The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP) in Gaza mourns the passing of the feminist activist and pioneer, Ms. Issam Abdul Hadi, who passed away on Friday, August 9th, at the age of 85, in Amman, Jordan.

The Center, represented by its Board of Directors, the Center’s Director, Professor Zeinab Al-Ghunaimi, and its staff, extends its sincere condolences to the family of the deceased, emphasizing that although Ms. Issam has physically departed from this world, her memory will remain immortal in the annals of Palestinian history as a pioneering activist and a leading figure in the women’s movement in the Arab world. The Palestinian women’s movement will always be honored that Issam Abdul Hadi was at the forefront of its ranks, and we will always be proud and remember:

Issam Abdul Hadi, the Activist: She played a prominent leadership role in resisting the Israeli occupation, organizing and leading dozens of demonstrations and sit-ins, which led to her arrest, torture, and deportation from the country in 1969, along with her daughter Fayha, who was arrested with her.

She was a member of the first National Council, held in Jerusalem in 1964, and was elected to the Central Council in 1974, and was the only woman on the Council for four years. Abdul Hadi was also elected as a member of the Supreme Committee of the Jerusalem Rescue Committee, which was headed by the late Suleiman Nabulsi.

Issam Abdul Hadi, the Feminist Pioneer: In 1949, at the age of twenty, she was elected Secretary of the Arab Women’s Union Association in Nablus, and continued in this position until her deportation from the homeland in 1969. She was also elected President of the General Union of Palestinian Women in 1965 at its first founding conference, which was held in Jerusalem. In 1981, she was elected Vice President of the Women’s International Democratic Federation and participated in six conferences and seminars of the Committee on the Status of Women at the United Nations and dozens of Arab and international women’s conferences. She headed the PLO delegation to the first international women’s conference held in Mexico under the auspices of the United Nations, where the Palestinian delegation requested the condemnation of Zionism as a racist movement, and the conference responded to the request, which was included in its final statement.

The pioneer Issam Abdul Hadi was a fighter for the rights of Palestinian women, as well as a political fighter for the rights of the people and the nation and at the international level, and she represented Asia in the People’s Conference on Human Rights, which was held in Vienna in 1993.

Issam Abdul Hadi, the Palestinian olive tree that does not die, because your memory is alive and will always flourish. We learn from your honorable history and follow in your footsteps until the goals you fought for are achieved.