THE PALESTINIAN WOMENS AUTONOMOUS MOVEMENT - EMERGENCE, DYNAMICS, ANDCHALLENGES

This article examines the Palestinian women's autonomous movement that emerged in the early 1990s, emphasizing changes in the sociopolitical context to account for the movement's emergence, dynamics, and challe nges. Using interviews obtained during fieldwork in Palestine in 1992, 1993, and 1994, and employing historical and archival records, I argu e that Palestinian feminist discourses were shaped and influenced by t he sociopolitical context in which Palestinian women acted and with wh ich they interacted The multiplicity of views voiced by the women I in terviewed attests to the impossibility of homogenizing and flattening women's experiences, while the range of actions and strategies employe d by different groups and organizations calls attention to contextual limitations on social action.