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Shadia Abu Ghazaleh

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Palestinian political activist (1949–1968)

Shadia Abu Ghazaleh
شادية أبو غزالة
Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, kneeling down and holding a rifleAbu Ghazaleh, pictured c. 1968
Born(1949-01-08)8 January 1949
Nablus, Jordanian-occupied West Bank
Died28 November 1968(1968-11-28) (aged 19)
Nablus, Israeli-occupied West Bank
Cause of deathAccidental detonation of an improvised explosive device
NationalityPalestinian
Alma materAn-Najah National University
Other political
affiliations		Arab Nationalist Movement
MovementPopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
OpponentIsraeli Defense Forces

Shadia Abu Ghazaleh (Arabic: شادية أبو غزالة; 8 January 1949 – 28 November 1968) was a Palestinian militant. After completing her studies, she joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and was one of the first women to participate in the Palestinian fedayeen opposing the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. She was killed in an accident while preparing a bomb in her home in Nablus. She has been regarded as a martyr in Palestine and a terrorist in Israel.

Biography

Shadia Abu Ghazaleh was born on 8 January 1949, in the Palestinian city of Nablus, in the Jordanian-occupied West Bank. She was educated at the Fatimid School for Girls in Nablus, and later at the Al-Aishiyah School. While she was still in school, in the early 1960s, she joined the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM).

Upon graduating from school, in 1966, she moved to Cairo in the United Arab Republic (modern-day Egypt) where she studied sociology and psychology at Ain Shams University for a year. Following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, she returned to Palestine, despite her family's attempts to dissuade her. She moved back to Nablus where she completed her education at An-Najah National University.

She joined the nascent Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which had been founded in 1967 by former members of the ANM. She quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the leading figures in the organisation. She was one of the first women to participate in the Palestinian fedayeen in the occupied West Bank. She organised and led women's units, and took part in a number of military operations against the occupation. By participating directly in armed action, she broke from traditional Palestinian gender roles which restricted women to the role of caregiver.

Abu Ghazaleh was killed on 28 November 1968 while preparing a bomb in her home. She planned to use the bomb to blow up a building in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. She died when the bomb detonated accidentally.

Legacy

As the first Palestinian woman to be killed while resisting the Israeli occupation, Abu Ghazaleh is widely considered a martyr by the Palestinian nationalist movement. She has also been described as a terrorist in Israeli sources.

Abu Ghazaleh has frequently been cited as an example of women's participation in armed struggle against Israel; she has been listed alongside other Palestinian militant women, including Dalal Mughrabi and Leila Khaled. Khaled herself even adopted Abu Ghazaleh's name as her nom de guerre. A portrait of Abu Ghazaleh is kept in the offices of the South African socialist organisation Abahlali baseMjondolo, alongside the portraits of several other revolutionary figures.

In early 2014, a new secondary school for Palestinian girls was named after Abu Ghazaleh; the Israeli organisations Arutz Sheva and Palestinian Media Watch claimed it to be a promotion of terrorism by the Palestinian authorities. One Palestinian student at the school held Abu Ghazaleh to be a "model of the wonderful Palestinian fighter" and said that they "follow her path in this school". In December 2023, the school was the site of a massacre reportedly carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

References

  1. Passia 2018.
  2. Alsaafin 2014; Omar 2022, p. 21; Pappe & Mansour 2022, p. 31; Passia 2018; Toubi 2019.
  3. ^ Omar 2022, p. 21; Pappe & Mansour 2022, p. 31; Passia 2018; Toubi 2019.
  4. ^ Pappe & Mansour 2022, p. 31; Passia 2018.
  5. Omar 2022, pp. 21–22; Passia 2018.
  6. Omar 2022, p. 21; Pappe & Mansour 2022, p. 31; Toubi 2019.
  7. Alsaafin 2014; Omar 2022, p. 22; Pappe & Mansour 2022, p. 31; Toubi 2019.
  8. Omar 2022, pp. 21–22; Toubi 2019.
  9. ^ Alsaafin 2014; Hawari 2019; Omar 2022, p. 22; Pappe & Mansour 2022, p. 31; Passia 2018; Toubi 2019.
  10. ^ Omar 2022, p. 22; Toubi 2019.
  11. Hawari 2019; Pappe & Mansour 2022, p. 31; Passia 2018.
  12. Hawari 2019.
  13. Toubi 2019.
  14. Omar 2022, p. 22.
  15. ^ Williamson 2024.
  16. Abusalama 2016, p. 208; Aghabekian 2019, p. 20n3; Alsaafin 2014; Hawari 2019; Omar 2022, p. 22; Toubi 2019.
  17. Abusalama 2016, p. 208; Aghabekian 2019, p. 20n3; Hawari 2019; Toubi 2019.
  18. Aghabekian 2019, p. 20n3; Hawari 2019.
  19. Khalili 2007, p. 123.
  20. Aadnesgaard 2023.
  21. Zaanin 2023.

Bibliography

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