Description
Leila Khaled is the most high-profile and recognisable female Palestinian militant; the iconic image of her holding an AK-47 and wearing a kaffiyeh adorns many a wall. Yet, whether depicted as hero or villain, her femininity is often also remarked upon. In a 2001 interview for The Guardian, this famous photograph is described through highly gendered language: ‘the gun held in fragile hands, the shiny hair wrapped in a kaffiyeh, the delicate Audrey Hepburn face refusing to meet your eye … beauty mixed with violence’.