Palestinian Women Research Articles

Palestinian Feminism in Israel and the Power of Public Urban Space

Abstract In January 1991, some Palestinian citizens of Israel (formerly Israeli Arabs), mostly young women who came to the city of Haifa from different villages together with some Haifa residents, met to discuss feminism, the status of Palestinian women in Israel, and the need for a feminist organization. Following this meeting, al-Fanar was born as the Palestinian Feminist Organization. During the eight years of its existence, 1991–8, al-Fanar had a dual mission to oppose all the laws and traditions that oppress women and to fight laws discriminating against the Palestinian people. Its ability to act stemmed from its foundation as an urban movement outside the control of the patriarchal familial system. In its activities, al-Fanar exposed the connection between state control, patriarchy, and the reactionary leadership of Arab society in Israel. The climax of this control is the “murder of women in the name of family honor,” against which the al-Fanar’s members fought.

Settler colonial regulation of bigamous marriage across the Israeli/Palestinian border

ABSTRACT This article examines how settler colonial states selectively enforce the law to pursue the goals of land acquisition and demographic control, focusing on Israel’s response to cross-border polygamy as practiced by Bedouins in Israel. Based on archival research and extensive textual analysis of policy debates within the Israeli authorities during the 1980s, it uncovers the selective enforcement of bigamy laws in cases involving Palestinian women, also exploring how the state manipulates ‘security’ and ‘demographic’ concerns. These manipulations are a manifestation of state power, which is applied similarly to all Palestinians across the Israeli/Palestinian border.

Perceived barriers to Palestinian pregnant women’s acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination using the Health Believe Model: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore pregnant women’s attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination and determinants of vaccine acceptance. We conducted a cross-sectional study among pregnant women attending PHC clinics and hospitals in the West-bank of Palestine. We used an interviewer-administered questionnaire based on Health Belief Model. The study’s primary outcome was COVID-19 vaccination acceptance. We used the Chi-square test to compare those who accepted the vaccine versus those who refused it and conducted binary logistic regression to explore independent determinants of vaccination acceptance. Among the 728 pregnant women who took part in the study, 20.7 percent showed positive attitudes (acceptance) toward COVID-19 vaccination. Employment (aOR 4.0; 95 percentCI: 2.2–7.3), a history of COVID-19 (aOR 1.9; 95 percentCI: 1.2–3.1), and having a relative who died from COVID-19 (aOR 2.3; 95 percentCI: 1.2–4.7) increased the likelihood of vaccine acceptance, as did vaccine perceived effectiveness (aOR 1.9; 95 percentCI: 1.2–3.2) and perceived protection from severe disease (aOR 2.0; 95 percentCI: 1.2–3.5). On the other hand, perceived limited access (aOR 0.540; 95 percentCI: 0.31–0.87) and perceived harm to the baby (aOR 0.346; 95 percentCI 0.22–0.54) remained the main barriers toward vaccine acceptance. In conclusion, pregnant women’s acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine is unsatisfactory. Concerns about its effect on unborn babies were major barriers to vaccination.

Gender-Intersectional Regimes: How Gender & Nationality Shape Peace Initiatives in Israel-Palestine

Building on research that considers women’s roles an essential part of peacebuilding, this paper argues that a gender-national intersectionality perspective is needed to better understand the field of peace organizing. Exploring this in the context of intractable conflict in Israel-Palestine allows us to see how the intersection of gender and nationality uniquely affects women in peacebuilding. Relying on observations of group dynamics in a single organization and interviews with actors involved, we found that Palestinian women are the most marginalized in their participation, culture is used as a source of power in the way differences are conceptualized, and these aspects are embedded in gendered and gendering organizational practices that reproduce asymmetric gender-national power relations. These findings contribute to the theorization of the matrix of domination and how it is translated into peace organizing in both interactional and organizational practices, affecting possibilities of participation in dialogue groups and peacebuilding.

Gender Roles and Perceptions: The Refugee Experience and Political Agency in Susan Abulhawa’s The Blue Between Sky and Water and Against the Loveless World

The present study analyses the gendered impact of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. If conflict has a certain bearing on men, so on women. It offers an insight into the experiences of women during the conflict and beyond, the loss of dignity and independence and how they grapple with all these issues. The study explores the ways Palestinian women are shaped by perpetual patriarchy and political power struggles. It tries to capture their struggle with identity and exile and how they anchor the Palestinian narrative by highlighting the changing roles of women and their engagement in community activism.

Intergenerational intimacy geopolitics: family interviewing and generations of memory in occupied Palestine

Critiquing the state-centrism of mainstream geopolitical scholarship, feminist geopolitics has long emphasized the need to attend to how embodied and emotional experiences of everyday life are also bound up within geopolitical processes such as conflict and displacement. Similarly, the subfield of geographies of children, youth, and families has emphasized the ways in which the everyday lives and spaces of young people are implicated within broader scale geopolitical and economic processes. In both of these interrelated strands of research, the intimacy of home and family have emerged as seemingly unlikely sites of geopolitics. Although the gendered power dynamics of the family have received attention, less often considered is the way that inter-generational interactions within and outwith the family are also intertwined within and constitute a form of geopolitics. This paper examines generational encounters, differences, and gaps, as sites of geopolitics, where resistance, resilience, and political subjectivities are formed, performed, and negotiated. To do so we draw upon two separate but related research projects examining the spaces of intergenerational memory in occupied Palestine, one examining Palestinian women’s intergenerational memories of the occupation and resistance, and the other exploring intergenerational memories of a contested religious heritage site. These empirical case studies demonstrate how intergenerational relations are constrained and enlivened by differences in life-course vis-à-vis historical geopolitical events. Examining how memory and meaning are negotiated across generations injects temporality into the concept of intimacy geopolitics, defined as a set of distant and proximate spatial relations, emotional attachments, and embodied encounters through which geopolitics is performed. Alongside this conceptual contribution, we seek to advance a secondary methodological contribution to the geographies of children, youth, and families by reflecting upon the benefits and challenges to conducting intergenerational interviews in family homes and elsewhere.

Women’s Political Activism in Palestine: Peacebuilding, Resistance, and Survival

Women’s Political Activism in Palestine: Peacebuilding, Resistance, and Survival

Palestinian American Women’s Marriages within and beyond Borders

Abstract This article explores American Palestinian women’s discursive strategies and identity politics by which they take control of their marital choices. Through the analysis of sixteen in-depth interviews with second-generation Palestinian women and personal observations within the community, the article shows that nationalist and religious discourses produced by the historical contexts respectively stimulated (semi)arranged in-group marriages in the 1990s and self-initiated exogamous marriages as of the early 2000s. Among the group, Islam has become the primary form of identification, and religious discourse has been circulating within Islamic institutions post-1980s. Based on this transformation, the study draws on the strategic use of religious sentiments and Islamic discourse and argues that women’s prioritization of Islamic identity has increased their agency in spouse selection and marriage process. Women’s negotiations within an Islamic framework also expose the ways Muslim women counter and redefine gender roles by fortifying their religious beliefs and reinterpreting Islamic doctrine.

A Gendered Return

A Gendered Return

Predictors of Breast Milk Zinc Levels Among Breastfeeding Women in Palestine: a Cross-Sectional Study.

Zinc is one of the most important essential micronutrients that is needed for the normal growth, development, and maintaining the health of human beings. Previous studies showed that zinc deficiency was highly prevalent among pregnant and lactating women. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine breast milk zinc levels among breastfeeding women in Palestine and to identify the predictors of breast milk zinc levels. Breast milk samples were obtained from breastfeeding women who visited maternity and primary healthcare centers. Zinc levels were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Breast milk zinc levels were determined in 390 breast milk samples. The mean breast milk zinc level in all samples was 0.15 ± 0.09mg per 100mL. Breast milk zinc levels declined with postpartum time from 0.22 ± 0.011 at ≤ 1month postpartum to 0.09 ± 0.009mg per 100mL at > 9months postpartum (p-value < 0.001). Multiple linear regression showed that high breast milk zinc levels were predicted by younger maternal age, postpartum time, being employed, frequent consumption of multivitamins/minerals, and practicing exclusive breastfeeding. In conclusion, the breast milk zinc levels quantified among breastfeeding women in Palestine were comparable to those previously reported among non-malnourished women elsewhere. The findings of this study are informative to pediatricians, gynecologists, nurses/midwives, breastfeeding advisors/counselors, nutritionists, and policymakers who might be interested in designing and implementing interventions to improve breast milk zinc levels.

Between Barkat and the Little Ibtisam: Feminine Memory and Thereby Narrative in Ibtisam Barakat’s Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood

This paper examines the idea of the feminine memory and its role in re/establishing a new dimension of Palestinian history in Ibtisam Barakat’s Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (2007). The article draws on several core concepts in postcolonial studies, including diaspora narrative, trauma, and memory as well as Fatma Kassem’s study of the oral narratives of Palestinian women who witnessed the events of the 1948 War. Instead of being a mere memetic text that reflects historical incidents in literature, Tasting the Sky sheds light on the impact of traumatic experiences on both memory and the writing/narrative process. This feminine memory, focusing on traumatic experiences, seeks to construct a healing narrative that comes to terms with the traumatic past of the individual and the collective, and as a result, creates new realities. The novel demonstrates how memory and narrative can be encapsulated in a literary-political project, not merely to represent reality but to recreate it, recreating history from a countless number of scattered, traumatic, not-yet-graspable moments about a lost Home. We argue that this feminine memory is manifested through three perspectives: The domestic sphere, the female body and the female language.

Domestic Violence in Palestine during the Outbreak of COVID-19: A Qualitative Content Analysis

This article, by employing qualitative content analysis, examines domestic violence in Palestine during the outbreak of the pandemic. Based on 20 semi-structured online interviews conducted with Palestinian women who survived domestic violence via zoom in the early phase of the pandemic, I argue that the preventive measures of social distancing, quarantine and lockdown had a detrimental effect on women who are confined in the domestic spheres with abusive partners. While there have been calls from feminist organizations to combat domestic violence during the outbreak of COVID-19, there are legal and social barriers that impede women’s resort to help from others. I also contend that responses to the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbate violence against women which can be explained through the psychological mechanism of projection. Palestinian men are liable to project their sense of vulnerability and their difficulties coping with the restrictive mechanisms of the lockdown onto women, resulting in a noticeable increase in cases of domestic violence.

The use of clinical impact of the breast cancer intrinsic subtype-Prosigna assay for adjuvant treatment decision in early breast cancer with hormone receptor positive and HER-2 negative Middle East women.

e12527 Background: Clinico-pathological evaluations of intrinsic subtypes by immunohistochemistry (IHC) are routinely used for treatment decision in patients with early-stage breast cancer (EBC). The Prosigna (PAM50) gene signature, is validated test measures the expression levels of 50 genes from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor samples. It permits intrinsic subtype classification of tumor and prognostic test of risk of recurrence (ROR) score. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impact of Prosigna results on type of adjuvant treatment in EBC, to overcome disparities by comparing the results on different ethnicity groups in Israel and to asses physicians treatment decision before and after Prosigna results. Methods: This prospective, observational study was carried out in 7 Medical Centers at Northern Israel. Postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor–positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative invasive EBC were enrolled. Physicians completed treatment confidence questionnaires prior to and after receiving Prosigna test results. Only EBC : T 1-2, N0 and N1 were included. Results: Between May 2018 and April 2021, 238 women were enrolled, 204 patients are eligible for this analysis. Ashkenazi Jews were 38%, Sephardi Jews 32% and 30% were Palestinian Arab women. Mean age was 65.28 years. T1 was diagnosed in 82.3%, T2 in 17.3% and N1 in 22.4% of pts. At time of diagnosis tumor subtypes were categorized based on IHC as Luminal A in 50%, 54.4%, 59.5% and Luminal B in 50%, 44.6% and 40.5% of Sephardi, Ashkenazi and Arab patients retrospectively. Intrinsic tumor subtypes detected by the Prosigna test were Luminal A in 63.8%, 71%, 74.3% and Luminal B in 34.5% (+1.7% basal like), 29% and 25.7% respectively. No significant different between these groups. Overall 50.5% of pts were low risk, 26% intermediate risk and 23.5% high risk due to Prosigna results. Following Prosigna results 23.4% of the physicians changed their treatment recommendation. Conclusions: To our knowledge this is the first study using Prosigna test in Middle East women with early breast cancer. The use of Prosigna results led to a 23.4% change in adjuvant treatment decision. The results of this prospective study is similar to the data published in other studies in the literature. The intrinsic tumor subtypes and risk of recurrence detected by Prosigna adds to the physicians' confidence in the choice of treatment type. Prosigna test was additive for understanding the biology and for adjuvant treatment choice in both Jewish and Palestinian women in Israel.

Awareness of breast cancer risk factors and clinical presentation among women in occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most common cancer among Palestinian women and is associated with multiple risk factors. Poor knowledge can result in delayed diagnosis and shortened survival. We assessed knowledge about breast cancer among Palestinian women attending Palestinian Ministry of Health screening clinics. MethodsA questionnaire was developed in Arabic based on previous studies. It included questions about sociodemographic status and 20 questions concerning knowledge of risk factors for breast cancer (15 questions) and clinical presentation (five questions). The latter two sets of questions both showed internal consistency with (Cronbach α=0·681 and 0·688, respectively). A qualitative pilot study involving ten women was done to confirm the clarity of the questionnaire and appropriateness for the local context, from which thresholds for good knowledge were set of eleven for risk factors and four for clinical presentation. In the cross-sectional study, telephone interviews were performed with all women who had attended Palestinian Ministry of Health screening clinics in the north, middle, and south of the West Bank from Oct 1 to Dec 30, 2016. Respondents completed the questionnaire after giving verbal consent. χ2 testing was used to check for significant associations. Analysis was performed with SPSS version 20. Ethics approval for the study was obtained from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Findings444 telephone interviews were completed, 150 (34%) with women living in the north, 144 (32%) in the middle, and 150 (34%) in the south of the West Bank. 229 (52%) of respondents lived in urban areas, 209 (47%) in rural areas, and six (1%) in camps. 418 (94%) were or had been married. Regarding socioeconomic status, 130 (29%) were poor, 196 (44·1%) had middle incomes, and 118 (27%) had higher incomes. 208 (46·8%) women reported that they performed breast self-examination. 39 (8·8%) of respondents were aged 30–39 years (three refused to provide their ages), 205 (46%) 40–49 years, 142 (32%) aged 50–59 years, and 55 (12%) aged 60 years or older. 233 (53%) of women had completed fewer than 12 years of education. Respondents’ knowledge about risk factors for breast cancer was poor, with 409 (92%) scoring ten or less in the questionnaire. Knowledge of clinical presentation was better, with only 126 (28%) showing poor knowledge. Among correct answers for risk factors, the highest percentages were found for breastfeeding as a protective factor (366 [82%]) and cigarette smoking as a risk factor (347 [78%]), whereas the lowest percentages were seen for oral contraceptive use (53 [12%]) and excessive antibiotic use (73 [16%]) as risk factors. We found a significant association between knowledge of risk factors and age (p=0·042). Only 9% (n=35) of the 408 women who were classified as having poor knowledge were aged 30–39 years, compared with 48% (n=196) aged 40–49 years, 31% (n=124) aged 50–59, and 123% (n=51) aged 60 years or older. Among women with poor knowledge of clinical presentation, a significant association was found with less than 12 years of education (p=0·007) and with not practising breast self-examination (p=0·006). InterpretationThe level of education among the Palestinian women regarding breast cancer is inadequate. Further studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of breast self-examination and mammography screening, barriers to uptake of screening, and ways to increase knowledge in the community. FundingNone.

The validity and reliability of Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for screening breast cancer behaviours in occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most common cancer in Palestinian women. Breast self-examination and mammography screening are important tools to detect tumours early and improve survival. Champion's Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS) is a self-report instrument that can help in detecting beliefs and behaviours. This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Arabic version of CHBMS to assess the beliefs and behaviours of Palestinian women in West Bank, occupied Palestinian Territory, towards screening and health education programmes for early detection of breast cancer. MethodsThe English version of the CHBMS questionnaire was translated into Arabic and revised by two bilingual experts. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic questions relating to the following eight subscales: susceptibility to breast cancer (three items), seriousness of breast cancer (seven items), benefits of breast self-examination (six items), barriers to performing examinations (nine items), and confidence in performing examinations (ten items), health motivation (seven items), and benefits of (six items) and barriers to (nine items) performing mammography. A qualitative pilot with ten different women was performed to assess the clarity of the translated CHBMS and its appropriateness to the local context. We then did a cross-sectional study in which all attendees to the main Palestinian Ministry of Health screening clinics in the north, middle, and south of West Bank from Oct 1 to Dec 30, 2016, were asked to be interviewed by telephone. Respondents gave verbal consent to participate. Varimax rotation was used to extract factors with 0·40 loading or greater. The items for breast self-examination and the mammography screening scales were considered separately; 42 items related to breast self-examination were loaded on six subscales and the 15 items related to mammography screening were loaded on two subscales. The internal consistency of each subscale was tested using Cronbach's α and no increase of more than 0·1 if any item was deleted. All analyses were done with SPSS version 22. Results444 interviews were completed. The items “if someone developed [breast cancer], she would not live longer than 5 years” and “Doing [breast self-examination] will make me worry” did not meet any subscale loading criterion. The item “I don’t feel I can do [breast self-examination] correctly” loaded on the confidence subscale instead of being categorized as a barrier to breast examination. The five items referring to mammography screening benefits and the eight items referring to mammography screening barriers loaded to their respective two subscales. Internal consistency for each breast self-examination subscale was acceptable to high: benefits (Cronbach's α=0·931), barriers (0·624) and confidence (0·923), susceptibility (0·941), seriousness (0·786) and health motivation (0·595). The internal consistency for the mammography screening benefits and barriers were good (Cronbach's α=0·668 and 0·640, respectively). InterpretationThe study supports the use of CHBMS as a tool with potential to measure beliefs and behaviours related to breast self-examination and mammography screening among Palestinian women. Improved understanding of these factors will lead to development of more effective educational programmes. FundingNone.

The role of Women in the Palestinian Society under the British Occupation (1917-1948)

The study aimed to identify the important roles that Palestinian women exercised under the British occupation, and to clarify the political positions of Palestinian women towards the British occupation.&#x0D; The study aimed to shed light on women's resistance to the British occupation through supplying the revolutionaries with weapons and equipment, and identify their cultural and media role in the Palestinian society.&#x0D; The study concludes with several results, the most important of which are: the development of the role of the Palestinian women's movement in resisting the British occupation, participating in demonstrations, and sending messages to protest against the policy of the British occupation. Finally, the study recommends increasing attention to the role of Palestinian women in the Palestinian society and conducting studies on the role of Palestinian women under the Israeli occupation.

Challenges of Mothering in Extended Families: The Case of Palestinian Women in Israel

Historical and cross-cultural records show that childrearing is generally situated within a community of significant others, particularly kin. These others not only shape children’s behavior, but also shape that of mothers. The purpose of this paper is to explore this phenomenon from the point of view of Palestinian mothers in Israel. This is an instructive case study because the Arab society in Israel is undergoing fundamental changes, many of which shape—and are shaped by—changes in women’s lives, including shifts in perceptions and practices of mothering. Based on short, semi-structured interviews with 51 Palestinian mothers, the paper explores the challenges of mothering in the context of the extended family, with a focus on intergenerational relations. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, supported by descriptive statistics. Findings revealed experiences of persistent “interference” in their mothering on the part of the older generation, exacerbated in circumstances of close residential proximity. These experiences did not lead to open conflict but rather served to bolster the women’s resolve to carve out their own ways of mothering.

Analysing care policies and practices in times of austerity and conflict: the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

ABSTRACT In fragile and conflict-affected contexts, the COVID-19 pandemic hit communities much harder than elsewhere by adding another layer of vulnerability to their already precarious circumstances. Around the world, many pandemic recovery plans were devoid of gender-sensitivity, such as lacking explicit recognition of, or introduction of, substantive steps, supporting women’s quest for improved care services. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), where the pandemic coincided with other crises such as the occupation, an escalated military offensive (May 2021 in Gaza), heatwaves due to climate change, and a longstanding economic crisis, pandemic recovery is particularly challenging. This paper examines the channels through which Palestinian women’s multi-layered vulnerabilities continue to worsen despite the Palestinian Authority’s pandemic recovery measures. It does so by documenting the plethora of ways in which women’s wellbeing is hampered by critical factors such as informal modes of employment, patriarchal social norms, unpaid care responsibilities, and the longstanding absence of any social protections. The policy analysis reveals that there is widespread fragmentation in the design of pandemic recovery policies which attempt to address their highly complex and multi-layered challenges. Using the case of women in the OPT as an example, it proposes several policy recommendations to help address Palestinian women’s unique vulnerabilities even within their existing limitations.

"No safe place": Applying the transactional stress and coping model to active warfare.

The mental health consequences of political violence arise within active, dynamic processes of appraisal and coping. Understanding the psychological sequela of war is an urgent task; yet, we have little on the ground exploration of the quotidian events within and the accompanying psychological responses of the totalizing experience of war. Using a transactional-based model of stress and coping, in this study, we use a novel method-retrospective diaries-to explore the shifting, unpredictable, and traumatic nature of life during a major military operation. Our sample consisted of 21 Palestinian women recruited via an intervention for teachers in Gaza. Women's retrospective chronological diaries were analyzed using content analysis. Our analysis drew out the cyclical process of coping within political violence, demonstrating five essential temporal dimensions: warning; bombings, with injuries, death, and destruction; reintegrating within flight and resettlement; ongoing political insecurity within precarious truces and rampant loss and destruction; and persevering: restarting life amid pervasive trauma. Our findings draw attention to vital temporal dimensions and the cyclical nature of stress and coping that underlie the sequela of mental health in a highly charged context. In tracing warfare, its psychosocial consequences, and distinct patterns of emotional and logistical survival, our study contributes to the growing field of psychological epidemiology of war. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Women\u2019s awareness of breast cancer symptoms: a national cross-sectional study from Palestine

BackgroundEarly diagnosis is crucial to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with breast cancer (BC). Awareness of BC symptoms plays a key role in this. This study aimed to evaluate the Palestinian women’s awareness of BC symptoms and determine factors associated with good awareness.MethodsThis was a national cross-sectional study conducted from July 2019 to March 2020 in Palestine. Convenience sampling was used to recruit adult women from hospitals, primary healthcare centers, and public spaces located in 11 governorates. A translated-into-Arabic version of the validated BC awareness measure was utilized for data collection. The awareness level was categorized based on the number of symptoms recognized into: poor (0 to 4), fair (5 to 9), and good (10 to 13).ResultsOf 6269 approached, 5434 participants completed the questionnaire (response rate = 86.7%). A total of 5257 questionnaires were included in the analysis: 2551 from the Gaza Strip and 2706 from the West Bank and Jerusalem (WBJ). Participants living in the WBJ were more likely to be older, have higher monthly income, and suffer from more chronic diseases than participants living in the Gaza Strip.The most frequently identified BC symptom was ‘lump or thickening in the breast’ (n = 4887, 92.9%) followed by ‘lump or thickening under the armpit’ (n = 4394, 83.6%). The least frequently identified symptoms were ‘pulling in of the nipple’ (n = 2665, 50.7%) and ‘change in the position of the nipple’ (n = 2710, 51.6%).A total of 2191 participants (41.7%) demonstrated good awareness of BC symptoms. Participants from the Gaza Strip were more likely than participants from the WBJ to have good awareness (47.0.0% vs. 36.7%). On the multivariable analysis, being ≥ 40 years, completing a post-secondary education, knowing someone with cancer, and visiting hospitals and primary healthcare centers were all associated with an increase in the likelihood of having good awareness. However, living in the WBJ was associated with a decrease in the likelihood of having good awareness.ConclusionLess than half of women included in this study showed good awareness of BC symptoms. More targeted educational interventions are needed to promote Palestinian women’s awareness of BC symptoms to facilitate early diagnosis.