kay goodridge photographic artist

More than 1000 Palestinian women came to hear Yasser Arafat speak at his compound in Ramallah on 27th January 2002
An address specifically for these women stressed the importance of the women’s role in the Intifada. Women were not only welcome but expected to participate in armed resistance against Israeli occupation. “Women and men are equal. You are my army of roses that will crush Israeli tanks”.
What made this speech different was a phrase he used, words to become his mantra in the weeks and months ahead - “SHAHIDA all the way to Jerusalem” coining on the spot the feminised version of the Arab word for martyr SHAHIDE which previously existed only in its masculine form.
Wafa Idris, one of the women present, blew herself up that day.

“In the end, the burden of immorality lies with those cynical leaders who first marginalised their women, setting impossible conditions for them to lead happy lives and then send them off to die by promising them equality and a better life in Paradise. And, while training young men as suicide bombers is equally immoral, they, more than women, have the benefit of more attractive options during life, and therefore make that choice more freely.”