However, to understand the history of this movement, we must take into account the cultural and social context of Palestine and the region. The struggle of Palestinian women within their society has always been closely linked to the national liberation struggle. They are not a separate entity, extracted from their society, as it is sometimes portrayed in certain Western perspectives.
In the 1970s, the first female prisoners were sent to the Ramleh prison. They then joined the calls for strikes made by their male comrades held in other prisons, while also carrying out their own struggles. This period is marked by the personality of Aisha Odeh, a militant and fighter in the ranks of the Palestinian left-wing resistance. Sentenced in 1969 to two life sentences, she spent ten years in Zionist prisons before being released in 1979 as part of a prisoner exchange.
In the early 1980s, the movement restructured around a new generation, including Rawda Basir, who succeeded Aisha Odeh as the representative of the female prisoners. In 1985, the cells were emptied once again: 1,150 Palestinians were released, a majority of whom were women.
However, during the First Intifada a few years later, about 3,000
Palestinians were incarcerated.
In 1995, during the negotiation of the Oslo II Accords, the director of Hasharon prison announced the release of all female prisoners–then around thirty- except of five of them. In solidarity, all the female prisoners locked themselves in two cells and refused to leave. After sixteen months of struggle, they won the liberation of every Palestinian women prisoners.
During the Second Intifada, arrests increased, raising the number of female prisoners to 115 by 2004-2005. The prison administration took advantage of this to distribute the prisoners between Hasharon and Damon prisons based on their political affiliations, aiming to break up inter-party solidarity. Nevertheless, certain figures continued to unite the movement, such as the charismatic Etaf Alayan, released in 2008. Subsequently, the female prisoners were gradually gathered in Damon prison.
Khalida Jarrar, a feminist activist and a prominent figure in Palestinian leftist movements, has been a key actor in this process. With a master’s degree in democracy and human rights from Bir Zeit University, she led the Addameer Association, which supports Palestinian prisoners, from 1994 to 2006. She herself has been incarcerated several times since 1989. Since 2015, Khalida Jarrar has worked to rebuild the educational system within Hasharon prison, alongside Lina Jarbouni, a figure of the resistance, from the 48 territories.
Thanks to the efforts of all these generations of prisoners, education is no longer just a mean of acquiring knowledge and skills, but has become a critical weapon. Their solidarity has broken the isolation imposed by imprisonment. The prison has become a space of encounter between activists from different political parties, between women from refugee camps, cities, and villages, and between Palestinian women from Gaza, the West Bank, and the 48 territories. The movement of Palestinian female prisoners is undoubtedly an extension of their revolutionary struggle.