The Women's Union in Jerusalem

Women's Activity in the Arab World

There is no doubt that the Arab countries know little about the women's renaissance in Palestine, for the political events through which that country has passed have stood in the way.

In Palestine there is a blessed women's renaissance that rivals the women's renaissances of the Arab world, and the Palestinian Women's Union is nothing less than the nucleus of this renaissance.

Ladies and young women who grasped their situation and whose awareness came to fullness rose to join together under a single banner, their sole aim to bring forth a renaissance in this country that would contribute to everything the country's conditions demand, in social, economic, cultural, and athletic fields.

In the year 1938 the Palestinian woman rose up against her condition — the division of opinions, the fanaticism of factions — and cried out in the face of the women of her country: unite the ranks and speak with one word, for the homeland is in danger! And no homeland will prosper in which no voice of women is heard. And so it was.

In 1938, while the revolt was still raging, while the homeless sons of the homeland were tasting the bitterness of dispersion and the misery of bare existence, and families were left without a provider — in that year some of the women of Palestine met and founded the nucleus of the women's renaissance. They were, with all due titles: Zulaykha Shihabi, currently president of the Women's Union in Jerusalem; Milia Sakakini; Khadija al-Husseini; Fatima al-Husseini; the wife of Dr. Hussein al-Khalidi; the wife of the lawyer Awni Bey Abdul Hadi; the wife of the lawyer Hasan al-Budayri; the wife of Mr. Thabit al-Khalidi; Najla Abboud; Fatima Darwish; and Nabiha al-Husseini.

When the Women's Union appeared, its idea won encouragement, and its call met with backing and support. Within a few years it had founded several branches, in Nablus, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Ramallah, and Tulkarm.

The representative of "The Woman's Voice" had the honor of visiting the president of the Women's Union in Jerusalem, Miss Zulaykha Shihabi, who acquainted him with the activity of the Women's Union in Jerusalem and with the extent of its effective contribution to the spheres of social life.

The Women's Union in Jerusalem has several committees, among them:

The First Aid Committee: This committee is made up of the finest women of the Union, all of whom work out of zeal, tenderness, and mercy toward those on whom fate has borne hard. They work for love of the work, for love of doing their duty, to prove the justification of their existence on this earth, and to prove that they have a mission — the mission of good works and of help to the poor and the destitute. In the first picture the reader sees the members of the First Aid Committee, dressed in their special uniform. They are among the noble ladies and young women upon whose shoulders rests the responsibility of the social renaissance in this

beloved Arab country.

It is worth mentioning that the members of this committee perform nursing and first aid work without payment. The Women's Union opened a dispensary of its own in 1945 for this noble purpose.

The Economic Committee: This committee was founded recently, and it opened a workshop for artificial flowers. This project greatly encouraged many of the people, especially as the committee brought in a teacher to teach the craft of making these flowers, paying her a high salary, in order to compete with the manufacture of artificial flowers among the Jews. It is well known that Arab women consume large quantities of them.

The Athletic Committee: The Women's Union also has an athletic team, and as was said of old, "a sound mind in a sound body." In the second picture the reader sees some of the young women practicing the game of volleyball.

Nor should it be forgotten that the Women's Union educates at its own expense several students whom circumstances did not allow to complete their schooling. There are some girl students who study at the Islamic Orphanage at the Union's expense, and among them are some who completed their secondary studies at the Union's expense as well.

As for the extent of their contribution on the national side, there is no doubt that the Union has contributed much in this field. Its members have often demanded the release of prisoners, and have often visited them in the prisons. The Union organized a peaceful demonstration in protest against the decision of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, so unjust to the rights of the Arabs of Palestine.

This is a brief glimpse of the work of the Women's Union in Jerusalem — work for which the Union deserves thanks. And the right of the Arabs of Palestine will never be lost so long as such a renaissance is ours.