International Women’s Day was marked by the showing of the film The Voice of Hind Rajab at the Melville Centre, Abergavenny.
Following the screening, Rawaa Ramadan addressed the sold-out theatre.
Palestinian Women…
The Pulse of the Land, the Voice of Resilience
Today, on the 8th of March, as the world celebrates International Women’s Day, I stand here before you to honour the Palestinian woman- not as a distant symbol, not as a headline, not as an image frozen in time – but as a living story.
A story of strength,
A story of dignity,
A story of unshakable identity.
In a land where the scent of thyme rises from the soil and olive trees stand as silent witnesses to centuries of history – there lives a woman who has mastered a rare and extraordinary art – the art of transforming pain into strength, tears into prayer and waiting into purpose.
She has learned how to stand when the ground beneath her trembles. She has learned how to hope when hope seems fragile.
She has learned how to carry both memory and future in the same heart.
And nowhere is this truth more visible today than in Gaza.
The women of Gaza
On this International Women’s Day, we honour the women of Gaza-
not as distant figures in the news, not as statistics in reports, but as human beings whose strength has been tested in unimaginable ways.
This year, Women’s Day in Gaza does not arrive with flowers or celebration halls.
It arrives in tents,
It arrives in damaged neighbourhoods,
It arrives in overcrowded shelters where privacy has disappeared, but dignity stays.
It arrives in hospitals running on limited supplies.
It arrives in the quiet determination of mothers who refuse to let despair define their children’s future.
Yet even there – especially there – the Palestinian woman stays what she has always been: the pulse of the land and the keeper of its story.
Guardian of Memory … Mother of the Story
She is not simply a woman in an embroidered dress – she walks carrying her village on her shoulders.
In every stitch of her thobe lives a name of a city,
In every pattern, a memory of a home,
In every thread, a mother’s laughter, a young girl’s dream.
Her dress is not a decoration: it is a map of a homeland.
Through storytelling, music, language, and food she safeguards a rich heritage that keeps identity alive despite displacement.
A grandmother sits beside her granddaughter and speaks of olive trees that refuse to bow, of homes that may fall but never disappear from the heart. And so, the story travels – from one heart to another, from one generation to the next.
A Mother in Difficult Times
She knows fear – but she knows steadfastness even more.
She holds her children close and teaches them that a homeland is not only land you see, but dignity you protect and identity you refuse to surrender. Even in the hardest moments, she plants in their hearts the certainty that tomorrow will rise, and that justice – even if delayed – will come.
They grieve, but they do not surrender. They adapt , but do not forget.
A Woman Who Creates Life Despite Everything
In Gaza, Ramallah, in Jerusalem, and beyond, Palestinian women stand on the front lines of life:
A doctor healing wounds,
A teacher opening windows of light,
A journalist carrying truth,
A student holding her books as if she is holding the future itself.
She does not wait for opportunities – she creates them. She does not wait for permission – she leads.
She does not wait for light – she becomes it.
Her spirit stays wider than any border.
On International Women’s Day
On this International Women’s Day, we honour Palestinian woman not only for her resilience, but for her creativity, intelligence, compassion, and unwavering belief in a better tomorrow.
She is not only a symbol of struggle. She is laughter.
She is tenderness.
She is courage.
She is the land when it blossoms. She is the homeland when it is called. She is the hope that never fades.
Their story is one of strength. Their future is one of possibility.