How to be a Palestinian supermom

Nabi Saleh, occupied West Bank – Friday is a day of protest in Nabi Saleh.

Manal Tamimi has been going to these protests for as long as she can remember. To her, to be a Palestinian parent is to be an activist. It’s impossible to separate the two roles. Taking care of her children often involves protecting them from Israeli soldiers and settlers.

“Ninety percent of Palestinian mothers experience, at one point in their lives, to have one of their children either be injured or arrested,” she said.

It’s true for her family. Her eldest son, Osama, was shot with a tear gas canister and could not see clearly for almost two months.

Her second son, Hamada, was also injured twice. His second injury came when an Israeli soldier shot him in his thigh with .22 calibre live ammunition. Shrapnel from the bullet is still lodged in his leg.

When Manal marches against illegal settlements or writes social media posts about administrative detention, she says she is fighting for her children’s future and defending their rights.

Manal and her husband Bilal are part of Nabi Saleh’s local media team. Bilal films and photographs every protest in the village while she runs a Twitter account.

Being a mother in an occupied territory also means having difficult conversations with very young children. Most of them have witnessed friends or family members beaten, arrested and even killed

Manal has been arrested and shot more than once. It traumatised her daughter, and Manal stopped going to protests for a while. The injuries have also forced her to stay at home on Fridays.

She now hosts journalists and activists that come through Nabi Saleh, and cooks for protesters who return exhausted and teary-eyed from the mace.

As Manal likes to say, “There is more than one way to resist.”

Archive footage: Bilal Tamimi

Music: Melt by Broke for Free