Palestine

For a nation in captivity, reproduction goes far beyond the classical meaning of the being. An existential instrument it becomes assuring survival and asserting identity. In these situations, women birth the Nation rather than birthing their own children. Hence, rhetoric and discourses surrounding reproduction including those on women, health and policy become inflamed and challenging. This book looks into the relationship between the contexts of reproductive health discourses in Palestine and the implications this has for policy formulation. It suggests four major interconnected contexts the interplay of which generates the reproductive health profile of the nation. The analysis sheds some light on environmental conduciveness as a key determinant in successful policy formulation and implementation, firstly at the normative level, where change is introduced to attitudes framing conditions for discourse and secondly at the discursive level, where collaborative policy making is a key to governance achieved through authentic dialogue and its transformational power. The book should be useful to professionals interested in gender, health, population, policy and countries in conflict.