Palestinian women at the intersection of colonial and patriarchal violence: cultural renegotiations of religion and tradition in Gaza

This project examines the challenges of intervening in Violence Against Women (VAW) in Palestine, a patriarchal society, which is also under military-colonial occupation. With a focus on the Gaza Strip, the study examines Palestinian women’s perceptions and experiences of VAW as well as their attitudes toward the interventions on VAW implemented in their communities. It critically examines international secular models of interventions on VAW while, at the same time, exploring the possibility of combatting VAW by reappropriating certain religious and traditional norms, on which Palestinian social cohesion and survival rest in the context of settler-colonial occupation. By doing so, it produces new knowledge on VAW at the intersection of military-colonial violence and patriarchy in Islamic societies. This is an applied research project, which is influenced by participatory action research. It uses qualitative methods to address how Gaza Palestinian women respond to VAW and how they experience the mostly secular models of interventions implemented in Gaza. The project will also involve key professional figures in the field of VAW (NGOs, police, psychologists) and community and religious leaders while foregrounding the voices, concerns of Palestinian women. This is a collaborative project with two Gaza-based Palestinian organisations—The Gaza Mental Health Programme and the Save Youth Future Society—with which the researcher has established working relationships. The researcher has extensive experience in the field of women’s rights, and she is planning to use the findings of the research for implementing new community-based pilot projects on VAW after the completion of the PhD.