Skip to main content

Palestinian female tractor driver turns heads in West Bank

Ettihad Ayyad, a Palestinian woman who has farmland in Jericho, recently became the first Palestinian woman to obtain a tractor driver’s license.
Ettihad Ayad.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Once Ettihad Ayyad, 50, harvested the crop she had grown on agricultural land she rented in Jericho in the West Bank, she placed all her vegetables in a small cart attached to her tractor and drove to the vegetable market locally known as Hisba.

While driving her tractor, the traffic police stopped her and asked for her driver’s license. But she did not have one. She had learned and practiced how to drive a tractor while she worked with her husband plowing their field whose surface area is ​​about 25 dunams.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.