A Sense of Hope among Palestinian Refugee Women, an Interview with Dr Maria Holt
01 November, 2014
Khartoum (Sudanow) Dr. Maria Holt, Professor of Politics at the British Westminster University, has been described as one of a few western experts whohave chosen not to sell their consciousness or their humanity on theissue of the Palestinian legitimate rights. She has chosen academic research as one of the verifiable tools tolead anywhere near the truth, leaving no room for religious or racialnarrow affiliations. She recently paid a visit to Khartoum at the invitation of the Sudanese Center for Women Studies. The purpose was for her to see onthe ground women situation and status in this country, the Sudan.
Sudanow seized the opportunity to have this conversation with her.Following are excerpts of this meeting:
Sudanow: Tell us why are you interested in Middle East and women studies in particular?
Dr Maria Holt: - I started studying politics in 1980s and I became very interested in the world of Islam since it is very interesting in politics, and when you start writing you think about something … I became very fascinated with the idea of the Middle East, I had never been to the Middle East but it seemed to me very rich and very interesting from readings and meeting interesting women from the Muslim Arab countries. I became interested in the Palestinian women because it seems to me the allegations of terrorism are not accurate, I thought there is something wrong, then I wanted to know more about the Palestinians, then I spoke to late Edward Saeed the Palestinian Professor at Columbia University when he came to my university. So I decided to do my Master Degree focusing on Middle East politics.
Sudanow: what is the outcome of this involvement?
Dr Holt: - It resulted in a number of publications... books, many articles, many book chapters, conference papers; I taught special projects on Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon and also women in Islamic resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, the effect of violence against women particularly in the situation of conflict … I devised and taught many modules on Middle East politics for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and supervised several dissertations and postgraduate degrees. My book on the Palestinian women in the refugee camps of Lebanon published in 1998 was translated into Arabic and became a key source of information and debate on this topic.
Sudanow: Will you please give us a general idea about your book on Palestinian women refugees??
Dr Holt: It is built on interviews with women at camps in Lebanon …In 1948 the majority of the Palestinians were forced to leave; they have been uprooted from their land and forced into exile. They were located in the neighbouring countries hoping to return soon but they waited more than 60 years and couldn't change the situation, they have been subjected to many forms of violence by the enemy mostly…massacre, invasions, sieges… But women have to protect themselves. They fight to bring their children up in the best way, they fight to educate themselves…They are caught with nostalgia to their lost homes …Despite all these they preserve a very strong sense of identity and home, they digest national identity in active silence, even the generations who didn't see Palestine they speak about it because they heard stories about their villages…Women leaders at the camps are re-putting a sense of place in numerous ways for example by refusing to be relocated outside the camps where even the camp became a symbol of heroic struggle, they also preserve their traditions and foster social networks to reestablish Palestinian belonging. It seems like a hopeless situation when you think about the people who had to leave their homes…it is something much more than victimization.
Sudanow: How do you assess the role of Islam as a religion in the way Middle East women react to war and conflict?
Dr Holt: It helps women. It gives some strength and support. It tells them what they can do and what they can't do…Women feel they are empowered to go to fight in support of their man...They told me their personal religion made them feel strong and help them survive those acts of violence.
Sudanow: do you see any impact for your researches other than the academia?
Dr Holt: In response to my work I have received expressions of interest from the Middle East, Europe and North America, for instance I was invited to participate in a workshop in Washington organized by the United States Institute of Peace in 2009 to discuss policy implications of women's roles in conflict, in 2010 I was invited to participate in a Foreign and Commonwealth Office "Prevent" consultation, in 2012 I was invited to address a NATO parliamentary group conference, Last year and this year I was invited to attend a conference at Washington, it will not be attended by the academics only… people from the American government will attend this conference and it is an opportunity to meet American decision-makers. Also I will participate in a policy-making conference in Texas…I'm not Palestinian or Muslim so this will show that there is no bias. I reflect the problem as I study it. The results of this work will be more materialized within the coming months.
Sudanow: Did you face any Israeli harassment?
Dr Holt: If you want to go to Palestine you can’t avoid passing through Israel because they control the borders. I wanted to wait till Palestine is liberated, then I decided I would go. The first time I went with a group of British students and when we passed we immediately met with Israelis … they are very disrespectful when they found a British Pakistani woman in the group… they immediately separated her…this is racism. Another case, we crossed from Egypt to Gaza…they asked me what is the reason of your visit to Israel? We told them we are not going to Israel we are going to Palestine and they were so rude, angry, harassing, at Israeli airports they were asking have you met Palestinians, what you have done…
Sudanow: in your opinion, what kind of remedy will be satisfying to the Palestinians?
Dr Holt: They are struggling for peace, liberation and independence … they can't be satisfied in terms of justice or morality unless their core issue is resolved.
Sudanow: tell us about your Future plans?
Dr Holt: I want to develop a new project to broaden my research to include other women in Muslim World such as Afghanistan, Egypt and Yemen because now violence experiences are not confined to Palestinian women only and the same methodology can be applied to them. Academic people and researchers have the responsibility to be the voice of those people and to reflect this to the decision makers at various countries and organizations.
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