Amneh Kamal Sulaiman, originally from Palestine, was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon in 1951. She graduated from Beirut Arab University in 1977 with a BA in English Literature. Then she worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and became a refugee camp advisor in 1973 and Deputy Chairwoman of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) in 1981, of which she headed the Lebanon branch since 1982. She became a member of Palestinian National Council in 1983.

Amneh attended several workshops on rehabilitation, illiteracy, child labor and gender issues. Moreover, she participated in a number of international conferences defending the Palestinian cause, including the International Women’s Conference in Prague (1981); the Non-Governmental Organizations Network Conference in Chile (1991); the International Women’s Conference in Beijing (1995); the Arab Parliament Women’s Conferences in Beirut, Cairo and Damascus; and the International Mediterranean Conference for Development Peace and Human Rights in Rome (1998).
She also participated in the UNICEF campaigns on ‘Education for Peace’ and ‘Education for All’ ,that addressed issues concerning children and youth of the Palestinian refugee camps.

Her work is much applauded by all people and bodies she has worked with, especially on refugees’ issues. The President of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), Issam Abdul-Hadi, describes Amneh as “a loyal and diligent daughter of the Palestinian refugee camps. She witnessed and shared the adversities of the Palestinians in the refugees’ camps in Lebanon, working in abnormally difficult circumstances to improve the conditions of the Palestinian women and children. Thus she had great impact upon the people, who have gone through a difficult life in the refugee camps, especially those who escaped the massacres in Sabra and Shatila.”

The manager of Tamer Institution for Community Education, Jihan Helo, testifies to the superb efforts that Amneh has made towards helping the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. She says: “Amneh has shared all the sufferings of Palestinians in the refugee camps in Lebanon and has witnessed the horrific repercussions of the war there. While she chose not to become part of the political elite, she has continued to work under very hard conditions. She is a strong and respected person, who has achieved much for women through her position in the GUPW. She is undoubtedly one of the people who have worked hardest for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.”

Amneh Sulaiman has suffered immensely as a refugee, and her conditions were no better than those of all Palestinian women in the refugee camps in Lebanon. Despite the siege, hunger and the death of many family members and friends, they were determined to continue work to maintain their households and keep their lives going. Amneh liaises with the refugees to organize social and patriotic work. The residents of the camps feel they are one family, and they work hard as a group, each in their own capacities. Even the elderly women tidy up the dwellings of the members of the Palestinian fighting guerillas, cook food for them and donate blood for the wounded.

The Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon have always been the resistance nucleus against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Many voices tried to disband the militia of the camps in order to undermine the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW)