The Nation and its "New" Women: The Palestinian Women's Movement 1920-1948

Ellen Fleischmann's book, based on her dissertation, is an excellent and timely addition to the growing field of Palestinian social history. Fleischmann's study of the women's movement in Palestine aims to fill a gap in the existing literature on the mandate period in Palestine, from which women are almost completely absent. The surprised response wherever Fleischmann presented her work—that there was a Palestinian women's movement and that women were active in the national struggle—indicates just how necessary and relevant this book is (220, note 3).

Focusing on 1920-1948, Fleischmann aims to "bring the women back in," while analyzing their role in the social, economic, national, and cultural transformation that Palestinian society as a whole underwent during this crucial period. She views gender as constituting an integral part of both nation-building and the anti-colonial struggle, and claims that women, by forming an independent and dynamic movement, engendered major transformations and debates, and contested issues such as the place of women, gender roles, and the "woman question" in Palestinian society (4).

The book is divided into two parts, and consists of seven chapters. The first part examines the background of the Palestinian women's movement, while analyzing the various social, economic, and cultural factors that influenced its formation, as well as the debate over gender and the "woman question" in the Palestinian Arab press. Most interestingly, in the second chapter Fleischmann analyzes the process of how, because of new education and employment opportunities, a small group of "new," "modern" women emerged, who would form the core of the women's movement. While touching upon attitudes towards women and gender in British policy and colonial tradition, she discusses the growing importance of education at this time, and deals with the question of what it means "to be an educated woman"(46). Here, Fleischmann enriches our knowledge not only of the situation of women, but also of education in Palestine, and specifically of women's education—topics that have also been largely neglected in the past, but that have been receiving growing scholarly attention lately.

The second part of the book analyzes the development of the Palestinian women's movement chronologically, starting from the first stages of its formation in charity organizations during the late Ottoman period (chapter four) and moving to the first women's congress in 1929, as well as to women's participation in the 1936-39 revolt (chapter five).

Chapter six provides the reader with a rich and illuminating discussion of the tensions between feminism and nationalism within the movement's agenda, and a discussion of what a "new," nationally defined Arab woman really is (140). Fleischmann analyzes the social profile of the movement, composed of a small minority of elite Palestinian women, and the way these women developed their own indigenous feminism. This feminism criticized both the internal patriarchal structures of Palestinian Arab society and external (British) patriarchal structures. While tracking the divisions that accrued within the movement towards the end of the revolt in 1939, and the split within the movement into two separate organizations (Arab Women's Association and Arab Women Union), Fleischmann examines the relations and the influences between the male-led Palestinian national movement and the women's movement. Another interesting aspect of this chapter is the analysis of the relations between the women's movement and the British colonial regime in Palestine. Here, Fleischmann is engaged in discourse analysis of the writings and publications of the movement, and demonstrates the tension between two opposed characteristics: deference and defiance. On the one hand, the women emphasized their role and responsibility as citizens engaged in state-building within the sphere of official politics, but, on the other hand, they used the language of protest and rebellion in their writings. This discussion illuminates the complex and tense relationship between the movement and the British administration in Palestine, and adds yet another dimension to our understanding of the colonizing-colonized relations in Palestine at this period. The last chapter of the book (chapter seven) locates the Palestinian women's movement within a broader context of the pan-Arab feminist movement of the 1940s, and traces the changes within the organizations and activities of the movement in the late 1930s and 1940s. From the early charity-style activity that formed its original basis, the movement shifted its focus to promote greater participation of Arab women in new spheres of social, political, cultural, and economic life.

There are several themes that run through the book. The first and main one has to do with the tensions among nationalism, colonialism, and feminism in the Palestinian case. Caught in the struggle against British colonialism, Zionism, and patriarchal, male-dominated Palestinian Arab society, the women's movement faced many challenges during its twenty years of existence. In order to analyze these tensions, Fleischmann locates the Palestinian women's movement within the framework of Third-World feminist movements. Palestinian women, she claims, created their own indigenous, nationalist feminism while under the influence of their class and nationalist affiliations and their perception of the articulation of power among themselves, Palestinian men, and British colonial authority (11). Only later in the introduction does Fleischmann discuss the difficulty of using the term "Third-World women." She recognizes the diversity and multiplicity of voices, identities, and historical experiences of "Third-World women," and hence uses the term very carefully. However, the question that arises is whether this is indeed a good tool for analyzing this specific case. Fleischmann admits (16) that she uses the term despite the fact that it does not reflect the consciousness of the women under study. Still, she decides on "imposing the category of analysis in order to help readers to see the universal aspects as well as the broader political context of the Palestinian women's movement" (16).

Fleischmann indeed draws links between the experience of Palestinian women and that of women in other colonial settings such as Indian women's struggle against British colonialism, though at times one feels she could draw the parallels even more strongly. Such is the case, for example, in her discussion on the relations between gender struggle and the struggle against the colonizer (chapter 6). While I very much appreciate her use of post-colonial literature, such as that of the Subaltern Studies school, and her incorporation of it into the (sometimes too narrow) field of Palestinian history, Fleischmann would have done better to provide more connections to women's movements and experiences in other Middle Eastern contexts. Still, the similarities drawn with other women's experiences add to the book's sophistication and rich analysis.

Another theme that runs through the book is that of the complexity of relations with both the male-led Palestinian Arab national movement and the British colonial administration. Fleischmann describes the audience of the women's movement as composed of three parts: Palestinian society, the male-led nationalist movement, and the British colonial administration. Women consciously played with and manipulated sexual, religious, and class prejudices for their own political purposes. Fleischmann briefly touches upon the close relationship between some elements of the Palestinian Arab population and the British administration in Palestine, a topic that should be further developed in the research (173).

One of the achievements that ought to be praised in this study is Fleischmann's use of oral sources. Fleischmann conducted approximately seventy interviews for this study in order to fill the silences in the written records. Her discussion on the limits, difficulties, and benefits of oral sources (18-21) will prove valuable to any historian who uses this method. She especially emphasizes the importance of hearing women's narratives in order to give them agency and to enrich political narratives with more personal, often silenced, ones. In addition to oral history, Fleischmann uses the Arabic press and British government documents, as well as autobiographies, memoirs, and publications of the women's movement itself. As she puts it, there are three distinct voices in this study: Palestinian women's memories, Palestinian men's perception as it appeared in the press (though, as demonstrated in chapter three, women are present in the press debate as well), and British (mostly male) colonial voices. What is missing from the discussion are the Jewish voices (Fleischmann does not know Hebrew, and uses Arabic, English, and European sources). It would have been interesting to include in this discussion the relations (if such relations existed) with the Jewish/Zionist women's movement, as well as to broaden the analysis of Palestinian women's perceptions of the Zionist movement.

In the last pages of the book, in an attempt to assess the women's movement, Fleischmann returns again to the question of indigenous feminism. She claims that the Palestinian women's movement challenged culture, tradition, and religion, while embracing the characteristics of the "new," modern woman, but without completely rejecting the "old" woman who represented the national culture. The women's movement's actions demonstrate its members' feminist awareness, and show how "gender and nation rub up against each other" (208). These women's most feminist act, according to Fleischmann, was their ability to develop and sustain their own independent movement, which provided the opportunity for women to enter public life, including feminist and nationalist politics.

Fleischmann's book complementsthe recent study of Elizabeth Thompson on Syria and Lebanon during the French mandate, Colonial Citizens: Republican Rights, Paternal Privilege and Gender in French Syria and Lebanon. Thompson, while focusing on the construction of colonial civic order in Syria and Lebanon, uses gender as a lens through which she views politics in the mandate period, and reveals how it served as a primary site of conflict and compromise between the French and the Syrian and Lebanese citizens. Although dealing with the British mandate and not the French one, Fleischmann, in her discussion about feminism and colonialism, touches upon many of the issues that Thompson engages. It is interesting to read these two studies together and think about the role gender plays in a broader Middle Eastern context.

This book is a very important contribution to Palestinian social history in general, to women's studies specifically, as well as to discussions about education in Palestine and the British colonial administration in the country. Its strength, in general, lies in the links it draws between the Palestinian case and other, mainly colonial, situations, as well as with other Middle Eastern countries. Another strength is Fleischmann's careful use of oral sources to fill gaps in the existing written sources. It will prove valuable for those who are interested in the mandate period and the history of women in Palestine, but is also an important book for those studying the relations between feminism, colonialism, and nationalism more generally.