Women in Abu Dis

Women do tremendous work in Abu Dis particularly because of their key role in the family – though women’s education is taken seriously and when they can women often have paid employment. Women from Abu Dis are proud of their great skills in cooking and handicrafts and are keen to show these to Camden women: there will be a chance through the Stories from our Mothers project.

There are huge problems for women and their families living under Israeli Occupation and following the construction of the Separation Wall. These include separation of families, health issues with the main hospitals the other side of the Wall and also the pressure from an Occupation army on the streets. Women in Abu Dis have described the fears of mothers of boys in particular, whose sons are at any time under threat of problems with the army or imprisonment. They have told us of the difficulties facing the mothers of child prisoners when they seek to visit them. They insist that as well as a focus on women, the prisoner campaign should remain central to CADFA’s work.