In 1972-73 the author carried out research at the Neve Tirza women's prison in Israel under the supervision of Prof. Emanuel Marx, as part of his studies towards a Ph. D. degree in social anthropology. She explains the Fatma was born in East Jerusalem into a family of African origin. Fatma's younger sister, a member of the Fatah movement, mobilized her to plant a bomb in the Zion cinema in central Jerusalem in August 1967. The author explains about Nadia was born in Morocco into a wealthy and well-established family. Her father died when she was 19, throwing the family into financial turmoil. Nadia was now by no means a regular prisoner. She wore her own clothes and her room was filled with her private possessions: books, cosmetics, French fashion journals which she passed on to interested warders. It transpires that for both Nadia and Fatma the Lebanese war constituted a formative experience.