ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the media’s preoccupation with active women within the larger scheme of the Arab Uprisings, the Palestinian Authority reintroduction of the “non-violent Palestinian,” and the NGO-ization of the Palestinian national agenda. The women spoke largely about the media’s obsession with their activism since the start of the Arab Uprisings and the distorted image surrounding their political participation. Palestinian women’s political participation and organization are strongly connected to the history of Palestine and the Palestinian national struggle. The Palestinian women’s movement articulated in the 1920s under the British Mandate was strongly intertwined with the national movement and its goals. Once the Arab Uprisings commenced, news agencies and social media activists portrayed the image of Arab women participating and leading protests in their respective revolutions with rejuvenated hope. In the Arab world, only one-third of social media users are women, Amira, a social media activist, argues that, when women have access to social media, they suddenly stand on “equal” ground with men.
