NAGHAM KARACA

Gaza- There are many feminists, who devote their lives to women by raising awareness about women’s rights and struggling to achieve gender equality. Azza Izzat Qassem is known as one of the influential and important feminists in Palestine.

Women’s rights activist Azza Qassem was born in Palestine in 1962. She grew up and lived in the city of Beit Hanoun, situated near the northeastern border of the Gaza Strip. In 1967, her father was arrested by Israeli soldiers. And he died of a heart attack in his 40s. In 1980, she started studying at Birzeit University near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. She received her master's and doctorate degrees in sociology in Egypt.

She was put under house arrest

Azza Qassem is considered as one of the most important founders of rebel women's movements. Since she was on the front lines of the struggle, she was arrested in 1987. She carried out many activities to raise awareness about women’s rights, create a culture of struggle and promote the concepts of patriotism. She believed that women cannot be free in a society having no concept of patriotism and that social change should be comprehensive and change should first start in society.

In 2006, the Israeli army raided her house as part of a six-day ground assault on Beit Hanoun. The house was demolished. Soldiers also arrested both of her sons, who were just 14 and 12 at the time.

“She was a different woman”

“Azza was one of the few feminists who knows the meaning of feminism. She taught us, women, how we can think differently and change ourselves. She was a different woman. After graduating from university, I attended many gender-equality training, but I didn't realize the importance of it until I met Azza,” Mona Khader, a friend of Azza Qassem, told NuJINHA.