Exclusion of Palestinian women from local decision-making processes is a trivial matter!

In its issue of April 2, As Safir daily shed light on the role of Palestinian women refugees who, despite their long history of struggle, are still marginalized on the level of decision making circles within their community, despite the sacrifices of notable women fighters, such as Khadija Shawahneh, Klezar Al Al-Owaywi, Ashraqat Katnani and Hanan al Haroub. Referring to the so-termed ‘crisis task group’ the newspaper noted that that the group which was recently formed to face the recent unfair management decisions of UNRWA, and which is considered centre to decision-making processes, is comprised of delegates from12 political groups, who are all men. In this respect, As Safir spoke to Samir Loubani, the representative of one of the political factions who considered that raising the issue of women participation in the task group “constitutes a distraction from this important battle”. Loubani, while stating that factions have not nominated any woman for the group membership, stressed the importance of focusing on “Palestinian suffering rather than on such trivial details!” (As Safir, April 2, 2016)