ABSTRACT
Palestinian women's movements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories face two major tasks while pressing for women's rights: continuing the national struggle and participating in state building. The chapter argues that the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has had a demobilizing effect on all social movements, including the women's movement, and that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has further demobilized Palestinian civil society in a crucial phase of national struggle. The PA lacks a coherent set of policies to enforce the rule of law as an important guarantor of citizens' rights. The chapter shows how the weakening of the secular Palestinian national movement under Israeli Occupation, due in part to donor-funded attempts at promoting civil society, has provoked a progressive depoliticization of the women's movement. The emergence of the Palestine Liberation Organization—a national secular leadership, especially after the Arab defeat of 1967—played an important role in consolidating Palestinian national identity based on core elements of struggle, return, and sacrifice.
