Dear Secretary Clinton:
As a young Palestinian girl growing up in a patriarchal society, your speeches about women’s rights inspired me to imagine a world where gender equality could exist. As first lady, you famously declared, “Women’s rights are human rights.” That’s something I strongly believe, too.
That’s why I was surprised to read your article in The Forward. I was surprised because when you chose to speak about my homeland, not once did you mention Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinian women and children. Even worse, you described us as lurking terrorists motivated only by “incitement,” as if the Israeli military occupation does not exist.
I am not a terrorist. I do not believe in the use of violence. I am a young Palestinian woman who grew up under occupation and is trying to better my life through education. It has not been easy. Starting at the age of five, I had to pass through Israeli military checkpoints to go to school. I was searched and humiliated on a daily basis, along with my parents and sisters. One day soldiers released dogs to chase after us. They shot their guns at us. I could have been killed, as many Palestinians are, for no reason. I could have been Hadeel Salah al-Hashlamun, the 18-year-old woman and college student who Israeli soldiers killed at a checkpoint in September.
There are millions of women and girls like me. What about us? According to your article, we do not exist. We are invisible, like women have been treated throughout history.
