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The state of Israel and the Palestinian nation are at a monumental juncture in their histories. Respective representatives have recognized each other's right to exist, learning to conceive of a new other'. Both have a chance to claim a new future, but more than a quarter of a century of occupation has left a permanent mark on all societies. l Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip created a relationship which, similar to that between colonizer and colonized, placed Israeli Jews in the position of the powerful and Palestinians of the Occupied Territories in the position of the powerless. This dichotomy of more than twenty-six years of occupation has significant social, political, economic, cultural, psychological and moral ramifications for both men and women, both Israelis and Palestinians. Women and the Israeli Occupation analyses the impact of the occupier/occupied unequal relationship on the lives of Palestinian and Jewish women. Exposing a set of previously unarticulated internal conflicts and differences, the book also discusses existing loyalties which have been reinforced as the different groups of women have moved into public political action, working together to end the Occupation. Combining the view of Jews and Palestinians from Israel and Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, this book is the first to discuss the impact of Occupation on women.
