alQaws is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

civil society organization founded in

grassroots activism A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

, aiming to be at the forefront of Palestinian cultural and

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Sustained at a larger scale, it may lead to social transformation or societal transformat ...

. The organization works to build

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

communities and promote new ideas about the role of

gender and sexual diversity Sexual diversity or gender and sexual diversity (GSD), refers to all the diversities of sex characteristics, sexual orientations and gender identities, without the need to specify each of the identities, behaviors, or characteristics that for ...

political activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

, civil society institutions, media, and everyday life. The organization also describes itself as " queer-feminist" and "

anti-colonial Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolon ...

" in regards to the

Israeli-occupied territories Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prio ...

. In August 2019, the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

banned Al Qaws from operating in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. The police statement was later withdrawn by the end of the month following backlash. However, Al Qaws claims that police persecution has merely shifted to individual persecution of the organization's members.

History

The organization started as an independent local project formed by the

Jerusalem Open House The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH, ''HaBayit HaPatuach'', "Open House"; ''Al-Beit Al-Maftoukh'') is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1997 that runs an LGBTQ community center offering educational and social events and a ...

in 2001. The group split-off and was formally established as Al Qaws in 2007 and became quickly the main NGO advocating for LGBT+ rights in the country. Al Qaws continues to run workspaces and active programs in various locations throughout rural and urban Palestinian communities. Their activities include a national hotline with a team dedicated to supporting transgender people, local community discussion events about sexuality entitled "Hawamesh", and a training program for leaders in Palestinian institutions such as schools, youth groups, and human rights organizations. In 2011, Al Qaws, Aswat and LGBTQ activist

Sarah Schulman Sarah Miriam Schulman (born July 28, 1958) is an American novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer, screenwriter, gay activist, and AIDS historian. She holds an endowed chair in nonfiction at Northwestern University and is a fellow of the New York ...

joined to organize a delegation of several LGBT people from the United States to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. In 2012, the document "An Open Letter to LGBTQ Communities in the Israeli Occupation of Palestine" was published by the delegation. In 2013, Al Qaws brought together 70 Palestinians, including well-known singers, music technicians, and community members, to reach out to young Palestinians through alternative music and pop culture. In 2014, Al Qaws co-signed a document with other civil organizations calling for an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes committed during the

2014 Israel–Gaza conflict The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge (, ), and Battle of the Withered Grain (), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since ...

. In April 2019, Al Qaws and activist group Pinkwatching Israel called for a Palestinian boycott of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

, hosted by Israel, in opposition to " pinkwashing". On July 26, 2019, a 16-year-old teen from the

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

town of

Tamra Tamra (, or ) is an Arab city in the North District of Israel located in the Lower Galilee north of the city of Shefa-Amr and approximately east of Acre. In it had a population of . History Tamra is an ancient village on a hill. Old square ...

was stabbed by his brother near a shelter for LGBT youth because of his sexual orientation/gender identity. The event was the subject of considerable debate in Palestinian society, leading to a statement being released on July 27, 2019, by Al Qaws and signed by more than thirty Palestinian institutions condemning violence towards people with different sexual and gender orientations. Public debate also led to a demonstration led by alQaws on August 1, 2019, in partnership with several queer and feminist Palestinian organizations with more than 200 people gathering in Al-Aseer Square in Haifa. On August 17, 2019, the

spokesperson released a statement claiming to ban Al Qaws' activities in the

. The statement came following the increased visibility of Al Qaws' work on social media after widespread media coverage of the Haifa demonstration. This increased attention to the organization's social media pages led to some anger over Al Qaws' announcement of a discussion event that was held in

Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...

and the announcement of an upcoming queer youth camp. On August 27, 2019, the

rescinded the ban following backlash and condemnation from human rights groups. According to Al Qaws, the police have not officially rescinded their statement, merely quietly depublished it, and the police has continued to restrict Al Qaws' activities and to harass its members.

Location

Four centers are linked to the association. They are located in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

and

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

Notes

References

{{ Middle East topic , LGBT rights in LGBTQ culture in Jerusalem LGBTQ rights organizations LGBTQ culture in the Arab world Human rights organizations based in Palestine Organizations established in 2007 Queer feminism LGBTQ organisations based in Palestine