Profile of a Palestinian Woman

In order to protect my new friend, I will not use her real name. I will call her Noura. I asked her to start her story with her grandparents and parents, but she started with her birthdate of February, 1948. She is the 6th of 7 children. The five older ones were born in Haifa where her parents lived in an apartment provided by the private school where her father worked as the watchman. Her mother was married at age 13, and had a total of 9 children, two of whom died. Sometime in January, 1948 the British military came to their door and told her father to take a week's vacation. They packed a bag and went to Zebabdeh, on the other side of Palestine, where they had relatives. A week later, her father started the trip home but was stopped in the city of Nazareth. He was told to sign a paper, which he did, and in return was handed a card which said he was now a refugee and couldn't go home - ever. His brother refused to sign the paper, and as a result had no status and was forced to leave to Lebanon.

Shortly after, Noura was born in Zebabdeh while her parents became farmers. Noura went to the village school which went up through grade 6. To continue her education, she was sent to a charity boarding school 3 hours away because the family could not afford a daily commute to the nearest public school in Nablus, which was only an hour away. For three months Noura endured a feeling of total abandonment. The other children received visits from their parents, who brought them gifts or treats, but Noura's parents did not visit. Finally Noura broke the rules and secretly scaled the surrounding wall and asked a passing stranger to mail the letter she had written to her father saying, "I am dying." Her father was alarmed when he received the letter and came immediately. Though this clever and suffering child was scolded for sending the letter, her father visited regularly after that. In three years, when Noura completed 9th grade, she returned to Zababdeh. A year later, her older brothers were able to pay for her to attend 11th grade in Nablus and 12th in Jenin, where it was a little cheaper. Perhaps her parents and brothers realized that Noura was a gifted child, because her eldest sister never went to school and married at age 13, and the second daughter married at 15 or 16.

After high school, Noura had to find work. She moved in with a sister in Beit Jala near Bethlehem and got a job taking care of children in an orphanage, but didn't like it. She became a receptionist at a nearby large guesthouse/conference center. Soon she was able to rent a room in order to be independent of her sister. At about this time, when she was 23, a local man noticed her and proposed to marry her. She met him under supervision of her sister, and agreed to his proposal. So she called her father, who came to give his approval and make wedding arrangements. However, Noura's brothers said that their cousin Saeed, then teaching in Hebron in the South, was also available to marry, and would be preferable to a stranger. When Noura heard this, she felt the same way as her brothers. She would rather marry her cousin, whom she had known since birth, as they were born in the same town on the same day, just two hours apart!

Noura and Saeed got married the next year, 1973. They lived in Bethlehem, each continuing in their work places while having their first two daughters. Then Noura was able to get a job at a church in Jerusalem, where her brother was working. Again she was a receptionist, at the church's guesthouse, in addition to cooking, cleaning and serving as a guide to the guests. During this time she had two sons. She worked there for 30 years, achieving through the church, permanent Israeli-issued permits for her and her husband to travel between the West Bank, where they live, and Jerusalem, even though Noura no longer works in Jerusalem. Most West Bank residents cannot get into Jerusalem because Israel wants to reduce the Palestinian population of occupied Jerusalem. Until today they have this rare flexibility, which also facilitates Noura's latest line of work.

Noura now works with fair trade women's craft cooperatives. The women do the beautiful Palestinian emboidery, and Noura does the finishing work, fashioning purses, wall hangings, place mats, pillow cases and so on, using the emboidered pieces. She receives some of the handiwork by mail from women in Gaza, and she exports special orders to Europe. Being able to get back and forth to Jerusalem makes this work possible. After all, to do "fair" trade, one must be able to "trade," something that is harder and harder to do under the restrictions of the occupation.

In 1967 Noura was still in Zebabdeh but not going to school. She was harvesting wheat with her parents when someone came running and crying out, "The war has started!" The village government issued guns to her brothers, without any training. On the third day of the Six Day War, they saw warplanes overhead and suddenly a massive wave of people came running over the hill, fleeing the bombing. Noura's father told his sons to take the girls and go to Jordan, just a short distance away. But the son's refused, saying that if they were to die, they would all die together, not like in '48.

Soon a tank drove up. Noura thought it was Arab military who had come to save them, but it turned out to be Israeli soldiers, who ordered them to put up a white flag. Her brothers threw their guns into a well in order not to be caught with weapons. Nevertheless, two of her brothers were taken away by the soldiers. Shots were heard, and then no news for 21 days as to the fate of the two brothers. Noura feared they were killed, but finally one and then the other returned home.F

During the First Intifada in 1987, Noura kept her children in the house and did not allow them to go out and throw stones at the soldiers. She did not believe in such violence. But at one point soldiers came and searched the house, believing stones had been thrown from there. Noura met them with calm disdain and invited them to search the house. Finding no evidence, they left without further incident. At another moment, during the 45 days of curfew that Israel imposed to crush the Intifada, there was no bread in the house. Noura sent her 10 year old son to the store around the corner, hoping he could make it out and back without being seen. But the soldiers did see him, stopped him and came to the house with him. Noura was terribly frightened, but refused to show it, and argued with the soldiers until they backed off. "I didn't break the curfew, just we didn't have any bread, and the children are hungry. I sent a boy, and all he has with him is bread. But go ahead and do whatever you have to do." Actually, she was ready to die to protect her son.

One final example of the fortitude of this Palestinian woman: Even with a permit to go to Jerusalem, she has to go through the crowded checkpoint along with hundreds of men trying to get to their jobs. One day the mash of men pushing and screaming and fighting for their place in line was more than she could bear, and she started to cry. When she finally got to the soldiers who checked permits, she asked to speak to the checkpoint officer in charge. They told her to come back at 4:00 p.m. and the officer would be there. Of course, when she returned, they pretended that the officer was not there. She insisted they give him the message that there must be a separate entrance for women. Evidently he did get the message, and a separate passage for women was created; but it functions according to the whim of the soldiers on duty that day.

I think Noura has another 100 stories, but with these we know that this Palestinian woman will continue to defy the odds, speak up for her rights and not give up easily - or ever.