This document discusses the role of women's committees during the First Intifada (1987-1993) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It describes how women's committees originated in the 1970s-1980s and aligned with different political parties. During the First Intifada, membership in women's committees increased as they took on important roles in organizing non-violent protests and providing essential services. The committees established subcommittees focused on education, socio-economic programs, and some political activities. They played a key role in literacy programs, healthcare, childcare, cooperatives, and marches. However, the Intifada did not achieve full equality and social liberation for Palestinian women.

1. The Role of Women’s Committees during the First Intifada
By: Ravenel Godbold
Introduction
When the First Intifada erupted in the Occupied Palestinian Territories on
December 9, 1987, no one could have anticipated the mass mobilization of the
Palestinian population and the implications of the uprising. Participants in the First
Intifada were not from one specific social class, political party, or locale; the First
Intifada included all aspects of Palestinian society and women were not excluded.
Women were certainly more active in their participation during the First Intifada,
and women’s committees played a major role in their activities. However, women’s
committees fought for a national cause that was not willing to fight for them. Active
participation in the First Intifada did not yield the results of social liberation hoped
for by the women’s committees. The following pages will explore the origins of
Palestinian women’s committees in the West Bank, their role in the First Intifada,
and how this participation affected their role in society.1
The First Intifada (1987-1993)
The First Intifada began the day after an automobile wreck in the Gaza Strip
on December 8, 1987 killed four Palestinians. Demonstrations began first in Gaza,
but with the death of a Palestinian youth at the hands of the IDF during one protest,
the First Intifada erupted across the Palestinian Territories. The death of five
Palestinians was not the sole cause of the First Intifada but served as the catalyst.
Palestinians from all walks of life mobilized en masse to protest the occupation of
1 The role of women’s committees and female activism in Gaza goes beyond the
scope of this paper and will not be discussed.

2. the Palestinian Territories since the 1967 War. Upper and lower classes, Muslims
and Christians, young and old, male and female, all came together in the name of
national liberation.
The phrase “First Intifada” generally evokes the image of Palestinian male
youth, their faces covered by a kuffiyeh, throwing stones at soldiers and military
vehicles. However, the First Intifada was a spontaneous, popular uprising focused
on national liberation rather than an intentional violent revolt. It was characterized
by means of non-violent protest: marches, sit-ins, boycotts, labor strikes, alternative
schooling, and cooperatives. Women’s committees were instrumental in the
organization of non-violent protests throughout the Intifada and used the
opportunity to make changes within the structure of Palestinian Society.
The word Intifada, accurately translated to “shaking off”, lived up to its name.
The First Intifada not only changed the relationship between the Israeli
Administration and the Palestinians, but also relationships within Palestinian
society. The social structure of society began to change; women were no longer
relegated to the domestic sphere as wives and mothers. They became active
participants in the struggle for national liberation, linking their goals of social
liberation to the political agenda of the First Intifada. While the First Intifada did not
achieve complete equality for women, it did open the door for gradual social change
within Palestinian society.

3. Origins of Women’s Committees
Organizations designed solely for women’s participation in Palestine began
following the end of World War I2, but their goals were charitable rather than
political or social.3 It was not until 1978 with the establishment of the Women’s
Work Committee, politically aligned with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (DFLP), that women’s committees became an increasingly important
player in Palestinian society. The base for the following organizations was not
created from scratch during this period but built on the work of countless activists
from earlier movements that failed to materialize.4
In the early 1980s the Women’s Work Committee fragmented into four
separate organizations based on political affiliation: The Federation of Palestinian
Women’s Action Committees (FPWAC) aligned with DFLP, the Union of Palestinian
Working Women’s Committees (UPWWC) aligned with the Palestine Communist
Party, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) aligned with the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Women’s Committee
for Social Work (WCSW) which aligned with Fatah.5 Through their participation in
the different women’s committees, Palestinian women were able to obtain skills that
2 See Ellen Fleischmann and Eileen Kuttab for earlier developments in the
Palestinian Women’s Movement.
3 Maura K. James, “Women and the Intifadas: The Evolution of Palestinian Women’s
Organizations,” Strife Journal Issue 1 (March 2013): 18.
4 Joost Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada: Labor and Women’s Movements in the
Occupied Territories (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991) 136.
5 Joost Hiltermann, “The Women’s Movement During the Uprising,” Institute for
Palestinian Studies Vol. 20-3 1990-1991. Online, Internet, July 9, 2015, Available:
http://palestine-studies.org/jps/fulltext/39556.

4. were useful during the First Intifada. The role of the women’s committee movement
will be discussed in detail in the following pages.
Participation and Composition 1987-1988
Before addressing the roles of Women’s Committees in the Intifada, the
methods and trends of participation must be addressed. From the beginning,
membership in women’s committees increased after the outbreak of the First
Intifada. Joost Hiltermann attributes the rise in membership to the higher levels of
education women achieved and their increased participation in the labor force.6
Both of these factors played a role in the levels of female participation in women’s
committees, but there is also the question of necessity. As the Intifada progressed,
an increasing number of Palestinian men were imprisoned or killed. This allowed
women to participate in aspects of society usually unavailable to them, whether due
to patriarchal control or a lack of opportunity.7 The membership of committees was
higher in larger towns and cities as would be expected; Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah,
and Hebron had larger percentages of women’s committee membership because of
their larger populations.8
Each committee had different requirements of membership as well as
different structures. Those with Marxist-Leninist ideologies (UPWWC, FPWAC, and
UPEC) functioned as a decentralized system with higher-level committees
controlling policies while the WCSW functioned as an informal federation with small
6 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 143.
7 Rita Giacaman, “Palestinian Women in the Uprising: From Followers to Leaders,”
Journal of Refugee Studies Vol. 2 No. 1 (1989): 143.
8 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 141-142.

5. numbers of appointed active committee members.9 Members of the women’s
committees were usually the first to join their local popular committees; in the early
days of the Intifada it was difficult to discern where the work of the women’s
committees ended and the work of the popular committees began.10 It was not until
1988 that a clear line was drawn between the women’s committees and the popular
committees when the Palestinian political leadership recognized the importance of
the women’s movement in realizing the national goal.11
Women’s Committees 1987-1988
Palestinian women, particularly members of women’s committees, played an
active role in the first year of the Intifada. There were instances of harassment,
arrest, injury, and death during the First Intifada, but the Israeli authority relegated
Palestinian women to the margins, allowing them to work in a greater capacity
within the Palestinian Territories.12 The four primary women’s committees
delegated to numerous sub-committees, which focused on issues ranging from food
production and distribution to education and political protests.13 The
subcommittees can be categorized in three groups: education, socio-economic, and
political, and will be discussed in turn. Some of the skills learned during
participation in women’s committees during the 1970s-1980s were channeled into
programs, such as the collection and storage of food, the provision of healthcare, the
9 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 146.
10 Hiltermann, “The Women’s Movement During the Uprising”.
11 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 197.
12 Joost Hiltermann, “Trade Unions and Women’s Committees: Sustaining the
Movement, Creating Space,” Middle East Report (1990): 34.
13 Eileen Kuttab, “Palestinian Women in the Intifada: Fighting on Two Fronts,” Arab
Studies Quarterly Vol. 15. No. 2 (1993): 79-80.

6. establishment of guard units, and the organization of political protests.14 Women’s
committees were the most effective within the “domestic sphere”, namely education
and childcare, but they touched on all aspects of society.
Education programs are perhaps the most well known aspect of the work of
women’s committees during the First Intifada. One of the main goals of women’s
committees was the eradication of illiteracy, and in order to complete this task
literacy centers were established. The UPWWC established several centers in
Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Nablus and was instrumental in organizing literacy
courses.15 In addition to literacy, women’s committees also tackled the problem of
healthcare. Women’s Committees offered medical care to their members, but also
played an active role in cooperating with grass-roots medical groups. The Union of
Palestine Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), which provided low-cost health care
in villages and refugee camps, was one example.16
Women’s committees were also successful in entering the socio-economic
sphere. Women’s committees initiated a number of programs (boycotts, food
collection and distribution, enforcement of fair prices, and cultural bazaars), but the
two most important programs were childcare and production cooperatives solely
for women. By providing childcare, women’s committees loosened the ties between
women and their families, allowing women to pursue other interests in addition to
being mothers.17 Childcare centers and kindergartens opened the door for women
14 Souad Dajani, “Between National and Social Liberation,” Women and the Israeli
Occupation, ed. Tamar Meyer (New York: Routledge 1994) 43-44.
15 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 152.
16 Ibid.
17 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 149.

7. to become more involved in the labor market, an option that was not available to
many before the First Intifada. One of these doors into the labor market was through
the establishment of women’s production cooperatives. These cooperatives offered
women a way to step out of the domestic sphere and participate in the labor market
through the production of food or the sale of embroidery.
The political involvement of women’s committees was not as strong as the
education or socio-economic programs, and in some cases political acts were
spontaneous, unplanned events. Struggles with soldiers over young boys and men
became commonplace during the Intifada; however, these events were usually the
result of local women joining together rather than an organized political movement
hosted by one of the four women’s committees. While the women’s committees did
not arrange individual tussles with the IDF or Israeli civilians, they were
instrumental in planning marches; an average of 115 marches per week occurred
within the first three months.18 By providing services in a number of spheres that
were inaccessible during the Intifada the women’s committees were able to serve
the national aims while establishing themselves as an integral part of the movement.
Until December 1988 the programs detailed above were carried out by the
four main women’s committees, the FPWAC, UPWWC, UPWC, and WCSW, as well as
local popular committees and in some cases individual women. In December 1988,
the official organization of women’s committees changed with the establishment of
the Higher Women’s Council. Each of the four committees sent one representative to
18 Philippa Strum, “West Bank Women and the Intifada: Revolution within the
Revolution,” Palestinian Women of Gaza and the West Bank ed. Suha Sabbagh
(Indiana University Press: 1998) 66.

8. the Higher Women’s Council with the goal of unifying the women’s movement
around the themes of the Palestinian national struggle and women’s social
struggle.19 Despite the unification, women’s committees continued to act separately
and failed to gain a prominent position in the overall political leadership of the First
Intifada.20
Slow Decline 1988-Oslo Accords
Unfortunately, the momentum of women’s committees in the first months of
the Intifada came to a halt in 1988 due to a number of factors, primarily within
Palestinian society. The first factor, the ban of civil societies by Israel in 1988,21
certainly played a role in the beginning of the decline of women’s committees by
marginalizing them through the manipulation of licenses and permits, intimidation,
travel restrictions, detention, and raids.22 The second factor was the rise of Islamist
movements within the Palestinian Territories. The explosion of support for Islamist
movements, particularly Hamas and Islamic Jihad, during the First Intifada and the
subsequent “veil movement” put a damper on women’s committees’ activities and
the women’s movement in general. The hijab campaign began in 1989, and “began
to equate the wearing of a veil with patriotism and true Palestinianism.”23
The final nail in the coffin was the lack of support by the Palestinian
leadership. The Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) was a coalition
of the four major Palestinian political parties during the First Intifada, Fatah, DFLP,
19 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 198-199.
20 Ibid.
21 James, 19.
22 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 139-140.
23 Amal Amireh, “Activists, Lobbyists, and Suicide Bombers,” Comparative Studies of
South Asia, Africa and the Middle East Vol. 32 No. 2 (2012) 439.

9. PFLP, and the Palestinians’ People Party (PPP),24 issued communiqués and acted as
the political leadership. The UNLU did not exclude women’s committees from
participation in the Intifada; on the contrary, the organization pushed for women to
“shoulder a special responsibility in organizing sit-ins and other appropriate
activities.”25 However, the coalition never recognized their efforts in organizing
boycotts or providing literacy courses through the implementation of legislation nor
did the coalition recognize their importance within the national movement.26 The
language of the UNLU pamphlets was also inherently male; literature referenced
“brother workers and brother doctors” or “sons of our people”.27 The UNLU called
for women’s committees to be active participants in the Intifada but failed to include
women in their discourse or political leadership. The failure of the UNLU to include
women in the political aspects of the First Intifada coupled with the 1988 Israeli ban
on civil societies and the rise of Islamist movements led to the decline of women’s
committees following the first year of the Intifada.
Impacts
Scholars remain divided over the success of women’s committees, and the
women’s movement as a whole, during the First Intifada. Some state that the
increased participation of women outside the domestic sphere, primarily through
the work of women’s committees, opened the door for future advances in the
women’s liberation movement. Others maintain that while women did participate
24 ARIJ, “Status of Palestinian Territories and Palestinian Society under Israeli
Occupation,” 40 Years of Israeli Occupation, Online, Internet, July 18, 2015 Available:
http://www.arij.org/atlas40/chapter2.5.html.
25 Hiltermann, “The Women’s Movement During the Uprising” 5.
26 Amireh, 442.
27 Strum, 71.

10. more in the First Intifada there have been no concrete gains in terms of the status of
women following the Oslo Accords. Rather than categorize the work of the women’s
committees as a blanket success or failure, it is important to acknowledge that there
were wins and losses for the women’s movement from the mid-1990s to the
present.
Unfortunately, the “achievements” column is does not include any concrete,
long lasting gains for Palestinian women. It is clear that the First Intifada opened
doors for women particularly through work with women’s committees. Women
began to enter the work force and participate in activities outside the home. Even
though the women’s committee movement did not continue after the Oslo Accords,
many of the members went on to be key players in NGOs and women’s studies
centers.28 The new women’s movement began to address issues including the
change of the personal status law, combating violence against women, and lobbying
for greater political participation.29 Essentially, even though the women’s
committees did not last, their impact regarding women’s desire to be educated,
pursue a career, and obtain gender equality was enduring.30
Opponents of the “success” narrative acknowledge the importance of these
strides but claim the effects were short-lived and failed to produce concrete benefits
for Palestinian women. The “failures” of the women’s committee movement can be
attributed to a number of things: lack of political support within the Palestinian
leadership, rise of fundamentalism, the fact that the nature of the Intifada was male
28 Amireh, 441 and James, 21.
29 Amireh, 441.
30 Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada 149.

11. from the beginning, and the failure of the peace process to name a few.31 Early
marriage rates and the lack of men in the domestic sphere are two problems that
persist after the Intifada.32 The issues finally put on the table by the women’s
movement (personal status law, domestic violence, and political participation) were
not immediately fixed; steps are still being made to improve these areas of women’s
lives over two decades later.
Conclusion
The women’s committees in the First Intifada were not able to make
immediate changes in the status of women, but they did allow women to begin their
involvement in societal spheres not open to them before. Scholars attribute the lack
of monumental change to a number of factors, but the lack of concrete gains does
not constitute failure. The outbreak of the First Intifada allowed women’s
committees to become an active force in Palestinian society, and these committees
opened the door for women’s participation in other aspects. Women’s committees
acted as a stepping-stone between the inception of the women’s movement in the
Palestinian Territories and the achievement of full equality, a goal that has not yet
been reached.
31 Strum, “West Bank Women and the Intifada” 73.
32 Carol Fawzi Khawly, Women’s Activism in Resistance Movements: A Comparative
Analysis of Algeria and the Occupied Territories, (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI 2001)
121.

12. Bibliography
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Amireh, Amal. “Activists, Lobbyists, and Suicide Bombers.” Comparative Studies of
South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Vol. 32 No. 2 (2012) 437-446.
ARIJ, “Status of Palestinian Territories and Palestinian Society under Israeli
Occupation,” 40 Years of Israeli Occupation, Online, Internet, July 18, 2015
Available: http://www.arij.org/atlas40/chapter2.5.html.
Dajani, Souad. “Between National and Social Liberation.” Women and the Israeli
Occupation. ed. Tamar Meyer (New York: Routledge 1994) 43-44.
Giacaman, Rita “Palestinian Women in the Uprising: From Followers to Leaders.”
Journal of Refugee Studies Vol. 2 No. 1 (1989): 143.
Hiltermann, Joost. Behind the Intifada: Labor and Women’s Movements in the
Occupied Territories. (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991) 136.
Hiltermann, Joost. “Trade Unions and Women’s Committees: Sustaining the
Movement, Creating Space.” Middle East Report (1990): 34.
Hiltermann, Joost. “The Women’s Movement During the Uprising.” Institute for
Palestinian Studies Vol. 20-3 1990-1991. Online. Internet. July 9, 2015.
Available: http://palestine-studies.org/jps/fulltext/39556.
James, Maura K. “Women and the Intifadas: The Evolution of Palestinian Women’s
Organizations.” Strife Journal Issue 1 (March 2013): 18.
Khawly, Carol Fawzi. Women’s Activism in Resistance Movements: A Comparative
Analysis of Algeria and the Occupied Territories. (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI
2001).
Kuttab, Eileen. “Palestinian Women in the Intifada: Fighting on Two Fronts.” Arab
Studies Quarterly Vol. 15. No. 2 (1993): 79-80.
Strum, Philippa. “West Bank Women and the Intifada: Revolution within the
Revolution.” Palestinian Women of Gaza and the West Bank. ed. Suha Sabbagh
(Indiana University Press: 1998) 66.