Al-Zahraa – An Israeli Arab Women's Organization: Successful Women's Empowerment One Woman at a Time

Wafa Shaheen Itrad walked out of a Israeli Women's Conference in 1997, angry that despite two days of women's issues, only two hours were allocated to Israeli Arab women, despite the fact that there are 550,000 Arab women in a population of 6.5 million. So she decided to set up her own organization. She went to the mayor of Sakhnin and discovered that there was a women's group but it was run by the mayor's wife and they only shared recipes and sewing ideas. She created Al-Zahraa with friends from the Arab Democratic Party. Today it is making a great difference in Arab women's lives in the western Galilee.

Al Zahraa conducts women's empowerment and leadership courses in Sakhnin and throughout the towns and villages west of the Galilee. Trees Zbidat-Kosterman, the development officer, is a social worker from the Netherlands, and lives with her Arab husband and children in Sakhnin. She explained what happens at the beginning of each empowerment course. “At first the women begin to weep and then everyone weeps. Then they begin to share experiences and to advise one another. These women stay in their homes so they don't have the chance to talk together. Sometimes it is that their husbands will not listen or it is also because they are concerned what the neighbors will think. Sometimes they don't know that other women share the same kinds of problems.”

These days there are two additional problems. The men tend to take out the misery of the current conflict between Israelis and Arabs out on their wives, out of frustration. And, the younger generation, better educated and more knowledgeable about possibilities, are fighting with their more conservative parents.

The courses given by Al Zahraa try to bridge the gap and enable women to become more responsible and participate in the community. The individual success stories include a widow who created a catering service, another woman who is now a successful hairdresser, another who faced her husband who no longer strikes her. Women leaders from villages now come seeking advice, get trained by Al Zahraa and then conduct courses in their villages. Unfortunately it is difficult to do more because of lack of funds. Since Israel is technically a “developed” nation, many international aid agencies can't support Arab women living in Israel.

One trainer, Najah, a gentle, religious yet ardent activist, has an outing once a month for the women. They rent a bus and see an Arab site or go walking in the nature reserves. “These women,” she said, “just stay at home and get fat. I want to educate them, to give them time for themselves and to be together with other women. The trips are so prized that the 52 seat bus always has a long waiting list.

Al-Zahraa is a leader in women's advocacy as well. They helped to create the Arab Women's Network. In July they had an important meeting to develop women advisers for the local councils. These councils are required by law to have women advisors but they (both the Israeli government and the Arab councilmen) don't take this seriously and do not budget for it. “Usually the men get the secretary to take notes and then call her the”women's adviser.” Trees said. This conference, attended by Knesset members and the Ministry of the Interior, addressed this issue and created an opportunity for women to right this wrong.

Although the Arab women of Israel have their own unique problems, most of the problems they face are faced by sisters in every nation in the world. I felt tremendously encouraged knowing Al Zahraa exists, feel privileged to meet such wonderful women creating change. Indeed, with Al Zahraa, Sahknin, a winning soccer team and new stadium, an environmental education center and water treatment center that is state of the art, you can feel that something is happening here. For further information, please contact Trees Kosterman at Treeskosterman@yahoo.com.

Dialogue Skills:

I asked Najah what she would like to tell westerners about how to communicate with Arabs. She said not to blame something one person does on the religion he practices. The suicide attacks and bombings in London or here in Tel Aviv are done under the influence of bad people she said. These bad people are able to have such influence because there is so much despair. This is not an excuse, of course, but remains a compelling reason. In Islam it is forbidden to kill innocent people. That just like in Christianity, turning the other cheek is a part of her religion.

I realized that she was right. We westerners do not talk about Hitler's religion, or Jack the Ripper's, or Timothy McVeigh's when we talk about why they did such terrible things. We talk about their mothers, or fathers, or bad experiences in life. We should pay more attention to how we discriminate between cultures. What a great lesson from her!

Etiquette:

Trees said that Arabs are usually very accommodating to westerners and forgive a lot. However she gets really disturbed when foreigners do not pay proper respect and wear miniskirts and such on the streets of Arab towns. She thinks it says that we westerners can't be bothered to be polite. So heads up!



Good Idea:

Many of us may be uncomfortable and unsure about how to “act” with Arabs. Najah said that they really are open people and want you to be yourself. And remember that just as there are all kinds of American women there are all kinds Arab women. They also have the same spectrum of religious and cultural diversity. Some are Christian, others Muslim, some Arab, others Druze, still others Jews. You may not have many opportunities to meet Arab women but if you do, you already have what it takes. Americans know how to just be yourself.