So, female activists in Sheikh Jarrah and west bank were asked to dress appropriately while attending protests side by side with Palestinian people.
I don't understand what's the problem with that, or why it should be a big deal.
Whenever we go out to those protests, wither it is in Sheikh Jarrah
or west bank villages,
we are not at home. This is Palestinian territory. It's not our land.
We are guests, visitors,
and if we come there to show support and solidarity with the Palestinian people-
we might as well start with showing respect to the codes and norms the Palestinian society is keeping.
If you attend protests at west bank villages or in Sheikh Jarrah-
east Jerusalem you probably consider yourself liberal minded,
as you are taking part in the struggle of Palestinian people's for liberation.
But what does liberalism mean?
Being truly liberal minded should mean being able to include others' values and manners,
respect others' faith and belief, honor tradition and culture ,
even if it's not our manners and not our culture.
Being liberal minded doesn't mean you have to be anti-religious.
Being liberal minded is great when you have a fixed set of agendas-
that include secularity-equal rights for men & women ,
as long as you can be considerate and mind the differences ,
the gaps, the diversity and difference - verity of forms people behave and react to.
If you are liberal minded, do you stand up and fight for fellow liberal minded people as you are,
or are you willing to stand up and fight for others' rights, others that might not be as liberal as you are?
Liberal minds coming together with conservative societies- that does create a conflict, if as a liberal minded person you hold yourself as righteous one and consider the conservative one as the one that's wrong and needs to change, progress. But when you come to protest in
Sheikh Jarrah or in Silwan.
or in any village at the west bank- what is your goal?
To be in solidarity and support with the occupied people or to
convert Conservative Palestinian people to your western -liberal mind?
True. Oppression of women in conservative societies isn't right,
according to the belief in equality, and freedom of mankind.
According to belief in basic human rights every individual deserves.
But when you come out protesting against occupation,
repression and oppression of Palestinian people, bare in mind what you are coming for.
Bare in mind that the first thing that you support is your own sense
of justice that doesn't allow you to collaborate, be engage or involved with the occupation.
That the first hand that needs to be washed clean is your own.
That first of all, you are there for your own conscience-
and making it clean might have some cost of temporarily feeling inconvenient by dressing out a bit different than you do in regular days in order to adapt yourself to the place you're going to
.If you are unable to do so, it's OK. Don't force yourself into it. But don't force conservative people to accept your dress code if it makes them feel uncomfortable. Liberal minded people should make their priorities. Liberal minded people can decide what struggles they choose to fight, what moral laws serve them best.
What cause they can recruit themselves to with all their heart. But in my opinion,
it's not just being liberal mind that counts if you want to make the world a better place .
One should also seek justice, and justice is not always for "innocent victims" or "taking the side of the good people". Justice to me is about protecting the weaker from being hurt or abused by the one in power. Justice can begin with looking towards the other without judging.
Justice can start with understanding that the best place to start is fixing the wrongs we create ourselves as a society,as a state, and allowing others to change their wrong ways by a will that comes from within themselves, if they choose to. Writing about dress codes respect or disrespect women , about the concept of modesty as preserver of a woman's honor might require another post. After all, I am formerly religious, and some years ago I had my own revolt so I can now wear short pants and sleeveless shirts. However, next time I will be in Sheikh Jarrah or in an anti wall protest in west bank village, I will keep those items in my closet and cover my head with my scarf made Hijab. (:
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