Palestinian clans reject treaty ending discrimination against women
The clans criticized the Palestinian Authority for committing to CEDAW and called for banning feminist groups operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHPalestinian women 370(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Several Palestinian clans in the West Bank have announced their rejection of The Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly.The clans also criticized the Palestinian Authority for committing to CEDAW and called for banning feminist groups operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Critics of the treaty claim that it goes against Arab and Islamic norms and teachings.“This treaty is unacceptable to Arabs and Muslims,” remarked Palestinian activist Abu Ghassan Shaheen. “It goes against our religion and traditions.”On Saturday, leaders of large Palestinian clans in Hebron called on the PA to withdraw from the treaty. They also called for banning feminist groups from entering Palestinian schools.The clan leaders expressed opposition to the PA’s recent decision to ban child marriage, in compliance with CEDAW.In November, PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decision barring marriage before the age of 18. Under previous laws in the West Bank, the legal marriage age was 15 for females and 16 for males.The clan leaders warned Palestinian journalists and media outlets against covering the activities of “dubious” women’s groups and called for staging protests against the treaty.Similar statements condemning the treaty were also issued by several clans in east Jerusalem and some West Bank cities in recent days.The threat by the clan leaders is seen as a revolt against the PA, said legal expert Majed al-Arouri.
“The announcement by the clan leaders threatens civil society and official institutions,” he told the pan-Arab Al-Araby news website. Arouri pointed out that all the Arab states have committed to CEDAW “albeit some reservations.”The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate on Sunday condemned the threat by the Hebron clan leaders against journalists. “The media is not the address for this crisis,” the syndicate warned, adding that it will do its utmost to protect freedom of speech.Palestinian human rights activists and feminist groups also expressed outrage over the threat by the clan leaders. They said that the statement issued by the clan leaders in Hebron contained “incitement to violence and murder.”
