ABSTRACT
A popular nonviolent movement must achieve widespread legitimacy among the population it wishes to mobilise if it is to be successful. A key theme that emerged in interviews with women for this study was that the most visible and regular representations of collective popular resistance, namely regular village demonstrations, were seen as lacking in real ‘meaning’ and legitimacy. This chapter identifies precisely what ‘meaningful’ or ‘legitimate’ resistance means in the eyes of interviewees, showing how they relate to the perceived behaviour, tactics, and motives of activists. It then discusses how such assessments impact upon women’s willingness to participate in resistance actions in the West Bank. This chapter posits that the legitimacy of a resistance action in Palestine is evaluated primarily on the basis of how ‘pure’ the motives of activists are perceived to be, and how autonomous (i.e. free of outside interference) the action is. The reliance upon such measures is particularly necessary for women, who view themselves as having more to risk by being involved in illegitimate resistance activities than men.
