Sameera Abu-Ghazaleh

Samira Abu Ghazaleh (1928–12 January 2017) was a Palestinian poet, scholar, professor, political activist, and soldier advocating for the liberation and statehood of Palestine.

Early life Born in Nablus in 1928, she completed her primary and secondary schooling in Ramla. She later graduated from the Female Teachers' Training College in Jerusalem in 1947.

Education She attended the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1952 working on a bachelor's in education and psychology, but was expelled in 1955 because of her political protests against the Baghdad Pact. She later attended Cairo University and graduated with her bachelor's in Arab Literature in 1952.

While in Beirut studying for her BA, Abu Ghazzaleh was outspoken at meetings of the Arab Nationalist Movement, al-Urwa al-Wuthqa [the Unbreakable Bond], and her fellow AUB female students interacting with US Marines who were 'visiting' Lebanon's beaches.

In 1955, she protested against the Baghdad Pact, was expelled from AUB, and went into hiding for ten days and later returned to Nablus. At home, she worked to advocate for women to participate in the protests and she participated in rallies for political and voting rights during that time.

In 1963, she tried to establish the Palestinian Women's League in Cairo and joined the Popular Mobilization Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) in 1964. From 1965 to 1985 she remained a member of the Palestine National Council and was elected to the PLO Central Council in 1985.

As a part of her work with the PLO she founded the House for Palestinian Female Students in Cairo and helped open several Palestinian home projects that employed women and families.

She hosted the Fatat Filastin [Girls of Palestine] radio program on Radio Palestine and had a weekly column in al-Difaaʿ [Defense] newspaper in Jerusalem.

Publications

Abu Ghazaleh, Samira (1962) مذكرات فتاة عربية". القاهرة، [Memoirs of an Arab Girl] Abu Ghazaleh, Samira (1965) دراسات في الشعر القومي". القاهرة، [Studies on Nationalist Poetry] Abu Ghazaleh, Samira (1989) نداء الأرض"، شعر. القاهرة، [Call of the Land]