Dalal Mughrabi: The Palestinian Woman Who Made the Occupation Tremble
Palestinian Women in Combat
Palestinian Women in Combat: The Story of Dalal Mughrabi
Palestinian women fighters confronted occupation with their bodies, minds, and resolve—never waiting for permission or approval.
Palestinian women have participated in combat long before the concept existed publicly, taking roles on the front lines and shaping lasting resistance.
I, like many Palestinian women, grew up hearing of women who protected villages, sheltered fighters, led uprisings, and forged our national identity. Even before the Nakba, I gave a presentation about this part of the history.
Yet some still expect Palestinian women to be silent and passive, waiting for aid, as if occupation distinguishes by gender or freedom is gained by waiting politely, as I have noticed recently happening in the UK.
But the truth every Palestinian knows is simple: our women have never been spectators. They have always been part of the struggle, the memory, and the future.
These women broke imposed stereotypes and challenged the system, attempting to control the narrative of our history.
After writing about Palestinian women like Leila Khaled and Theresa Halsa, now it is time to introduce you to a name that cannot be ignored, no matter how hard opposing narratives try to erase it: Dalal Mughrabi. This shift marks a shift to a new exemplar of female resistance.
The young woman who walked out of a refugee camp carrying all of Palestine on her shoulder left behind a question that continues to haunt the occupation to this day:
How can one woman unsettle the entire zionist entity?
Dalal Mughrabi: From Refugee Camp to Resistance Icon
Dalal Mughrabi was born in Beirut’s Sabra refugee camp to a family displaced from Yafa in 1948. She grew up surrounded by Nakba of loss, exile, and survival — events that created an entire generation of Palestinians born in a world that denied them both home and future.
She joined Fatah at a young age, like most Palestinians at that time, boys and girls in their early teens, trained in a military campus, and she quickly became known for her discipline, leadership, and clarity of purpose. She belonged to a generation that believed the world would not hear the Palestinian voice unless Palestinians forced it to listen.
The Coastal Road Operation: Two Narratives, One History
On 11 March 1978, Dalal led a group of 11 fighters in what Palestinians call Operation Kamal Adwan ( Kamal Adwan is a Palestinian figure), while the zionist entity refers to it as the Coastal Road attack.
Inside the bus, the young Palestinian Dalal Mughrabi addressed the hostages with calmness, even occupation accounts noted:
She said, “We do not want to kill you. We are holding you as hostages to free our brothers imprisoned in your so‑called state.”
she continued
“We are a people demanding our right to a homeland you stole. What brought you here to our land?”
She noticed confusion on their faces, then she asked:
“Do you even understand my language… or are you strangers to both the language and the land?”
A young Jewish woman from Yemen, who spoke Arabic, translated Dalal’s words. Dalal then took out a folded Palestinian flag, kissed it, and hung it inside the bus while softly singing:
“Biladi -my homeland-… Biladi -my homeland-… Falasteen — to you, we shall return.”
Dalal and her comrades were killed after intense clashes. Photographs later showed the terrorist Ehud Barak dragging her by the hair and kicking her body — an image that exposed the long‑documented Jewish zionist practice of mistreating Palestinian bodies.
In 2008, the occupier claimed to have returned her remains, but DNA tests proved otherwise. Her real resting place remains unknown — part of a long, painful history of withholding Palestinian bodies, condemned by international human rights organizations.
Dalal left behind a message to her comrades:
“Keep fighting until every inch of Palestinian land is free.”
Dalal’s actions must be understood within the framework of international law and Palestinian rights; it is time to make them known worldwide.
1. The Right to Resist Occupation
International law recognizes the right of peoples under occupation to resist. Key documents include:
UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 (1982)
Recognizes the ‘inalienable right of peoples under foreign occupation to struggle by all available means, as per the UN Charter.’
UN Resolution 1514 (1960)
Affirms self-determination and rejects foreign rule.
Geneva Conventions (1949)
Define occupation and ban collective punishment, extrajudicial killing, torture, and withholding bodies.
These articles form the legal foundation for defending the Palestinian right to resist occupation in international forums today. To understand the lived reality, we must also consider the violations documented by international organizations.
2. Documented Violations by the Occupying Power
Palestinian victims of the ongoing Nakba and International organizations — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UN Special Rapporteurs — have documented:
forced displacement, inside Palestine and the diaspora
extrajudicial killings
collective punishment
settlement expansion (a war crime under the Rome Statute)
targeting civilians
torture and ill‑treatment
withholding bodies
Organs trafficing
These acts are grave breaches of international law.
3. The Paradox of “Terrorism” Labels
In the Western part of the occupation discourse, those resisting occupation may be called ‘terrorists’. At the same time, the occupier claims self-defense, despite documented violations, and the West itself took part in.
But international law is clear:
An occupying power cannot claim the right of self‑defense against the population it occupies.
This was affirmed by:
UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk
The International Court of Justice (Advisory Opinion on the Wall, 2004)
In other words:
The occupier does not defend itself — it ends its occupation.
Conclusion: Dalal Mughrabi and the Question That Remains
Dalal Mughrabi was not seeking glory. She was the daughter of a people who had been displaced, bombarded, and silenced — and she chose a path caused by the violence and suffering of her era.
Today, decades later, the same question remains:
Why are the occupied people labeled “terrorists,” while the occupier is allowed to commit crimes with impunity?
History, law, and memory all point to one truth:
The occupation is the cause of violence — everything else is its consequence.
A Final Note
I’m always open to giving talks, lectures, or seminars for anyone who genuinely wants to understand the culture, politics, and lived history of the Levant. And if there’s a topic I can’t cover myself, I’m more than happy to bring in people who were part of the history — people with real knowledge, real experience, and real memory.
If you want the truth, start with the people who lived it.
Taghrid Al-Mawed. Writing from Wales, but with my soul in Palestine.
Share widely — but please credit my writing
