Muslim women and (in)security: a Palestinian paradox

The particular question explored in this chapter relates to protection and empowerment. In the absence of global solidarity, it asks how Palestinian women can be enabled to overcome, or at least endure, violence and persistent insecurity in order to play a full part in processes of survival. While it seems obvious that violence has a generally negative impact on women, I also make an argument that their coping abilities have been strengthened by the very absence of international concern; they have had little choice but to rely on their own resilience and ingenuity within an environment of communal solidarity, first, by a recourse to Islamic activism; second, by their willingness to engage in acts of resistance against what they consider to be oppressive systems or regimes; and, third, by their refusal to internalize an identity solely defined by victimization. In other words, they address insecurity by locating the secure sites of faith and community.