Female Gazan PLC candidate to 'Post': I want a say in the decisions shaping my life - interview

At just 29, Hiyam Taha has already spent years challenging expectations of what a Palestinian woman can do. From earning the trust of a community initially uncomfortable with a woman dispensing medicine to breaking into the male-dominated world of sports, the pharmacist has now set her sights on politics.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday from Hamas-controlled territory in the Gaza Strip, Taha explained why she broke through strict gender expectations a third time to enter politics, why she aligned herself with Masar Jadid (New Path) and what she thinks needs to change for the Palestinian people to have a more prosperous future.

Taha is a licensed pharmacist, a member of the Palestinian Pharmacists Association, and works in the medical humanitarian field. She has witnessed firsthand the “collapsing” healthcare system and its impact on Palestinian civilians.

“As a healthcare professional, you witness firsthand how fragile the healthcare system has become. Patients are struggling to find basic medications, clinics are being undersourced, and the healthcare system is completely collapsing…” she said.

“I struggled to find a place in society as a healthcare professional in Gaza. It’s very hard to prove yourself. I wanted more. I wanted my voice to participate in decision-making because, as a young woman, I have been living through the consequences of political decisions. How about I get a say in that? I want to be a part of this, and if I am going to open the door a little wider for women to see the light in Gaza, then I’m willing to take on the difficulties.”

Taha says Gaza communities fractured, and scattered families need rebuilding

After being displaced five times during the Israel-Hamas War, Taha has watched communities fracture, and families scatter. Some of the patients she spent years building relationships with, including those who initially resisted being treated by a woman, have moved on.

She had earned their trust, sometimes calling them in her own time to discuss their medication schedules, only to have to start over again and again from tents and humanitarian facilities struggling to keep up with demand.

Taha didn’t assign blame for the reality she has lived through, but rather said she felt a responsibility to speak for those dealing with the consequences of decisions made by political leadership detached from reality in the group.

“I want to be the voice of those people, especially patients and young people like myself who have no one speaking on their behalf. I wanted to be their voice, and that was the reason I entered politics and ran for the Legislative Council,” she said.

After privately studying politics while running her own business, organizing boxing classes for women and continuing her work in the medical field, Taha felt compelled to join New Path, which she said was one of the few political spaces where she could find a place as a young person and as a woman in a field dominated by men who have held power for decades.

New Path President Samer Sinijlawi has frequently spoken to and written in the Post about the need to include fresh voices in politics, especially among young people who have inherited the disasters of its leadership.

A fierce critic of Abbas, Sinijlawi told the Post on Monday that he wants to “open political and economic life to a new generation. Women and young people must become decision-makers, not simply symbolic participants. Public appointments should be based on competence rather than loyalty or connections, while education, healthcare, and economic policy must be redesigned to improve people’s daily lives and create real opportunities.”

For Taha, who said she had to fight most of her life for a seat at the table, being handed such an opportunity has been an empowering experience and an opportunity that every Palestinian should be presented with, regardless of their gender.

Taha's vision of democracy and peace

Asked about her and New Path’s vision for what comes next, she said it was important to spread a “democratic cultural atmosphere” and to end the conflict with Israel with a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines.

“Those are things no other parties are talking about in a clear way. We want this to happen. We want negotiations to happen. We want us to be responsible for the negotiation for the first time, not as observers, and not to let mediators interfere with our decision-making,” she said. “We want this for us as Palestinians to happen, and that's the difference between New Path and other parties.”

New Path is focused on communicating to Palestinians “that if you want to have the life and the future you deserve as a young Palestinian, you have to think smartly, and you have to think to expand your horizon, and to know that negotiations will lead you to the future you want,” she continued.

The November elections for the Palestinians Legislative Council present a long-delayed chance for Palestinian statehood, she continued. The upcoming elections will allow Palestinians access to a legitimate authority and state institutions with oversight that can be held accountable by the people.

She insisted that even if the vote couldn’t solve every issue impacting Palestinian society, the economy, education, healthcare and conflict, it will be the “first step that we Palestinians should take, at least to have a legitimate authority that Palestinians could hold accountable afterward.”

She also spoke about needing to shift the image of Palestinians in the global arena from victims and charity cases to capable individuals both willing and able to manage their own affairs.

“We’re just normal citizens who want to live peacefully without interference. If we want to live peacefully, we want to have a future. I want my kids to be in a safe zone. I want to have a say in decisions because if your political decisions are the reason I’m living through these circumstances and consequences, why don’t you let me have a say in that, or let me participate in changing that? If your decisions affect my life directly, then I want to be a part of changing this,” she continued.

Living in a tent as a woman, without the protection of walls or doors that lock, in a territory where speaking to an Israeli is illegal, Taha’s safety is tied to the elections going ahead in November, even if taking part is a gamble. She has witnessed people living without private bathrooms or basic sanitation, and she is risking everything to help Palestinians return to a normal life after years of living in squalor.

In her concluding remarks to the Post, Taha emphasized how critical it is for Gazans to return to their homes, where they can finally sleep with both eyes closed.