The Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC,) an NGO, found that 21 Palestinian women were murdered in 2019 and 37 in 2020, totally at an increase of 176%, PA Daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadid reported on July 3.
Honor Killings and domestic violence in the Arab society have grown into a common and consistent issue. Though the PA has been more attentive to these cases, no legal or legislative actions have been taking to prevent the abuse.
“The laws play a central role in protecting the social sectors, the individual, his possessions, and his beliefs, and particularly the women. The laws also increase the consciousness in society regarding rights, and also constitute a deterrent and bring about security and stability. Therefore, ratifying the law to defend the family against violence will limit the violence against women and will thus protect them from the danger of murder,” said Sana’a Shbeita, Secretary of the Women’s Activity Committees Association in Nablus.
“In the absence of the law to defend the family against violence, the men of the family will continue to do as they please with the women.” Tahrir Al-A’araj, Director-General of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy added.
Not only are there no laws protecting women from violence, but in 2019, the imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Head of the Supreme Muslim Council Sheikh Ikrima Sabri issued a fatwa (religious ruling) prohibiting Palestinian Muslim women from submitting complaints to Israeli authorities over their husbands' behavior.
The Mufti of the Palestinian Authority Sheikh Muhammad Hussein supported the prohibition, saying: "It is better to leave the matter to the good people and reliable figures [in our society] in order to deal with the issue."
Additionally, In December 2018, in the midst of a PA campaign to prevent violence against women, the PA’s Supreme Shari'ah Judge and Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash told TV viewers that men are permitted to beat women, that doing it was for her own good.
Bader Al-A’araj, a social sciences lecturer at the Bir Zeit University, explained that the tolerance for domestic violence exists because the abuser is someone who is close to the woman “her relative, husband or lover”.
ICHR Legislation Monitoring Department Director Khadija Zahran added that the concept of “marital rape” is not even recognized in Palestinian culture because women’s bodies are “a right permitted to the man”.