Palestinian Policewomen Making Inroads

"It was very difficult but we managed to convince the people of the necessity of a female police force in the country," said Mabrouk (L). (Reuters)

"People could not understand how women could be in the streets, performing police work just like men," Mabrouk, 31, told Reuters.

Wearing her dark blue uniform, Mabrouk cuts a popular figure in her neighborhood in Gaza City, where children came up to shake her hand and men and women exchanged greetings with her.

Reluctant to break taboos in a conservative society, few women heeded the call to join the Gaza police force in 1995 after the Palestinian Authority was established and limited self-rule came into effect.

"It was very difficult but we managed to convince the people of the necessity of a female police force in the country," Mabrouk said.

But even now, the 370 policewomen in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are a small minority within security services comprised of more than 60,000 members.

"Few women came forward when the Authority was first founded but recently when we asked for new applicants we were surprised that hundreds applied," Mabrouk said.

Pivotal Role

Ramzi Shahin, head of the police media office, said policewomen have played an important role in fighting crime.

"They helped to detain woman thieves and have managed to get into places where a man would never be allowed to enter because of community traditions," he told Reuters.

She works in the police administration department now, no longer taking part in arrest raids or directing traffic – a change partly dictated by the force's desire to keep policewomen out of harm's way during recent factional warfare.

The mother of a seven-year-old girl, Mabrouk takes her daughter to school before heading to work. She is back home on time to cook and clean before classes are dismissed.

While Mabrouk and others have opted to become involved keeping order, other Palestinian women have become active in resistance groups.

Some have taken part in marches that resistance groups have organized in Gaza, parading through the streets.

Palestinian Women also have been involved in self-bombings against Israeli occupation forces.

Recently, an elderly women blew herself up near Israeli soldiers during a raid into northern Gaza Strip.

In a rare heroic scene, Palestinian mothers and wives last November braved Israeli helicopter gunships to rescue 15 fighters besieged in a northern Gaza mosque, using their bodies as human shields.