Laela Khaled, Portrait of Revolutionary Female Fighters in Palestine

 

Laela Khaled, Portrait of Revolutionary Female Fighters in Palestine

"I represent the Palestinian people, not women." Leila Khaled

On the Lunar New Year holiday in 2016, I received a very interesting book entitled Leila Khaled (The Story of Palestinian Women Fighters) written by a journalist named Sarah Irving. I did a little research through Uncle Google, to find out why Marjin Kiri publisher wanted to publish this book.

From this search, through Leila Khaled, my knowledge increased about the resistance of the Palestinian people against Zionist occupation. All this time in our minds is Hamas, Fatah, an unbalanced war between stones and bullets, the martyrdom of a man, the mothers who gave birth to the martyrs, will increase. Leila Khaled is a woman who also fought against Zionist occupation by taking up arms.

The struggle of a woman named Leila Khaled in Palestine is not too visible to the surface, other than the role of the Western media which branded her as a terrorist. But also because of these two things; Leila is a woman who is dominated by patriarchal values, and is left-leaning. Leila is displaying a poster of Che Guevara in her room, which she has long idolized, besides that she also reads several leftist ideologues such as Franz Fanon, Mao Zedong, Kim Il Sung, and of course Che Guevara.

When Leila attended secondary school, she was educated at the Evangelical Christian School, this is where Leila got an important lesson where the difference between Zionists, Israelis and Jews was. And here too he has chosen to fight by taking up arms to liberate Palestine.

“How in the movement, there is more to it than just writing, distributing pamphlets, demonstrating or giving speeches” this is the choice of Leila Khaled, a choice that will take her to the toughest training ground on the Lebanese and Palestinian borders.

The strong determination of Leila Khaled has never faded since she was first assigned to the front of the battle between Palestine and the Zionists as a bread delivery person for the fighters, since then the enthusiasm to fight the Zionists has been increasing.

Leila Khaled's struggle for the Palestinian people exceeds her struggle for fighting for the fate of women in the midst of war. Leila Khaled considers that fighting for independence or the right of return of all Palestinian people is more important than fighting for the fate of women.

George Habash as the founder of the PLFP, the leftist party where Leila Khaled belongs, once asked Leila to become a party representative in the General Union of Palestinian Women, and Leila answered very reluctantly.

"I refuse," said Leila Khaled. Then Leila explained, "I told them, I'm a soldier, I want to hold a gun."

The party replied, "You are also a woman, you must fight for women's rights."

Leila insisted, "I can't do it, it's a mission beyond my reach, and I don't like it."

There are two amazing lessons we can take from Leila Khaled. First , Leila is someone who rejects the image of herself, who is famous after committing piracy, she prefers to be a field command who continues to move to achieve her and all Palestinian people's goals, namely Palestinian independence.

Second , Leila is an ordinary person who knows that the struggle to liberate Palestine is not only her job, but also the task of the entire Palestinian nation. There is a famous statement from a Leila Khaled, "I thought this would not happen in my life, but someday, in the next generation."

Leila Khaled said jokingly, “Retired? Retirement from what? I will only retire when I return to Haifa.” This statement implies an unquenchable spirit to fight for the independence or right of return of the Palestinian people over the Zionists.

Until now, all expelled Palestinians have always longed for their homeland, including Leila Khaled, who also still imagines her homeland and longs to return there. “When I returned to Palestine, I would sleep under an orange tree for three days,” recalls one Leila Khaled.

Women's Struggle: Forgotten Or Forgotten?

If we try to count the stories of female warriors in any part of the world, it will most likely not touch half of the male fighters. The story of Laela Khaled who is very patriotic in Palestine actually happened in Algeria with a woman who used to be given the title "Heroine" of Algeria in a title "Djamila Srikandi Aldgeria".

Her full name is Djamila Bouhirerd, an Algerian country boy born to a middle-class family. Djamila is also known as Algeria's freedom fighter against French colonialism. The spirit of resistance of a Djamila has been seen since he was a child, when he attended a French school, each of their students was required to say "France is our mother country", so he shouted very loudly "Algeria is our country".

The punishment he received did not dampen the spirit of resistance against colonialism which was very rampant at that time. He also joined an underground movement fighting for an independence from Algeria from French colonialism. In July 1957, Djamila was arrested by the French for allegedly planning a mass action, but before the action was carried out, Djamila was arrested by the French. When interrogated, Djamila always said “Algeria is our country” and never stopped.

From the two stories of female warrior characters above, there is a portrait of today's revolutionary fighters who take up arms against oppression. Margin Kiri, a very valuable publisher, raises the side of female Palestinian fighters who are rarely raised, let alone left-leaning. This book is a very good read, because it was written by a journalist who is very smart in writing a biography of a fighter so that you can feel the spirit of his struggle.

The stories of female warriors are told not as often as the stories of male warriors, their stories are often immersed in the heroic stories of the men. In fact, in their struggle, both men and women did not question gender at all as a barrier to struggle. They always unite the word, namely the opponent.

The two stories above may sound heroic, but actually we as the current generation are not trying to reduce that the struggle against colonialism and oppression is the merit of one or two people. However, this is one or two stories that tell the resistance against the invaders that it is the call of the soul of all people, including women, and we must thank the publisher Marjin Kiri who published this good book entitled "Laela Khaled, The Story of the Palestinian Women Fighters"