';the creatorof the 'firstPalestin-
ian women'sorganization'; 'firstpresident'of the AWU,'sinceits incep-
the
tion'; and 'the head of all the women'ssocieties'.20 commonversion of
A
the foundingstorywas that Shihabi,who was bornin 1903,co-foundedthe
Palestinian Women's Union in 1921 with Melia Sakakini, sister of a
renownededucatorand nationalist,KhalilSakakini.
At firstglance,there was nothingso remarkable about these claimsand
the phrasesused to describethem.I took them at face value.(I did question

Palestinian
WomenLeaders 147

the versionmentionedabove in whichShihabi,an eighteen-year-old, single
woman,'founded' women'smovement.)Whatsoon becamepuzzling
the and
frustrating, however,was that, when I attemptedto sharpenthe focus on
Shihabi fillin the detailsof thesestories,concreteinformation almost
and was
completelyabsent.The elusivenessof her presencein the primarysources
defied expectationsand created frustration.Instead, the data which did
emerge contradictedthe dominantnarrativeabout Shihabi'srole to the
extent thatit piquedmy curiosityand raisednew questions.
In primary sources,Shihabiappearedsimplyas a nameon lists of leaders
duringthe early period of the movement.She was not noted as the leader
or 'pioneer'of the movement,and indeed, did not engage in the activities
whichdistinguished other womenleaders,such as speakingbefore crowds,
leading demonstrationsor participatingin regional and international
women's conferencesheld in the early 1930s. She did not, for example,
attendwhatwasprobably firstregionalconferenceamongArabwomen,
the
the EasternArab Women'sAssemblyheld in Beirut in April, 1930.21 She
was merelya member,not an officer,of the firstmajorleadershipapparatus
of the movement,the Arab Women'sExecutiveCommittee(AWE),which
was elected duringthe 1929PalestineArab Women'sConferenceand sub-
sequently directed the movement. In the aftermathof the Conference,
members of this executive committee formed the influentialJerusalem
Arab Women'sAssociation(AWA),to whichShihabibelonged.The presi-
dent of the ArabWomen'sExecutivewas Wahida the
al-Khalidi; firstpresi-
dent of the AWAwas ShahindaDuzdar.22
But the majorcontradiction these sourceswhich particularly
in caught
my attentionwas that anotherleaderwho was prominently featuredin the
press and the governmentdocumentsduringthe 1920s and 1930s,Matiel
was
Mughannam, barelymentionedin contemporary writtensources,and
was particularly absent in oral-history interviewsI conducted.Only four
people mentionedMughannam, while at least fifteen mentionedShihabi.
Yet accountsof Mughannam's activismpractically leapt from the pages of
sourceswrittenin the 1920sand 1930s.Mughannam, unlikeShihabi,was an
officerof the Arab Women'sExecutiveCommittee,was the spokesperson
at numerous meetingswiththe HighCommissioner, participated an Arab
in
Women'sconferencein Beirutin 1930,and agitateda crowdby delivering
a fieryspeechfroma balconyduringnotoriousdisturbances Jaffain 1933
in
which resulted in numerousdeaths and an officialinquiryby the British
government into the police treatment the womeninvolved.23 wasfre-
of She
quently interviewed,quoted and describedin the press as well as con-
tributingarticles to it herself. She remains one of the major sources of
informationof the women'smovementduringthis period, havingwritten
the only book on the subject,whichwas publishedin 1937.24
The contradictions these accountsof the two women'sactivitynatu-
in
rally led to closer examinationof sources.A patternemergedfrom inter-
views, contemporary newspaperarticles,and books: Shihabiwas depicted

148 Journal
HistoryWorkshop

as a woman who almost singlehandedly, heroically,establishedand con-
tinuouslyled the women'smovementfromits inception.One manfromher
generation,'Abd al-RahmanKayyali,when asked what he recalledabout
the women'smovementduringthe 1930s,highlightedShihabi's leadership,
describing as 'outgoingandbrave,witha strongpersonality. hadthe
her She
freedomto go wherevershe wantedandall the women'smovementwas led
by her'. Another contemporary commentedthat she was 'more political'
than other women, and was 'alwaysthe firstone to go to demonstrations
and demand different things'.25 The few people in interviewswho did
mention Mughannam usuallydid so only in responseto explicitquestions
(manydid not rememberher at all), whereasquite a numbernot only drew
attentionto Shihabi,but describedher, despitenot knowingher personally.
Kayyali,for example,narratedin ratherexplicitdetail how Shihabiorgan-
ized and led demonstrations, when asked if he ever witnessed any,
yet
repliedthat he had not.
On the other hand, in British governmentrecords,and in Arabic and
Englishnewspapers fromthe Mandateperioditself,it wasMughannam who
was frequentlyportrayedas the most active leader of the women'smove-
ment, althoughother women (includingShihabi)also featuredas partof a
group of leaders.26 Mughannam's words, from press interviews,demon-
strationsand meetings with British governmentofficials,are extensively
quoted,andher signature appearson dozensof protesttelegramsandmem-
oranda. She wrote a number of direct appeals to internationalpublic
opinionthatwerepublishedin both the English-language Arabicpress.
and
Who were these two women,andwhatdo we know aboutthem?Details
about Shihabi'spersonalbackground characterare surprisingly
and vague
and elusive.Interviews with survivingofficialsof the Arab Women'sUnion
whichshe headedfor morethanfiftyyearsproducedconflicting information
on her familybackground suchbasicsas whather fatherdidfor a living,
and
and how manyand what sex her siblingswere. Her fatherwas probablyan
officialof the Ottomangovernment,and she may have been the youngest
of three brothersand two sisters.27 know she was born in Jerusalem
We in
1903, and died there in 1992. A Muslim,she attendedthe Sistersof Zion
School, run by Catholic nuns, but it is not clear how many years she
remainedthere. She never married.Interestingly, a sort of curriculum
in
vitae Shihabiherselfwrote,she does not claimthat she 'founded'the Arab
Women'sUnion (AWU);rather,she statesthat she becameits presidentin
1937.28 This date is significant itself, a point to whichI shallreturn.
in
We know muchmore aboutMatielMughannam, who left more of a his-
toricalpaper trail.Significantly, was marriedto Mughannam
she Mughan-
nam, a prominentmember of the oppositionNashashibifaction, and the
generalsecretaryof its politicalorgan,the NationalDefence Party.Matiel,
a Christianwho was born in Lebanon,was raised in Brooklyn,where she
attendedhigh school (but did not graduate),and met her futurehusband;
he was a Protestant,a nativeof the Palestinian town of Ramallah, who was

Palestinian Women Leaders 149

attendinglaw schoolin the United States.The couplewent to Jerusalem for
theirhoneymoonin 1921,anddecidedto settle there,sincetherewas a need
for English-speaking lawyers.29
Matiel'sEnglishskillswere also in demand.She translated from Arabic
to Englishfor the delegationthat met with the High Commissioner during
the Arab Women'sConferencein 1929 (see photo).30Her fluent English
and Americanupbringing undoubtedlyfacilitatedher comfortin English-
speakingcompanyand culture.Althoughextremelyactive in the women's
movement in the 1930s, Matiel Mughannamwas culturallyvery pro-
Westernand Anglophile,31 despite her fiery nationalistspeeches,writings
and activism.She evidentlymanagedto separateher socializingfrom her
politics:she hosted a tea partyfor the wife of the High Commissioner nine
days after the Arab Women'sAssociationsent him a telegram- of which
she was the chief signatory- protestingagainstthe Britishpolice's'abuse',
disgraceful behaviourand 'oppression' attackinga crowdof demonstra-
in
tors in Nablus.32 Mughannamtried to use her Western connections to
benefitthe Palestinian cause,for instancewhen in 1931she took out a full-
page advertisement the English-language
in versionof the Palestinian news-
paper, Filastin(Palestinein Arabic), entitled, 'An Appeal:To my Friends
and Countrymen the United Statesof America'.33
in
In 1939 the Mughannamsmoved to Ramallah,where Matiel helped
establishthe RamallahArab Women'sUnion. Mughannam does not seem
to have been particularly liked by otherwomen.One peer describedher as
'stuckup', andcommentedthatshe did not reallylike womenbut preferred
the companyof men, which is ironic,consideringthat she was one of the
few women in the movementwho drew attentionto feministissues, albeit
cautiously and circumspectly.34 an interesting parallel with Shihabi,
In
Mughannamremainedpresident of the Ramallahorganizationfor forty
years,afterwhichshe movedto the United States,whereshe died in 1992.35
(The longevityof these tenuresraisesimportant questionsabouthow demo-
craticthese primarily upper-class women'sorganizations were.)
In 1937-38, the Arab Women'sAssociation(AWA)whichwas founded
in 1929splitinto two organizations. Tensionarosewithinthe originalgroup
over the issue of politics,reflectingthe factionalism withinthe Palestinian
nationalmovement.Up untilaround1936,the Palestinian nationalistmove-
ment had been relativelyunitedin its struggle,the dissolutionof the Arab
Executivenotwithstanding. the courseof the 1936-39strikeand Revolt,
In
however,the divisionswithinthe movementhardenedinto two distinctfac-
tions roughlyallied with two majornotable familieswhose politicalbases
were in the Jerusalem area,the HusaynisandNashashibis. This internecine
conflict has been cast in the nationalist narrative as pitting the ultra-
nationalistfaction allied with the Husaynisand its leader, Hajj Amin al-
Husayni, against a collaborationist('moderate'accordingto the British)
opposition,the Nashashibifaction.
The subjectof the splitin the women'smovementremainscontroversial


and little discussed(or even known) to this day. I began to questionpor-
trayalsof the unity of the women'smovementafter I read throughalmost
twenty-eightyears' worth of newspaperarticlesin the Arabic press, and
noticed the developmentaround1939 of two women'sgroupswhicheach,
separately,containedsome of the membersof the originalArab Women's
Associationand its Arab Women'sExecutive.I then asked women about
the split and managedto elicit informationabout it, althoughthey were
clearlyreluctant talkaboutit even morethanfifty-five
to yearsafterthe fact.
The reason for the split in the predominantwomen's organization,
accordingto one reluctantinformant, the competitionbetween Zlikha
was
Shihabi, a known Husayni supporter,and Zahiya Nashashibi,another
leader in the movement,over the office of president.The women,like the
men, began to have 'politicaldifferences.And they divided'.36 Another
woman commentedin an interviewthat Hajj Amin al-Husayni,'wanted
Palestinianwomen to mix with other [national]women's unions'.37 This
remarkprobablyrefersto the prominentrole playedby nationalwomen's
organizationsof Egypt, Lebanon and Syria in a big women's conference
held in 1938 in Cairothat focused on bolsteringpan-Arabsupportfor the
Palestiniancause. The conferencewas directedby the renownedEgyptian
feministHuda Sha'rawi, presidentof the EgyptianFeministUnion.
The result of the split in the Palestinianmovementwas the existence
from1938of two separatewomen'sgroupsin Jerusalem: ArabWomen's
the
(or Ladies) Association, established by Nashashibi 'along with the
Nashashibi family',andthe ArabWomen'sUnion,38 loosely associatedwith
the dominant Husayni faction.39 Ultimately,the Jerusalem-based AWU
becamethe leadingumbrellaorganization the nationalwomen'smove-
for
ment. It is an interesting,confusing twist that Mughannam'sgroup in
Ramallahused the word 'union'in its name, althoughnot alignedwith the
AWU.
It waspreciselyat the momentwhenthe women'smovementitselfbegan
to fractureinternally- around1938-39- that Shihabirose to prominence
andMughannam fadedinto the background. in
Starting the 1940s,the Arab
Women'sUnion and its president,Shihabi,began to dominatepress and
other accountsof the women'smovement,and other leaders increasingly
playeda moresecondary role.The ArabWomen's Association,on the other
hand,droppedout of the politicalarenaand focusedalmostexclusivelyon
social-welfare work.
It is importantto note that, after 1948,regionalfragmentation Pales-
of
tinian society resulted in commensuratefragmentedcollective memory.
Palestiniansstill living in Jerusalemand the West Bank rememberdiffer-
ently fromthose in exile in Lebanon,for example.Theirdivergenthistories
and experiencesafter1948shapetheirmemoriesof pre-1948life. Whenwe
speak of Palestiniancollective memory,we cannot speak of a monolithic,
united act of remembering. Here, however,is the point at whichcollective
memory and collective historypart ways;the formerbecomes embedded


withinthe latter.The multiplecollectivememoriesof Palestinians livingin
places as disparateas, for example,Lebanon,the PersianGulf states and
the West Bank together form the elements which constitute collective
history.In the complex process by which Palestiniancollective history is
constructed,legends and myths begin to take on particularsignificance,
sinceothertypesof historical sources- physical, concreteones suchas docu-
mentsandpersonalpapers - have been lost, confiscated destroyed.Thus
or
the term 'mythico-history' works well for this kind of collective history,
whichis an attemptto knit togetherthese disparatememoriesin orderto
forma coherent,unitarynarrative.40 Mythico-history above all, an order-
is,
ing process, and Palestiniancollective history represents an attempt to
create some kind of ordered,linear,explicativenarrativein orderto stave
off historicalchaos and oblivion.
It is significantthat the characterizations Shihabias the 'pioneer'and
of
'founder' of the movement began to gain currencyin the 1970s. What
caused a 'retrospective of
reinscription memory'41 between the Mandate
periodandthe 1970s?How andwhy didthe '70sandbeyondfigurein newly
constructedhistoricalrepresentationsof women's political involvement,
reinserting women into the historicalnarrative?
In orderto answerthese questions,it is necessary brieflyto examineboth
the global and Palestinian political and historical context of the late
1960s-early1970s.This period witnessedthe birth of the PalestineLiber-
ation Organization(PLO) in 1964, the onset of armedstruggle,the 1967
war,Black September1970(whenthe Palestinian ResistanceMovementin
Jordanwas crushedby the regimeandsubsequently relocatedto Lebanon),
andthe CivilWarin Lebanon,whichbeganin 1975.The Palestinian Resist-
ance Movementcame of age duringa period of global politicaland social
upheaval, when revolutionaryand liberation movements waged anti-
imperialistresistancein the Third World, and civil-rights,student, anti-
Vietnamwar and feministmovementsemerged in the United States and
elsewhere.Beirut,whichwas the centreof the Palestinian Resistancemove-
ment, 'wasa vortexof progressive pro-Palestinian
and activity'.
ManyPales-
tinianswere affectedby a 'new cultureof resistance'.42
At the beginningof this era, in 1965,ZlikhaShihabi,along with a com-
mittee of other Palestinian women,formedthe GeneralUnion of Palestin-
ian Women(GUPW). Although nominallyindependent,the GUPW was,
for all intents and purposes, an arm of the PLO. Originallybased in
it
Jerusalem, was soon forcedto relocateseveraltimes due to the 1967War
and other tumultuousevents; eventually,it was reorganizedin Beirut in
1974.Fora shorttime afterits founding,Shihabiwasits president.The Arab
Women'sUnion in Jerusalem,which Shihabicontinuedto head without
was
interruption, independentof the PLO and the GUPW.43 Shortlyafter
the 1967warbroughtEast Jerusalem (underJordanian administration since
1948) under Israeli control, Shihabi was briefly deported by the Israeli
authorities.44


Duringthis period, accordingto SorayaAntonius,'a new idea began to
slowly percolate: that women constitute half the available manpower
resource,one that a small,embattlednationcannotaffordto waste'.45
'War
and the national movement' acted as 'catalysts, undermining ... asym-
metricalgenderrelationsandexposingthemto scrutiny'.46 new atmos-
This
phere resultedin publication the 1970sof books on Palestinian
in women's
role in the 'revolution' both the GUPWandthe PLO ResearchCentre.47
by
These, together with articles which began to appear during the 1970s,
marked a new interest in Palestiniancircles in the question of women's
politicalrole, initiatingdebate on genderand nationalism.48
But in addressing theircontemporary situation,Palestinians foundthem-
selves confrontingthe past. Clearly,some of the older women leadersdid
not appear out of a historicalvoid. Shihabi, after all, had founded the
GUPW.It was necessaryto recognizesome sort of pre-history of which
out
she emerged,andto tracethe historical trajectoryof herprominence. was
It
at this point of recognitionthat Palestinianwomen had a historicalrole in
the nationalmovement,that mythsand legendsaboutthis role beganto be
reiterated.49
I call the stories about Shihabimyths because they serve a mythical,
didacticpurpose.In collectivehistory,as with anyhistory,personalities and
certaineventsbecameimbuedwithsymbolic,mnemonicimportance. These
memories- such as that of Shihabias the 'strong','educated''pioneer'of
the movement- were importantin the here and now to serve currentpur-
poses as exemplarsand symbols.ZlikhaShihabihad to embodyPalestinian
'progress'and 'modernity'to both outsiders and Palestiniansociety, in
orderto provethatPalestinian societywasnot primitive,atavistic there-
and
fore 'undeserving' nationhood.Of course,this historicalimaginingwas
of
politicallycalibrated counterZionistversionsof Palestinian
to history.Col-
lective or mythico-history often has a defensive cast to it. 'One almost
inevitablyneeds the presenceof the Other',a role served'verywell' by the
oppressor. 'The caring for the past is always coupled ... with having
someone challengeyourvision of it.'50
But also, a crucial ideological purpose in recasting Shihabi's and
Mughannam's respectiveroles in historywas to ensurethe construction of
a coherent, unitary historicalnarrativewhich could inspire currentand
future generationsto carryon the nationalstruggle.A key aspect to this
process is the corollaryto collectivememory:collectiveforgetting.'When
we speak of forgetting,we are speakingof displacement(or replacement)
of one version of the past by another.'51 Mughannam's memorywas dis-
credited and even, to an extent, expunged,from the nationalistnarrative
because she was associatedwith the Nashashibifaction, whose members
havebeen widelyviewedin Palestinian historiography collaborators
as with
the British,if not outrighttraitorsto the nationalistcause. As such, they
have been blamed for the betrayal and disunitywhich are perceived as
majorfactorsin the loss of the country. womantaintedby association
A with


this group could hardly symbolize or epitomize the heroic, nationalist
woman.
No matterthat Mughannam herself was a staunchnationalist,and that
women marriedto nationalistmen did not alwayspoliticallytoe the line
withtheirhusbands.52 MatielMughannam in manywaysless thanideal
was
as a historicalexemplar.She was an outsider- practically foreigner- and
a
she enthusiastically adoptedmuch of the cultureof the colonizer,despite
her 'ardent'nationalism.Her lack of deep, local, clan roots in Palestinian
society, her Christianity, and her embrace of Western culture probably
furthercontributed her historicalmarginalization. was more conveni-
to It
ent to forget her and de-emphasizeher historicalrole, in order to enable
the dominantnarrative's shape to hold, and to distanceit from the taint of
inauthenticity, collaborationand unpatrioticacts which her connections
implied.
Shihabi,on the other hand,was the better candidateto be the symbolic
'founder'and 'pioneer'of the movement.She was a Jerusalemite birth,
by
and was thus alliedwith,and had networksamong,the powerfulJerusalem
elite who dominatedthe politicalscene. The sheer longevity of Shihabi's
involvement;her brief associationwith the PLO, paradigmof Palestinian
nationalism;and the fact that she remainedin Jerusalemfor the entire
periodof her life, furtherembeddedher in people'scollectivememory.The
assumption naturallyfollowed that since she had 'always'been active,she
must have always,in fact, led.

DISCORDANTMEMORIES
CONCLUSION:
The basicquestionsI firstaddressedwere:why is Shihabiremembered and
whyis Mughannam forgottenin collectivememory,andwhatare the myths
and processeswhich informedthe constructionof Palestiniannationalist
mythico-history? in fact, the realunderlying
But premiseof the nationalist
narrative - its mythico-historyis the marginalizationof Palestinian
women's political role during this period. The process by which it is
achievedis subtle and complex.
Mythico-history portrayed a defensivecultural historical
is as and device,
utilizedto preserve a community's cohesion- particularly underattack
one
fromexternalforces;it is conceivedof as subversive the sense thatit acts
in
to counter hegemonic, externally-opposed historicalinterpretations. But
mythico-history not static and one-dimensional; can also be manipu-
is it
lated by groupsto constructhegemonichistoricalinterpretations order in
to subordinateand silence alternativehistoricalvisions from within the
of
community memory.Thusits historical -
interpretation constructed from
both silences and forgettings, mythsand legends- can become dominant.
How thisinterpretation changesover time illustrates powerrelationships
withinsubaltern communities memory.53
of Initially,Palestinians'
collective
memoriesand sense of historywere responsesto the dominantZionist and


Westernversionsof history- indeed, to the denialin these versionsof the
very existence of Palestinianhistory.Thus a male-dominated, nationalist
narrative developed which itself, while an expression of defiance to
imperialism, constituted,paradoxically, repressionof alternative
also a his-
toricalnarratives. 'The exigenciesof a strugglethat demandsnationalunity
tend to circumscribe potentiallyoppositional
[a] space'in collectivehistory.
People's 'sense of historywas overdetermined the currentsituation'.54
by
But, in the case I examine,the 'currentsituation'is itself historicizedand
transformedby moving back and forth throughtime and space. Besides
respondingto dominant,externally-imposed historicalinterpretations,the
sourcesalso spoke to changing internalperceptions genderandthe politi-
of
cal role of women duringdifferentperiodsof Palestinianhistory,and even
in differentplaces (Lebanon,and the WestBank/Jerusalem).55
The fact is, both Shihabiand Mughannam remainobscureand anony-
mous to the majorityof Palestinians. The endlessrepetitionof the myths-
as well as the forgettingprocess- indicatehistoricalneglect and marginal-
ization of women. History-writerssimply could not be bothered with
researchingwomen'srole or checkingtheir sources;they were content to
repeatthe mythsandlegendsunreflectively unquestioningly orderto
and in
propagandize whateverline was currentpoliticalideology,and to move on
to the main narrative: male-lednationalmovement.Indeed,in the few
the
historicalnarratives whichbrieflymentionwomen'spoliticalactivityduring
the Mandateperiod,women are only namedon lists (as presidentof such-
and-suchgroup);or mentionedbecausethey were 'martyred' unusually,
or,
involvedin militarystruggle,like the famousandconstantly-evoked female
fighter,FatmaGhazzal,killedin the 1936Revolt.Rarelyarea woman'sindi-
vidual actions, characteristics, words describedor cited, despite their
or
abundance the historicalrecord.
in
Nationalistnarrative contentto keep Palestinian
is womenin their (his-
torical)place, whichis playinga 'heroic'role 'alongsidetheir men'. In this
respect,(vague) collectiveremembrances constructbland,generically
that
'heroic'characterizations Zlikha Shihabifit in well with the nationalist
of
agenda.The fact thatmost depictionsof Shihabiresultin her ultimatechar-
acterlessnesshas helped to marginalizewomen as nonentities. Shihabi
herself conformed - whether consciously or not we may never know - to
nationalist imperativesin order to demonstratenational unity. Shihabi
neverchallengedgenderednormsof the patriarchal statusquo- sucha chal-
lenge wouldhave been considereddivisiveandsecondaryto the primacy of
the nationalproblem.During a 1944 Arab Women'sConferencein Cairo
which focused on the status of women in Arab countries,for example,
Shihabi stated in a press interview that women in Palestine would not
'demand more rights than what is allowed by Islamic law and the holy
Quran'since 'demanding women'srightswas before its time'.56
On the otherhand,Mughannam, is barelyremembered all, much
who at
less as a nationalheroine,nonethelessemergesas a real humanbeing albeit

Women
Palestinian Leaders 155

with a contradictory characterand politics, at least from the Palestinian
nationalistpoint of view. The contradictions her personalityonly high-
in
light her individuality and reality as a historicalcharacter.One feels as if
one knows her from the accountsof her in the primarysources,and even
from the negativecommentsof those few who remembered her.
But even beyond the Shihabi-Mughannam dichotomy,the earlier,for-
mativehistoryof the women'smovement- its inceptionand development
- just seems of little interest in contemporaryPalestinian collective
memory.In the few writingsthat mentionthis history,writerstend to refer
dismissively the women leadersas 'bourgeois'and politically'unaware'
to
in otherwords,not 'revolutionary'.57 These narratives quicklyskip forward
to the post-1967period.
Both 'official'Palestiniannationalistand collectivehistoryelide all evi-
dence of the nuances, contradictions,and complexities of the women's
movement:its independence,factionalism, individual power struggles,and
originality.It is tellingthat, to this day,the split in the women'smovement
whichoccurredalmostsixtyyears ago has been successfully repressed,and
those who do rememberit are reluctantto discuss it.58The representations
of the women'smovementhad to correspondto and fit within the major
nationalistnarrative- in some ways to rectify the weaknesseswithin the
male-ledmovement- in orderto be more seamless,more united,and more
positivisticallylinear in its progressand triumphs.The result is the con-
struction a mythico-history whichwomen'simportance the national-
of in in
ist narrative is based largely on obscuring the rich ambivalences and
contradictions their role in orderto maintainunifyingnationalistmyths
of
and legends.

NOTESAND REFERENCES

I wouldlike to thankTed Swedenburg his helpfulinputandcriticism an earlierdraftof
for of
this article,Julie Peteet for her advice and suggestionsduringthe writingprocess,and the
editors of History Workshop Journal - Anne Summers, in particular - for their constructive
A
editorialcomments. versionof this articlewas presentedat the 1996annualconferenceof
the MiddleEast StudiesAssociationin Providence,Rhode Island.
1 AminMaalouf,TheRockof Tanios, translated DorothyS. Blair,New York:George
by
Braziller,1994,p. 261.
2 Iwona Irwin-Zarecka, Frames of Remembrance: the Dynamics of Collective Memory,
New Brunswick London:
and TransactionPublishers,1994,p. 145.
3 CarolynBynum, 'WhyAll the Fuss About the Body? A Medievalist's
Perspective',
Critical Inquiry 22, Autumn 1995, p. 28.
4 CamillaSivers,'Reflections the Role of PersonalNarrative SocialScience',Signs
on in
18:2, 1993,p. 411.
5 Sivers,p. 420.
6 Personal Narratives Group, 'Truths', Interpreting Women's Lives: Feminist Theory and
PersonalNarratives, editedby PersonalNarratives
Group,Bloomington:
University Indiana
of
Press,1989,p. 264. (Emphasis added.)
7 Ted Swedenburg, Memories of Revolt: the 1936-1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian
NationalPast,Minneapolis:
Universityof MinnesotaPress,1996,pp. xxviii,xxvi.


8 Noa Gedi andYigalElam,'Collective -
Memory WhatIs It?',History Memory
and 8.1,
Spring/summer 1996,p. 33. The full quoteis revealing(the authorsare discussing articleby
an
PierreNora):'ForNoradoes not simplyreferto the obviousgapbetweenmemoryandhistory,
that is, the well-knownfact that memoryis an unreliablesourceof valid history.' find this
I
statementproblematic, I
although mustsidestepit here.One questionswhatconstitutes 'valid
history'- a termthe authorsuse unself-consciously withoutdefinition.
and
9 RolandBarthes,Mythologies, New York: NoondayPress,1992[1957], 109,142,110,
pp.
119.
10 Barthes,Mythologies, 143. p.
11 Liisa Malkki,Purityand Exile: Violence,Memory,and NationalCosmologyAmong
HutuRefugeesin Tanzania, Chicagoand London:Universityof ChicagoPress,1995,pp. 54,
55.
12 SharifKanaana,'The Role of Womenin IntifadaLegends',Discourseand Palestine:
Power,Text, Context, AnneliesMoors,ToinevanTeeffelen,Sharif
and ed. and
Kanaana, Ilham
Abu Ghazaleh,Amsterdam: Spinhuis,Het 1995,p. 153.
13 Gedi andElam,'CollectiveMemory- WhatIs It?',p. 33; Collective Remembering, ed.
David MiddletonandDerek Edwards, London: SagePublications, 1990,p. 3.
14 Irwin-Zarecka, Frames, 54, 47-49.
pp.
15 Numeroussocial scientistswho write aboutcollectivememoryand historical remem-
beringemphasize socialcontextof memory, do not seem to focuson the politicaluses
the but
to whichconstructed collectivememory put.See, forexample,
is IwonaIrwin-Zarecka, Frames;
PaulConnerton, HowSocieties Remember, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1989;and
MiddletonandEdwards, Collective Remembering.
16 Irwin-Zarecka, Frames, 49.
p.
17 RosemarySayighdescribesthis kind of remembering her ethnographic
in study of
Palestinian refugees,Palestinians: to
FromPeasants Revolutionaries, London: Zed Press,1979.
Palestinian -
collectivememoryis deeplyterritorialized to paraphrase Malkki.It constructs a
to
kind of historywhich claimsmoral attachment a specificmotherland homeland,and or
'posits time-honored links between people, polity, and territory'. Malkki,Purityand Exile,
p. 1.
18 Popular MemoryGroup,'Popular Memory: theory,politics,method',Making Histories:
Studies HistoryWriting Politics,ed. Richard
in and Bill
Johnson,GregorMcLennan, Schwarz,
andDavid Sutton,Minneapolis: University Minnesota
of Press,1982,p. 211.
19 A numberof women'sconferenceswere convenedin this period, in Beirut (1930),
Baghdad,Damascus, and Tehran (1932), and Cairo (1938 and 1944). Most were called
'Oriental'(or Eastern)women'sconferences,and includedwomenfromIranand Afghanis-
tan, whereasthe 1944one in Cairowas calledthe ArabWomen's Conference.
20 Asma Tubi,'AbYr majd,Beirut:Matba'atQalalat,1966,p. 152, KhadijaAbu 'Ali,
wa
to
Introduction Woman's Realityand her Experience the Palestinian
in Revolution(Arabic),
Beirut:GeneralUnion of Palestinian Women,1975,p. 44; RandaSharaf,'ZlikhaShihabiin
History'sConscience: Pioneerof the Women'sMovementin Palestine,founderof the Arab
Women's Union'(Arabic), Al-mar'a13,June1992,p. 8; 'TheSunWillNot Set:ZlikhaShihabi
Between the Lines'(Arabic,n.a.), al-Ittihad, March1992;and Wadi'aKhartabil,
18 Memoirs
of Wadi'aQadduraKhartabil, SeekingHope and the Nation:Sixty YearsFrom a Woman's
Struggleon behalfof Palestine(Arabic),Beirut:Bisan al-nashr,1995, p. 60; Amy Aramki,
interview withthe author,26 Nov. 1992,Bir Zeit;HindHusayni, interview withthe author,15
Feb. 1993,Jerusalem.
21 A delegationof eight womenwas sent by the Arab Women's Executivein Jerusalem.
Filastmn (Palestine, of the majorPalestinian
one newspapers, 1911-1967),10 April 1930.
22 The ArabWomen's Executivemaywell have been modelledafterthe ArabExecutive,
mentionedabove.Like the AE, whichdissolvedin 1934,the ArabWomen's Executiveseems
to have also eventuallydisappeared some time afterthe 1930s.
23 Filastmn April 1930; British Colonial Office Official Palestine Correspondence
10
(hereafterCO) 733 239/5,Pt. I andII, 23 Oct. 1933.
24 Thiswas TheArab Woman thePalestine
and Problem,London: HerbertJoseph,1937.
25 Interviews with'Abdal-Rahman al-Kayyali, March1993,Amman,andSa'idaJarallah,
8
19 April 1994,Jerusalem.
26 Mughannam often identifiedas the 'secretary' the Arab Women'sCommittee;
is of
other reportsdescribeher as leadingthe women in demonstrations, call her an 'ardent
and
nationalist',who 'playsan activepartin the Women's Nationalist movement': Despatchfrom


MacMichael (High Commissioner Palestine)to MacDonald(Secretaryof State for the
for
Colonies),5 April1938,CentralZionistArchives(CZA) RG 25S,Political Affairs,file 22793;
Cunliffe-Lister (Secretaryof State of the Colonies)to Wauchope(High Commissioner), 23
Oct. 1933,CO 733 239/5PartI; ArabWho'sWho,CO 733 284/22.
27 WhenI interviewed current(as of 1993)president the AWU,Aminaal-Kadhimi,
the of
andits accountant HassanIstambuli, bothof whomknewShihabi personally, theyarguedover
these particulars. Furthermore, neitherseemed to knowwhat had happenedto her personal
papers,or the archival dataof the AWU itself.Interview withAminaal-Kadhimi Hassan
and
Istambuli, Jerusalem, April1993.A newspaper
22 articlestatedthatshe wasbornto a 'patriotic
Jerusalem family',but providedno otherdetails:'The SunWillNever Set' (see note 20).
28 A sort of curriculum vitae, writtenin the firstperson some years before her death,
provides mostof these details(exceptforthe yearof herdeath,of course).Thistwo-pagetype-
writtenCV underthe letterheadof the Arab Women's Union was givento me by Amina al-
Kadhimi.There is no date but Shihabistates her age as 82 and her birth date as 1903, so
presumably waswrittenin 1985.
it
29 CO 733 284/22 17693,Arab Who's Who, 1933;interviewwith Matiel Mughannam,
conducted JuliePeteet andRosemary
by Sayigh,10 August1985,Washington, telephone
DC;
interviewwithTheodoreMughannam (Matiel'sson) by the author,28 Sept. 1995,Arlington,
Virginia.(I would like to thank RosemarySayigh and Julie Peteet for their generosityin
providing with the transcript theirinterview.)
me of
30 Falastin-English,Nov. 1929.
2
31 At one point, she said in an interviewin the press, 'All Englishwomen think Arab
womenare uncultured. Theybelievethey speakonly Arabic,thatthey all wearveils andrush
awayat the sightof a man.How I wishI couldtakeEnglishwomenaroundto see my cultured
Arab friends.How surprised they would be - Europeanclothes,silk stockings,highheeled
shoes, permanently wavedhair,manicured hands.'Palestine Post,7 Dec. 1936.
32 Filastmn, and27 August1931.
18
33 Falastin-English, Oct. 1931.
17
34 Ellen Mansur, interview with author,6 Sept. 1992,Ramallah, WestBank.
35 There is some discrepancy about when Mughannam returned; her 1985 interview
in
withPeteet andSayigh,she saidshe camebackto the US 'threeyearsago'.Her son statedthat
she returnedin the 1950s.Interestingly, and Shihabidied in the same month and year,
she
August,1992.
36 Interview,Sa'ida Jarallah; SamahNusseibeh(then presidentof the Arab Women's
Society),Jerusalem, Nov. 1992.
23
37 Interview, SalmaHusayni,Jerusalem, April 1993.
19
38 Interview, Sa'idaJarallah. of the appellation
Use 'union'is also important. Until 1938,
I nevercameacrossuse of the word'union'to designate Jerusalem
the women'sgroup,despite
numerousclaimsthat the Palestinian Women's Union was foundedin 1921.The appearance
of the word,beginning 1938,was clearlypartof an effortto distinguish groups,one of
in two
whichhad not previouslyexisted.Yet confusionover nameswas the majorresult.(As I note
below,use of the name did not, in fact, indicatepoliticalalignment with eitherfaction.)The
issueis further complicated the sloppiness the newspapers otherwritten
by of and sources, who
continually referredto the variouswomen'sgroupsby differentnames,resulting confusion in
over groups'identities.(For example,the groupswere referredto, variously,as the Arab
LadiesSociety,the Arab Women'sCommittee,the Arab Women'sUnion, the Arab Ladies
Committee,etc.) The Arab Ladies Society now translatesits name as the Arab Women's
Society(not a literaltranslation the Arabic,whichretainsthe word'ladies')in English.In
of
1944,the ArabWomen's Union changedits nameto the Palestinian ArabWomen's Union.
39 For more details of the split, see Ellen L. Fleischmann, 'The Nation and Its "New"
Women:Feminism,Nationalism,Colonialism,and the PalestinianWomen's Movement,
1920-1948', D diss.,Georgetown
Ph University, 1996,pp. 256-267.
40 In Malkki's workwiththe Hutus,she,too, dealswitha refugeepopulation, whichshares
similaritieswith the Palestinian situation.See Purityand Exile.
41 Swedenburg, Memories Revolt,p. 90.
of
42 Swedenburg, Memories Revolt,p. xviii;JuliePeteet,Gender Crisis:
of in Women theand
PalestinianResistance Movement, New York:Columbia UniversityPress,1991,p. 31. Indeed,
the factthatthe Palestinian Resistance Movement considered calleditselfa movement
and and
not merelythe PLO is significant.
43 LaurieBrand,Palestinians theArab World:
in Institution Buildingand the Searchfor


State,New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1988, pp. 197-199. The commentabout the
AWU's independencewas made in an interviewwith May Sayeghby SorayaAntonius,in
'Fighting TwoFronts:
on Conversations WithPalestinian Women', Journal Palestine
of Studies
8: 3, Spring1979, p. 29, n. 8. The GUPW, along with other Palestinianorganizations, was
considered illegalby the Israelimilitarygovernment whichoccupiedeast Jerusalem, West the
Bank and Gaza after1967.
44 'The SunWillNot Set', al-Ittihad, May 1992.
18
45 Antonius,'Fighting', 28.
p.
46 Peteet, Genderin Crisis,p. 6.
47 Abu, 'Ali, Introduction, Ghazi al-Khalili,The Palestinian
and Womanand the Revol-
ution(Arabic),Beirut:PLOResearchCenter,1977.
48 Salwaal-'Amid, 'Observations the realityof womenin the Palestinian
on Revolution'
(Arabic),Shu'unFilastiniyya April1981,pp. 9-19;Ghassan
113, 'Abdal-Qadir, 'Woman thein
Palestinian NationalStruggle'(Arabic),Malafal-tali'a26, 1979;Nuha Abu-Daleb,'Palestin-
ian WomenandTheirRole in the Revolution', PeuplesMediterraneens Oct-Dec. 1978,pp.
5,
35-47;MunaAhmadGhandur, FemaleGuerrillas, AhmadandHer Three
Um in
Daughters the
Resistance(Arabic), Beirut: Matba'atal-Wafa,1969; Ghada Karmi, 'LiberationThrough
Revolutionfor Palestinian 14
Women',TheGuardian May1976;IjlalKhalifa,Woman the and
Palestinian Cause(Arabic),Cairo:ModernArabPress,1974.
49 AlthoughI focus on the ones aboutShihabi's role in the Mandateperiod,othersalso
appeared. Someof theseconsistedof simplistic adagessuchas:beforethe establishment the of
PLO women were 'backward' oppressedby 'tradition'.
and Abu 'Ali, Introduction, al-
43;
Khalili,ThePalestinian Woman, 80.
50 Irwin-Zarecka, Frames, 76.
60,
51 Frames, 118.
p.
52 Interview withMatielMughannam conducted JuliePeteet andRosemary
by Sayigh,15
August1985.
53 Muchof whatfollowsI owe to Memories Revolt.I obviouslyfollowin the footsteps
of
of Swedenburg, haslaid the groundwork examining issueof Palestinian
who for the collective
memoryandits politics.
54 Swedenburg, Memories Revolt,pp. 7, xxvi.
of
55 IndraniChatterjee foundperhapsan even morecomplexdynamic workin studying
at
the differencesbetweencolonialand indigenoussourcesin her work on eighteenth-century
India.Not only did she have to pay attentionto the historicityof sources,as well as their
facticity;she also discoveredcomplications the 'interplay hiddenindigenousmeanings
in of
with the structuresand forms of [the] colonial state'. The oppositionbetween indigenous
historyand colonial historywas not alwaysclearcut;rather,the interactionbetween them
producedhistoricalmyths(if I may use the word once again)of their own in both types of
sources.See IndraniChatterjee,'Testingthe Local Against the ColonialArchive',History
Workshop Journal 1997,pp. 215-224.
44,
56 Filastin,13 Dec. 1944.
57 Al-Khalili,ThePalestinian Woman, 80. (The Arabicwordfor awareis used to mean
p.
- -
politicallysophisticated' awareof the situation in the contextof the Palestinian national-
ist struggle.)
58 Mughannam herself participated this repression.In her interviewwith Rosemary
in
Sayighand JuliePeteet, Sayighaskedher if therewere 'conflicts, competition, problems
[or]
betweenmembers'andshe deniedit.

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