From mothering a child to mourning one, three women share stories of steadfastness and resistance.

Lidia Rimawi wanted a son. But her husband is a political prisoner, serving a 25-year sentence in an Israeli prison, and will be 50 before he’s released.

So she did the only thing she could think of under the circumstances: She smuggled his sperm out of the prison.

Thirty-seven-year-old Lidia lives in Beit Rima outside the village of Nabih Saleh in the occupied West Bank. It is the site of regular Friday vigils and Lidia sometimes brings her son, a round-faced boy with a shock of black hair. For her family, the birth of Majd and his daily growth is an act of liberation. Despite the odds, Lidia’s family continues to grow.

“Majd is our victory,” she says of the 18-month-old who bounds around, his flush cheeks still thick with baby fat. “I did this to challenge the occupation.”

He is clearly the crown jewel of the family.

Women like Lidia make up the backbone of the resistance movement in Palestine [Susan Rahman/Al Jazeera]Majd is saying his first words and walking without his dad [Susan Rahman/Al Jazeera]