The campaign for increasing Palestinian women political participation was a remarkable experience not only in Palestine but also in the region. The campaign which started in early 2003 and continued until the adaptation of a new election's law at the end of 2005 managed to change the public perception about the role of women in the Political sphere. The campaign managed to achieve a special women quota in the local and parliamentary elections law which led eventually to almost 17% women representation in the parliament. Heinrich Boell Foundation in cooperation with the General Union of Palestinian Women decided to document the experience and make it available as a successful model for similar future campaigns and as an example which can be used in other Arab countries.
Many women organizations and activists participated in the campaign which makes the success a collective measure. Many lessons were learnt and many success stories and best practices could be identified. The documentation process was prepared by Ms. Khadija Habashneh-Abu Ali who was the campaign coordinator. Ms. Habashneh wrote two chapters as introductory and conclusion of the campaign efforts using her own assessment as a feminist and a women's activist. The documents, papers, newspapers articles, slogans and media material were collected and presented for future reference as well as giving examples for future similar campaigns.
The structure and content of the book were presented in two workshops. The workshop in Ramallah/Gaza used the video conference technique to facilitate a meeting with Gaza activists, especially the women who were active in the campaign with activists from the middle and north of the West Bank. Another workshop was organized in Nablus. Comments were collected by the author, who made the necessary changes