Fatima Bernawi

Fatima Mohammed Bernawi (also transliterated Barnawi; Arabic: فاطمة برناوي) is an Afro-Palestinian militant who was involved in the Palestinian political violence of the mid-1960s, a significant period of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She is known as the first Palestinian woman to have organized a paramilitary operation in Israel — the attempted bombing of a cinema in October, 1967.[1][2][3]

Background and early life

Bernawi was born in Jerusalem in 1939.[4] Her experience with the Israeli occupation began when she was nine and her mother moved their family from Jerusalem to a refugee camp near Amman. Her father, who had fought in the 1936 Palestinian Rebellion, remained behind.[5]

Bernawi worked as a practical nurse for the Arab-American Oil Company in Saudi Arabia (ARAMCO) but was not allowed to give shots to patients because of the color of her skin, despite her Palestinian nationality.[6]

Political life

Of thirty-four Palestinian women whom Amal Kawar interviewed for her study Daughters of Palestine, Bernawi was one of only four who joined the resistance movement initially as a guerrilla fighter before becoming a political resistor. The others were Laila Khaled, Eisheh Odeh, and Rasmiyeh Odeh.[7]

Attempted bombing and arrest

The attempted bombing incident occurred in October 1967 at the Zion Cinema in Jewish West Jerusalem. Bernawi describes the placing of the bomb as a protest of a film that celebrated the 1967 War between Israel and Palestine, though the bomb did not explode. She was arrested by Israeli soldiers for the attempt. Bernawi cites her skin color as a factor in her arrest, saying, "Of course, they arrested all the young women from African origin."[8]

Though sentenced to life in prison, Bernawi was released after 10 years and returned to the political party Fatah, later serving as police chief in Gaza.[9] By 1996, she was "the highest ranking female in Fateh militia and... head of the women's section of the police in the Palestinian self-rule government in the Gaza Strip and Jericho".[10] Yasser Arafat, noted leader of Fateh and Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), held her in high regard, once saying that "if he would marry anyone it would be [Fatima] Bernawi".[11]

On 28 May 2015, Bernawi was honored by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with the Military Star of Honor "out of appreciation for her pioneering role in the struggle" and "for the public good." Though the bombing she was honored for was a failure, Bernawi insisted it was successful, saying, "This is not a failure, because it generated fear throughout the world. Every woman who carries a bag needs to be checked before she enters the supermarket, any place, cinemas and pharmacies."[12] Bernawi was also honored alongside Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi and Ahmad Moussa Salama on in honor of Palestinian Prisoner's Day, 17 April 2015. She was described as "one of the first Palestinian women to adopt [the means of] armed self-sacrifice operations after the start of the modern Palestinian revolution, which was launched by Fatah on January 1, 1965. She was the first young Palestinian woman to be arrested by the Israeli occupation forces, and is the first woman prisoner listed in the records of the [Palestinian] women prisoners' movement..."[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Women's Struggle in Occupied Palestine". New Jersey Solidarity: Activists for the Liberation of Palestine. Democratic Palestine, May 1984. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Abdulhadi, Rabab Ibrahim (July 2012). "Living Under Occupation" (PDF). Against the Current (159): 17.
  3. ↑ Salhani, Claude (31 December 1977). "13th Anniversary of the Palestinian Revolution". Corbis Images.
  4. ↑ Ferwana, Abdel Nasser (9 March 2012). "" فاطمة برناوي " أول أسيرة وبداية الحكاية ("Fatima Barnawi" and the beginning of the first captive tale)". Palestine Behind Bars.
  5. ↑ Kawar, Amal (1996). Daughters of Palestine: leading women of the Palestinian national movement (PDF). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 10. ISBN 0-7914-2845-1. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Kawar, Amal. Daughters of Palestine (PDF). p. 11.
  7. ↑ Amireh, Amal (Fall 2003). "Between Complicity and Subversion: Body Politics in Palestinian National Narrative" (PDF). The South Atlantic Quarterly (102:4): 769. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Fatima Bernawi, as quoted in Kawar, Amal. Daughters of Palestine (PDF). p. 11.
  9. ↑ Courtney, Andrew. "Guardians of the Mosque: African Palestinians of Jerusalem" (PDF). p. 18. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Kawar, Amal. Daughters of Palestine (PDF). p. 10.
  11. ↑ "Yasser Arafat: A living legend yet" (717). Al-Ahram Weekly Online. 24 November 2004.
  12. ↑ "Abbas awards terrorist with "Star of Honor"". Palestinian Media Watch. 4 June 2015.
  13. ↑ "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas Awards Medals Of Honor To Fatah Terrorists". The Middle East Media Research Institute. 17 April 2015.
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