The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

sein invaded Kuwait, which made it even more difficult to get a visa for
Jordan, but I got it eventually and started to look for a job for the first
time in my life. At the end of August in 1990, I started working in the
economics department of the PLO in Amman, when all the Palestinians
from Iraq and Kuwait showed up at the same time. It was then that I
realized for the first time in my life that I am a woman with no autonom -
ous rights, living in a conservative traditional society that doesn’t recognize
women’s rights, and my husband not being there made it
worse. I had to fight the struggles on my own without any support –
such little daily fights as smoking in public, or looking for a job. All the
people I knew from Jordan who had studied with me in Prague were
men. I insisted on keeping my habits and my personality, to prepare
the ground for our future relations. I found a job, but the next challenge
was to find a flat and to live alone, without a husband or family members.
My husband realized that this was a big battle for me, and he
came during the Christmas holidays. He convinced his parents that it
was also his decision that I would live alone and asked them to support
me. Finally I found a flat and lived there alone. Another challenge for
the family was that I’m a good dapke-dancer, the folklore dance. I got
involved with a group, went to practice until midnight, and participated
in shows. That also turned out to be difficult for the family, but here
too, I set the rules for their relationship with me. It was a challenge to
keep my identity.
In summer 1991, my husband came in. Our relationship had changed,
as we were no longer boyfriend-girlfriend as in Prague, but as he was
also a communist and progressive, so we continued living in Jordan. I
changed my workplace and worked for the Quakers for a while, and then
for a private company.
We submitted a family reunification application to the Israeli occupation
authorities for approval to go to Nablus ,and had to wait for it. I had prob -
lems with my identity card in Jordan all the time. In 1994, I got approval
from the Israeli occupation authorities to go to Palestine for the first
time. I was really excited; I called every person I knew: I got a permit!
Everybody told me what to do: go to your mother’s house, go to your
grandmother’s house ... I packed my bag and one of the first things I
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