Palestinian Activism in Israel: Intergenerational Bedouin Women’s Leadership in a Changing Naqab (1919-2023)

This second edition of Palestinian Activism in Israel deepens the exploration of Bedouin women’s leadership in the Naqab through the intergenerational activist biographies of three women from the Al-Sana lineage. Building on the first edition’s focus on Amal Al-Sana Alh’jooj, a pioneering Palestinian Bedouin activist, this volume weaves together the narratives of her mother, Hajar Al-Sana, and grandmother, Rukiya Al-Sana, to examine the everyday practices of female political agency in this Bedouin society. It traces how three generations of women navigated patriarchy and colonialism during the Nakba and the Siyag Reservation to the Intifadas and the aftermath of the Prawer Plan. Situated amid gender, identity, community, and tribal belonging, the book describes the lived experiences of Naqab Bedouin women’s steadfastness (sumud) and survival. Through empirical research and anthropological description, it highlights the intersectionalities and complexity of their activism(s) and calls for rethinking the multigenerational experiences of Palestinian women in the Middle East through the perspectives of the activists themselves.

Amal Elsana-Alh’jooj is an Associate Professor at McGill University’s School of Social Work, the Director of Global Social Justice and Peace at McGill University, and the Founder and Executive Director of PLEDJ. She has a PhD in Social Work from McGill University.

Emilie Le Febvre is a Research Associate at McGill University, Head of Research at PLEDJ, and the co-founder of the Interactive Ethnography and Arts Initiative. She holds a DPhil in Anthropology from the University of Oxford.

Henriette Dahan-Kalev-Dahan is a Professor Emerita from Ben Gurion University, a Truman Institute for Peace Research Fellow at the Hebrew University, and founder of the Gender Studies Program at Ben Gurion University