Um Jaber

Um Jaber is one of the most magnificent women I have ever had the honour of meeting.

Um Jaber is a term of respect which means 'the mother of Jaber', a colleague of mine who I featured in my first blip. She is also known as the mother of all Palestinian prisoners.

Jaber was imprisoned at the age of 19 and held in detention for 14 years because of his part in the resistance against the occupation. He now works as a human rights defender.

While Jaber was in prison, his mother became a strong defender of prisoners' rights. She was one of few mothers who was able to visit her son, so she used to also visit all of the other Palestinian prisoners and agitate for better detention conditions for them.

In 1995, after prisoner visits were suspended, Um Jaber and another mother of a prisoner began a weekly vigil, a sit-in protest outside the office of the ICRC in Gaza City.

She said, "I had this idea to hold a vigil with photographs of the prisoners, to make sure they were not forgotten. It was just the two of us standing outside the ICRC the first time - but we knew the next week there would be three or four of us, and then, slowly, more mothers would come."

Around 250 women now attend the vigil every week.

Um Jaber is very skilled in the traditional Palestinian cross-stitch, which she spends hours working on every day. She is wearing a dress which she completely embroidered herself. When we admired it, she laughed and said, "I have fifteen more beautiful such dresses in my wardrobe at home".

She is a warm and welcoming woman, but also strong and formidable, the epitome of a Palestinian matriarch.