Jad traces the transformation of the Palestinian women's movement from the 1930s to the post-Oslo period and through the Second Intifada to examine the often-fraught relationship between women and nationalism in Palestine. Offering one of the first intensive studies of Islamist women's activism, Jad also explores the impact of emerging feminist NGOs in depoliticizing the secular Palestinian women's movement. Studying these two developments together illuminates the nature of women's engagement in the Palestinian space, challenging myths of gender roles' "immutability" under Islamand the supposed "modernizing" benefits of Western-style activism.
"An innovative contribution to two sets of literature that have, until now, not been discussed together: first, women and nationalist movements; and, second, women and Islamist movements."
Nicola Pratt, coeditor of Women and War in the Middle East
