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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Interview Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A Palestinian woman in the Knesset
By Mohamed El-MasriHussnia Jabara is the first Palestinian woman ever to be elected to Israel's Knesset in its 51 year history. The election of this 41-year-old woman came as a surprise even to the candidate herself.
Jabara was running as a candidate of the left-wing Meretz Party which operated a quota system that favoured women candidates. Jabara was placed on the list of candidates in the run-up to the 17 May elections. Meretz won nine seats in the election which was not good news for Jabara who was 10th on the list of eligible candidates. However, just a few hours later a recount of the votes from Israeli prisoners and voters abroad, Meretz was told that it had won 10 seats. Thus Hussnia Jabara became the first Palestinian woman living in areas occupied by Israel in 1948 (so-called Arab Israelis) to be elected to the Knesset.
In her interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Jabara defended her decision to run as a Meretz candidate and not for one of several Arab parties active in Israel. To most of the one million Palestinians living in Israel, Meretz is a Zionist party, even though it has declared its support for the establishment of a Palestinian State and equal rights for Palestinians. Meretz leader, Youssi Sarid, is ambivalent about the future of Jerusalem and its status as the possible capital of two states: Palestine and Israel. During the election campaign, Sarid was quoted as saying that Jerusalem was a "difficult topic" and that he personally believed the city should remain united under Israeli sovereignty. In this regard Meretz is like other Zionist parties which have accepted that a Palestinian state is inevitable but wish to safeguard the exclusive Jewishness of the Israeli State.
Jabara's position is that "Meretz is an Israeli and not a Zionist party." In Israel Arabs are regarded as second class citizens, she said, even though "they are the actual owners of the land." Her fight is for equal status for Arabs and Israelis alike. "Israel must be a country for all its citizens and not for Jews only." Meretz's election programme according to Jabara includes a statement in support of a Palestinian state and called for a freeze on all settlement activities in the occupied territories.
Jabara, a mother of three, added that Meretz was the only political party in Israel which was ready to nominate an Arab woman and provide her with support. "Meretz does not differentiate between an Arab and a Jew or between a man and a woman. The key issue in its programme is equality, first between Arabs and Jews in Israel and second between men and women," she told the Weekly.
Jabara said that her driving instructor husband and her sons were totally in support of her decision to run for the Knesset. The consequences for them are already apparent. Jabara has to travel nearly 90 kilometers daily from her hometown of Taibeh to Jerusalem and is busy for the rest of her day with meetings and constituency work.
Jabara's eldest daughter, 19-year-old Sawar, said she was proud of her mother and the fact she had become the first Palestinian woman to enter the Knesset. She added that she would like to finish her architectural studies before following her mother into politics. "Meanwhile, I will try to make up for my mother's absence at home and take care of my brothers," she said.
Jabara hopes that more Palestinian women will win seats in the Knesset, saying that women represent 52 per cent of the Palestinian community living in Israel. On this basis she said "Palestinian women deserve four seats and not one seat only."
During the interview with Jabara, her husband, Fathi, was answering the phones, and dozens of other men who had worked on her campaign were taking their orders from the new boss. "Times have changed," she said, laughing.
