Chronology of Palestinian Women’s & Feminist Organizing: 1893-2020

  • 1893 — Palestinian Women Protest the Construction of a Settlement in Afula
  • 1903 — Formation of the First Palestinian Women’s Organization: The Orthodox Aid Society for the Poor in Akka
  • 1910 — Formation of the Yafa Orthodox Ladies Society
  • 1919 — Formation of the Jerusalem Arab Ladies Society
  • 1919 — Formation of Girl Guides Palestine
  • 1921 — Formation of the Arab Women’s Association in Jerusalem, Yafa, and Haifa
  • 1921 — Formation of the Society of Arab Women’s Union in Nablus
  • 1921 — Formation of the Palestinian Women’s Union (PWU)
  • 1924 — Formation of the Orthodox Society for the Destitute Sick in Jerusalem
  • 1929 October 26th — Formation of the Arab Women’s Executive (AWE): An Outcome of the First Arab Women’s Congress
  • 1929 — Formation of the (National) Arab Women’s Association (AWA) by the Arab Women’s Executive
  • 1930 — Formation of Arab Women’s Association Branch in Nazareth
  • 1933 — Formation of the Women’s Society Zahrat al-Uqhawan (Chrysanthemum Flowers Association)
  • 1933April 15th — Palestinian Women’s March in Jerusalem 
  • 1935 — Formation of Arab Women’s Association Branches in Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarem
  • 1936May 2nd — AWA Jerusalem Delegates Arrive in Yafa in Support of the Arab Revolt 
  • 1936May 4th — Mass Women’s Protests Across Historic Palestine as Part of the Arab Revolt
  • 1936 — May 5th — 600 Schoolgirls Convene to Discuss Strategies for the Arab Revolt
  • 1936 — May 11th — (National) Arab Women’s Association Conference in Yafa Endorses General Strike
  • 1938October 15th to 18th — Palestinian Women’s Delegation to the Eastern Women’s Congress for the Defense of Palestine Organized by Egyptian Feminist Huda Sha’rawi in Cairo, Egypt
  • 1944December 7th — Formation of the Arab Feminist Union and the (Palestinian) Arab Women’s Union (AWU): An Outcome of the Second Arab Women’s Congress in Cairo 
  • 1946 — Arab Women’s Union establishes its first Medical Clinic in Jerusalem
  • 1950 — Formation of Young Arab Women’s Association
  • 1950 — Formation of the Palestinian Arab Women League in Lebanon
  • 1965 — Formation of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW)
  • 1976 — Formation of Association Najdeh in Lebanon
  • 1976August 12th — Formation of Beit Atfal Assumoud in Lebanon 
  • 1978 — Formation of the Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action Committees (PFWAC)
  • 1980 — Formation of the Women’s Youth Center in Hebron
  • 1981 — Formation of the Union of Palestinian Working Women’s Committees (UPWWC)
  • 1982 — Formation of the Palestinian Women’s Committees (PWC)
  • 1982 — Formation of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC)
  • 1983 — Formation of the Union of Women’s Social Work Committees (UWSWC)
  • 1985October 17th — Formation of the Palestinian American Women’s Association (PAWA) in Los Angeles, California
  • 1986April — Formation of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Association (UPWA) the United States 
  • 1988 — 1000 Women Join the International Working Women’s Day March in Nablus
  • 1988 — Formation of the Women’s Affairs Center (WAC), Nablus
  • 1989 — Formation of the Women’s Affairs Center (WAC)
  • 1989 — Formation of the Women’s Study Center (WSC), Jerusalem
  • 1989 — Formation of the Muslim Woman Society (MWS), Jerusalem
  • 1990 — Formation of the Union of Palestinian American Women, Washington DC
  • 1991 — Formation of El-Fanar and Launch of Street Protests Against Femicide in Nazareth, Haifa, Akka, and al-Bireh
  • 1991 — Formation of the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
  • 1992 — Formation of the Women’s Affairs Technical Committees
  • 1992 — Formation of the Palestinian Women’s Action Committee (PWAC)
  • 1992 — Formation of the Association of Women Against Violence
  • 1995 — Formation of Women’s Studies Department at Birzeit University
  • 1995 — Formation of the Working Committee for Equality in Personal Status Laws, Nazareth
  • 1996 — Formation of the al-Huda Society, al-Bireh
  • 1997July —The Working Group on the Status of Palestinian Women in Israel (WGSPWI) Submits the NGO Report: Critique of Israel’s Combined Initial and Second Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
  • 1997 — Formation of the al-Khansaa Society, al-Bireh
  • 1997 — Formation of the Women’s Charitable Solidarity Group Haneen, Nablus
  • 1997 — Formation of the Women’s Action Department, Gaza Strip
  • 1998 — Formation of Mashraqyat Centre, Gaza Strip
  • 1998 — Formation of the Palestinian Women’s Model Parliament, West Bank and Gaza
  • 2003 — Formation of the Islamic Women’s Movement in Palestine
  • 2003 — Formation of Aswat: Palestinian Feminist Center for Gender and Sexual Freedoms
  • 2007November — Formation of Al-Qaws For Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
  • 2012 — Formation of the Murabitat in Jerusalem
  • 2019September 19th — Formation of Tal3’at and Street Mobilizations Against Femicide Across Palestine
  • 2020 — Formation of the Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC) in Turtle Island (the unceded lands known as North America)

No to Racism

by Heba Zagout
1984-2023

Heba Zaqout was a Palestinian artist from Gaza, born in 1984. She studied graphic design at the Gaza Training College in 2003, and earned a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza in 2007. She was a fine arts teacher in Gaza and participated in exhibitions inside and outside of Palestine. Her most recent exhibition, “My Children in Quarantine” was held in 2021. Heba explained that through her works, she tried to express her feelings about the events going on around her and convey the suffering that she lived with as a Palestinian woman in Gaza, looking for hope for a better life. No to Racism speaks to women’s suffering, their need for love and peace, and their struggle against both a social reality that often depicts them as weak and the violence of Israeli occupation and siege.

Heba, along with two of her children, was killed during one of the zionist air strike attacks on Gaza citizens.