Abstract
The case of Israa Ghrayeb, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman who was killed by her family in 2019, has generated widespread social media attention and interactivity across the Arabic-speaking cybersphere. It is considered a catalyst for launching a new wave of Palestinian women’s movements against gender-based violence that carefully navigates the transnational social media spaces while situating themselves as part of the unique Palestinian geopolitical context. This chapter draws on two prominent examples in the Palestinian society: the virtual dynamics of Israa Ghrayeb’s case and the #Tal3at movement that was established after her killing. It explores through these cases the role of transnational social media tools in creating alternative spaces for action and platforms for informal justice while mirroring offline structural inequalities and posing the threat of transnational decontextualization.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
#Tal3at: Free women = Free homeland -#طالعات: نساء حرة = وطن حر [@tal3at_sept26]. (2020, April 18). يوم الاثنين الساعة السابعة مساءً. [Tweet]. Twitter. Accessed from https://twitter.com/tal3at_sept26/status/1251519340958138369
AbiRafeh, Li. (2020, May 4). For Arab Women and Girls, the Crisis Is Just Beginning. Al Jazeera. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/5/4/for-arab-women-and-girls-the-crisis-is-just-beginning
Abumaria, D. (2019, October 1). PA Finally Working on Family Protection Law. The Jerusalem Post. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/PA-finally-working-on-Family-Protection-Law-603345?fbclid=IwAR2Gyh_x1u-W5-_8B8o7ajRSRa_gRJ_8PAp6q3LC5htB3FqGncDxr07ACzs
Alfares, O. [@OlaAlfares]. (2019, August 29). لم أستطع النوم هذه الليلة..صوت صراخها في المستشفى في الفيديو المتداول لا يِفارقني. [Tweet]. Twitter. Accessed from https://twitter.com/OlaAlfares/status/1167265187705032707
ASDA’A BCW. (2019. A Call for Reform: A White Paper on the Findings of the 11th Annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey 2019. Accessed from https://www.arabyouthsurvey.com/pdf/downloadwhitepaper/download-whitepaper.pdf
Banyan Global. (2016). Gender-Based Violence in the MENA Region: Context Analysis. USAID. Accessed from https://banyanglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/MENA-Context-Analysis.pdf
Bateman, T. (2019, September 16). Israa Ghrayeb: Palestinian Woman’s Death Prompts Soul-Searching. BBC News. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49688920
BBC News. (2018). Saudi Arabia Women’s Driving Activists ‘Targeted in Smear Campaign’. BBC News. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44187840?ocid=socialflow_twitter
BBC News. (2020). Egypt TikTok: Female Influencers Jailed Over ‘Indecent’ Videos. BBC News. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53557576
Begum, R. (2019, September 18). When It Mattered, Palestinian Law Failed Israa Ghrayeb. It’s High Time that Changed. Al Araby. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2019/9/18/the-lethal-cost-of-being-a-woman-in-palestine
Boros, C. (2013. Poll-Egypt Is Worst Arab State for Women, Comoros Best. Thomson Reuters Foundation. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://news.trust.org/item/20131108170910-qacvu/?source=spotlight-writaw
Burleigh, N. (2020, December 1). Trump and the West’s Enabling of Saudi Arabia Enables the Torture of Loujain al-Hathloul. NBC News. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-west-s-enabling-saudi-arabia-enables-torture-loujain-al-ncna1249563
Chiba, Y. (2012). The Geographical Transformation of Arab Media: The Decline of Offshore Media and the Rise of the Media City. Asian and African Area Studies, 12(1), 79–103.
Democracy Now! (2011, February 8). Asmaa Mahfouz & the YouTube Video that Helped Spark the Egyptian Uprising. Democracy Now!. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/8/asmaa_mahfouz_the_youtube_video_that
Douki, S., Nacef, F., Belhadj, A., Bouasker, A., & Ghachem, R. (2003). Violence Against Women in Arab and Islamic Countries. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 6(3), 165–171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-003-0170-x
Ensor, J. (2018December 3). Israeli Software Company ‘Shared Hacked Messages’ from Khashoggi with Saudi, Lawsuit Claims. The Telegraph. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/03/israeli-software-company-shared-hacked-messages-khashoggi-saudi/
Fileborn, B. (2016). Justice 2.0: Street Harassment Victims’ Use of Social Media and Online Activism as Sites of Informal Justice. British Journal of Criminology, 57(6), 1482–1501.
Fleischmann, E. (2003). The Nation and Its New Women: The Palestinian Women’s Movement 1920-1948. University of California Press, USA.
Ghoneim, N. (2019, August 31). Palestinian Woman Murdered in Honor Killing After Posting Instagram Video with Fiancé. Egyptian Streets. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://egyptianstreets.com/2019/08/31/palestinian-woman-murdered-in-honor-killing-after-posting-instagram-video-with-fiance/
GSMA Intelligence. (2019. The Mobile Economy Middle East & North Africa 2019. Accessed from https://data.gsmaintelligence.com/api-web/v2/research-file-download?id=47743179&file=2866-261119-ME-MENA.pdf
Guta, H., & Karolak, M. (2015). Veiling and Blogging: Social Media as Sites of Identity Negotiation and Expression Among Saudi Women. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 16(2), 115–127.
International Telecommunications Union. (2019). Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures 2019. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/FactsFigures2019.pdf
Jad, I. (1995). Claiming Feminism, Claiming Nationalism: Women’s Activism in the Occupied Territories. In A. Basu (Ed.), The Challenges of Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective. Westview Press.
Jad, I. (2003). The NGOization of Arab Women’s Movement. Al Raida, 20(100).
Jones, M. O. (2020, June 9). Twitter Thread. 6:00 p.m. Accessed from https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1270475823947173888
Kelly, L. (2003). The Wrong Debate: Reflections on Why Force Is Not the Key Issue with Respect to Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation. Feminist Review, 73(1), 139–144.
Kharroub, T. (2021). Arab Women’s Activism in a Transnational Media Landscape: Negotiating Gendered Spaces. Feminist Media Studies, 21, 692. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1919732
Kuttab, E. (1993). Palestinian Women in the Intifada: Liberation Within Liberation. Arab Studies Quarterly, 15(2).
Kuttab, E. (2003). Palestinian Intifada in the Context of Globalization: A Gender Review (Vol. 70). Nour Publishing House for Arab Women.
Kuttab, E. (2009). The Palestinian Women’s Movement: From Resistance and Liberation to Accommodation and Globalization. In Vents d'Est, vents d'Ouest: Mouvements de femmes et féminismes anticoloniaux [online]. Graduate Institute Publications. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.iheid.6310. Accessed from http://books.openedition.org/iheid/6310
Kuttab, E. (2010). Empowerment as Resistance: Conceptualizing Palestinian Women’s Empowerment. Development (Society for International Development), 53(2), 247–253.
Leber, A., & Abrahams, A. (2019). A Storm of Tweets: Social Media Manipulation During the Gulf Crisis. Review of Middle East Studies (Tucson, Ariz.), 53(2), 241–411.
Lundgren, E. (1998). The Hand that Strikes and Comforts: Gender Construction and the Tension Between Body and Soul. In R. E. Dobash & R. P. Dobash (Eds.), Rethinking Violence Against Women (pp. 169–198). Sage.
MADA- The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms. (2016). Social Media… A New Venue to Censor and Prosecute Journalists. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.madacenter.org/en/article/248/
Marshood, H. & Alsanah, R. (2020, February 25). Tal’at: A Feminist Movement that Is Redefining Liberation and REIMAGINING PALEStine. Mondoweiss. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://mondoweiss.net/2020/02/talat-a-feminist-movement-that-is-redefining-liberation-and-reimagining-palestine/
Mouffe, C. (2005). On the Political. Routledge.
Najjar, F. (2020, April 2). Domestic Abuse Against Palestinian Women Soars. Al Jazeera. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/4/20/domestic-abuse-against-palestinian-women-soars
Newsom, V. A., & Lengel, L. (2012). Arab Women, Social Media, and the Arab Spring: Applying the Framework of Digital Reflexivity to Analyze Gender and Online Activism. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 13(5), 31–45. Accessed from http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol13/iss5/5
Nisbet, E. C., & Myers, T. (2010). Challenging the State: Transnational TV and Political Identity in the Middle East. Political Communication, 27(4), 347–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2010.516801
Odeh, S. (2018November). A Violent Network: Gender-Based Violence Against Palestinian Women in Virtual Space. Kvinna till Kvinna in Cooperation with 7amleh- The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media.
OHCHR. (1993. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Accessed from https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/violenceagainstwomen.aspx
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. (2019). Preliminary Results of the Violence Survey in the Palestinian Society. Ramallah – Palestine. Accessed from http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2480.pdf
PEN America. (2013, December 3). The Rise of Digital Repression: Interactive Infographic. Global Investigative Journalist Network. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://gijn.org/2013/12/03/the-rise-of-digital-repression-interactive-infographic/
Schectman, J. & Bing, C. (2019). American Hackers Helped UAE Spy on Al Jazeera Chairman, BBC Host. Reuters. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-raven-media/
Shaalan, H., & Agencies. (2019, September 12). Three Family Members Charged in Killing of Palestinian Woman. Ynet News. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5587436,00.html
Sinclair, J., Jacka, E., & Cunningham, S. (1996). New Patterns in Global Television: Peripheral Vision. Oxford University Press.
Sreberny, A. (2015). Women’s Digital Activism in a Changing Middle East. International Journal Middle East Studies, 47(02), 357–361.
Sreberny, A. (2018). Women’s Digital Activism: Making Change in the Middle East. In M. Zayani (Ed.), Digital Middle East: State and Society in the Information Age. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190859329.003.0005
Tal3at - وطن حر نساء حرة. (n.d.). In Facebook [Facebook page]. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://m.facebook.com/%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%B1-%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A9-2703156423090972/
Taraki, L. (1991). The Development of Political Consciousness Among Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, 1967-1987. In J. Nassar & R. Heackock (Eds.), Intifada: Palestine at the Crossroads. Praeger Publishers.
The Guardian. (2013). Dozens of Saudi Arabian Women Drive Cars on Day of Protest Against Ban. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/26/saudi-arabia-woman-driving-car-ban
The World Bank. (2019). Population, Total – Arab World (Dataset). DataBank. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=1A
UN Women. (2020a). COVID-19 and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. Issue Brief. Accessed from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/issue-brief-covid-19-and-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-en.pdf?la=en&vs=5006
UN Women. (2020b). Gender-Responsive Measures to Combat COVID-19 Urgently Needed to Preserve and Advance Tunisia’s Progress on Women’s Rights, Warns UN Women. Press Release. Accessed from https://arabstates.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/06/press-release-tunisia-urgent-need-for-gender-responsive-measures-to-combat-covid-19
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs - UNDESA. (2015). The World’s Women 2015: Trends and Statistics. Accessed from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/downloads/worldswomen2015_report.pdf
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs - UNDESA. (2020). The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics. Accessed from https://worlds-women-2020-data-undesa.hub.arcgis.com/app/50dd1b2d6167437693178836261522e6
World Economic Forum. (2018). The Global Gender Gap Report 2018. Accessed April 29, 2021, from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf
World Health Organization. (2013). Global and Regional Estimates of Violence Against Women: Prevalence and Health Effects of Intimate Partner Violence and Non-Partner Sexual Violence. Situation Report. Accessed April 29, 2021, from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241564625
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kharroub, T. (2023). Palestinian Women’s Digital Activism Against Gender-Based Violence: Navigating Transnational and Social Media Spaces. In: Skalli, L.H., Eltantawy, N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Gender, Media and Communication in the Middle East and North Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11980-4_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11980-4_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-11979-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-11980-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)