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PAt the beginning of a remarkable journey, palestinian Aid worker Mason Jayousi remembers that moment clearly. “I had to drive fast to avoid being hit,” she says. “The young people and soldiers fired tear gas at us and threw stones.
“It was simple: I started driving fast to avoid getting caught.”
In 2007, Jayyusi, then 30, was doing her daily commute Ramallah Went to Jerusalem to work for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). At Kalandiya Outpost, run by israel Defense Forces (IDF), Jayousi learned that, often, pressing down on the accelerator was the safest route to easy passing.
At the time, she did not know that officials from the Palestinian Motorsport and Motorcycle Federation had witnessed these quick getaways. When asked if she was interested in leading a women’s team in the country’s storied racing circuit, Jayusi immediately accepted.
Soon after, support and funding came from the British Consulate in Jerusalem. Energetic and brave young drivers were discovered and recruited. And just like that, the Speed Sisters, the Arab world’s first all-female motor-racing team, were born.
“This was a team within a complex political reality,” says Jayusi, on a day that is expected to be of immense importance for the region. She’s talking to me from Ramallah, where, just hours earlier, 250 Palestinian prisoners had walked out on a Red Cross bus across the city amidst joyful scenesIsraeli hostages were also released by Hamas in the first phase of Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Reflecting on the significance of the Speed Sisters’ formation nearly two decades ago, she says: “It’s not easy being a woman in a conservative society. We knew that every blast of the engine was a cry for freedom. Every race was a challenge to normal people. It was all a beautiful impossibility.”
Noor Dawood was only 10 years old when she drove her mother’s car for the first time. At the time, running full time seemed like a distant dream. But the Speed Sisters gave her a launchpad.
“Ten years ago women in the Arab world couldn’t do anything,” she tells me. “So, it was very powerful that we could compete with each other and against each other.”
Daoud was one of four drivers who formed the historic team, along with Mona Ennaab, Mara Zahalka and Betty Sadeh. With Jayoussi taking on the role of team manager, the five-pronged organization competed against men in places such as Bethlehem, Jenin and Jericho, with race meets usually taking place in abandoned market squares and airstrips for weekend events. Speed tests – qualifying laps in F1 terminology – were the main attraction, with cones placed to represent the course and penalties if you hit one.
Who were the Speed Sisters?
Mason Jayusi – team manager
Noor Dawood – Driver
betty saddeh – Driver
Zahalka was angry – Driver
Ennaab here – Driver
Their story was one of hope and freedom, of learning and improvement in an area previously inaccessible to women, in the face of a military occupation that hindered their goals at every turn.
“We had no track to practice on, but competing while Palestine was under occupation made it more powerful,” says Daoud. “There was a lot of competition between each other and sometimes jealousy, but that’s sport.
“We really became like sisters. It was a beautiful time.”
With British support, driving instructors were sent to Ramallah. Helen Elstrop with Sue Sanders educated girls in the backseat and in the classroom on locations in Ramallah and on a memorable trip to the Palestinian contingent at Silverstone.
We knew that every blast of the engine was a cry for freedom
Mason Jayusi
“I just remember that they were completely powered up,” says Elstrop. “The abilities were obviously different. But when you saw the penny drop it was absolutely fantastic – you could see it on their faces and how the car was reacting.
“They inspired other people. At the beginning, the brother of one of the girls said to me: ‘I think it’s really cool, but I don’t think my sister should be doing it.’ This was the challenge.
“But my main quote that I told the girls was: ‘I want to be a female racing driver, not a female racing driver.’ It may sound like semantics, but it’s very important and that’s how they came across.”
In fact, his story was so compelling that it caught the attention of Amber Fares, a Canadian filmmaker living in Ramallah. Over the next five years, Phares and his team recorded the trials and tribulations of the Speed Sisters, culminating in an award-winning 85-minute documentary released in 2015.
“The gist of it was: How do you tell a story about Palestine in an unexpected way?” Phares says.
“The local communities were very supportive. Most of the clashes we had were about occupation and being stopped, because the girls had problems traveling through Palestine. We were stopped at checkpoints and things like that.”
A disturbing scene in the film shows driver Sadeh – Palestine’s fastest female driver, along with Zahelka – setting up a makeshift track for practice in a parking lot outside Ofer prison, before she is hit by tear gas. “They’re bastards,” she mutters in Arabic. Luckily, the injury is limited to a massive injury to his lower back.
“We were attacked,” recalls Daoud. “Even though it was on our side of the West Bank, we couldn’t practice. There was nowhere else to go. Betty got hit by tear gas and we didn’t go back there. It was too dangerous.”
The film received critical acclaim worldwide and perhaps even more in the region. Even Emmeline Pankhurst’s great-granddaughter attended the London premiere. “I think the girls became a real inspiration for Arabs throughout the region,” Fares says. “Everyone was very supportive until the end.
“I think when you’re in a war zone, when you look at Gaza, it’s important to have any kind of distraction, whether it’s music or sports. I think the surprise element of seeing female racing drivers was really cool. It takes you to Palestine like few other stories do.”
But soon the reality of the conflict-torn region emerged. Sadly, soon after the film, the Speed Sisters disbanded. Jayoussi told me that the occupation affected the teams and their training capacity, while Palestine’s motorsport activities were also limited. Over the past two years, since the war broke out in Gaza, there have been no incidents.
Racers also moved forward in their lives. Sadeh is now married and lives in Chile among the largest Palestinian community outside the Arab world, and is a regular spectator of Club Deportivo Palestino, a top-flight Chilean football club based in Santiago. Meanwhile, Ennab and Zahalka both moved to Jenin, while Jayoussi also married and moved to Jordan.
Daoud, whose tagline on Instagram describes herself as “Wildchild/Stuntwoman”, continues to compete and is an international drift racer, representing the flag of Palestine at events around the world. The 35-year-old woman spoke to me from Johannesburg, South Africa, where she is filming stunts for a new Netflix show, and explains why she felt the need to leave Palestine.
“You’ve Reached the Top – Now What?” She certainly sums up the sentiment felt by thousands of Palestinians. “You can’t grow there [in Palestine],
“I moved to Dubai deciding to get out of this environment. It saps your energy, your spirit, your vision, your dreams. If you want to grow, there are not a lot of chances.”
Sanders, who taught girls in Ramallah and previously trained self-employed women amid the problems in Northern Ireland, agrees: “I don’t think there were opportunities there for a long time. It was very difficult from a financial point of view.
“They may not have had a real opportunity to showcase their skills. They were amazing women, and we saw a wonderful environment for them in Ramallah. But we saw how difficult it was for Palestinians to live and work in their own homes.”
Yet the broader significance of the Speed Sisters – the team, the film, the dream – on the Arab region is undeniable. The group was a modern embodiment of women’s empowerment in a conservative society where the majority of the population is eager to modernize and flourish. Now, as Palestinians hope for a more prosperous future once a ceasefire begins, plans are underway to use sport as a vehicle for change.
Despite not hosting a match for more than six years, the Palestine national football team came within six points of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. They play their home matches in Jordan or Qatar, but are expected to beat Libya next month and qualify for December’s Arab Cup.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Dweidar was Palestine’s only athlete at the World Athletics Championships last month and told how he had to leave his homeland to train on a real running track in Germany. Palestine will also send a team to the quadrennial Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia next month.
And within motorsport, with the national federation having regained its FIA membership, there are lofty ambitions in the works. A national motorsport circuit in Jericho is in the planning stages, with the potential to host a number of events. In turn, this could attract hundreds of new faces and the next generation of racers.
“My plan is to inject new blood into motorsport and recreate the Speed Sisters,” says Abdullah Shaarawi, president of the Palestinian Motorsport and Motorcycle Federation. “We want at least 5 to 10 new female racers, and we will train them and invest in them.
“The circuit will expand the motorsport base and serve as a new source of income, so we can have self-financed motorsport activities in Palestine. Even though it is an expensive sport [a modified car for speed tests costs £27,000]We still have a community that loves motorsport, whether it’s speed tests, drifting or 4×4. “We want a comprehensive calendar for 2026.”
Beyond sporting technicalities, Shaarawi emphasizes that the road ahead for Palestine is long and complex. “You can’t imagine the destruction and killing, it has affected every aspect of our lives,” he says. “It is very difficult at all levels and obviously impossible to organize sports. Nothing is guaranteed, but we just hope that we can resume our sporting activities.”
The role that sport can play as a means of inspiration and distraction amid the reality of war is important. The Speed Sisters proved this. As Jayyousi explains: “We broke the ice – women in the Arab world can now participate in motorsport.” The hope is that the team from a decade ago is not only a departure from the past, but a pioneer for the future.
“I want to be the best drift racer,” Daoud insists. “I want to represent Palestine around the world and show that we are about life and peace.
“That’s all we want: to be free and to show that we’re not on some different planet. We’re human beings. We want to live, we want to give, we want to dream.”