Palestine Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization appears briefly in the book as an example in an argument about gender and political change. The reference contrasts the greater visibility of women’s roles in the organization two decades earlier with what the author reads as evidence of its de-secularization; it does not provide a wider history or organizational profile.

Reference and Context

The discussion arises in a comparison involving attitudes toward women’s military service. The author notes that popular Arab press criticism of Israel treated women serving in its army as evidence of the state’s supposed perversion, while women’s participation in suicide attacks was publicly praised. Against that contrast, the author recalls that women’s roles in the Palestine Liberation Organization had been much more visible two decades earlier.

Gender and Political Change

The earlier visibility of women is presented as a sign of a more secular political setting, while its decline is offered as an indication of the organization’s de-secularization. The book does not specify particular women, offices, policies, or dates, so the claim remains a compressed interpretive comparison rather than a detailed account of institutional change.

Scope of the Account

The Palestine Liberation Organization is not discussed here through its structure, leadership, program, or actions. Its significance in this passage is narrower: it serves as a historical reference point in the author’s argument that political attitudes toward women can register a shift in the relationship between secular politics and religious identification.