The book comprises a collection of the papers discussed during the workshop titled “Political Oral History Documentation of Palestinian Women”, held in Cairo during the period from 22-25 April 1998.
The book constitutes a start in the methodology of oral history documentation of Palestinian women. We intended to keep the same text discussed during the workshop sessions with minor language editing.
The book also reflects the difficult task the Palestinian historian faces as he does not find the same facilities found in other parts of the world such as proper comprehensive archives, study centres or high technical facilities. This is due to the status of dispersion and loss the Palestinian archives have suffered similar to the Palestinian being. As such it is imperative to understand that the task of finding resources and archiving them or may be establishing them becomes the important duty of the Palestinian, the historian and every Palestinian establishment.
The book also discussed the points of weakness in the documentation of the Palestinian woman oral history, where it manifested the importance of studying the past durations in history that has been ignored or taken lightly for the purpose of placing efforts to cover up for this deficiency through oral history methodology for gender analysis. The book also contains the program for practical training for the oral history documentation as it comprised half of the workshop time.
The Directorate of Gender Planning & Development – Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Ramallah-Palestine, 1999