There are two types of honor in traditional Arab society: sharaf and ‘ird. Sharaf is the honor and dignity of the family or tribe as a social unit, as well as the individual. Moral conduct and model behavior, such as acts of kindness, hospitality, courage, and the like deemed highly important in Arab culture, can increase sharaf, whereas acts deemed improper or in poor taste can decrease it.

Separately, ‘irf refers to the honor of women in terms of concepts of chastity and “purity,” and can only decrease in value. “Misconduct” or violation in the way of pre- or extra-marital sexual affairs can damage a woman’s ‘irf, which trumps the family’s sharaf, and therefore also destroys the family’s honor. The only way for the family to re-claim it’s sharaf and standing is to kill the female relative who has brought shame upon it. Hence the controversial term, “Honor Killing.”

My colleagues at WATC believe that the term “Honor Killing” is a highly misleading euphemism for murder. One among them, Itaf Yousef, claims that many cases prosecuted as “Honor Killing” are in fact cold blooded murders having nothing to do with the concept of honor; instead, perpetrators in these cases use the the “Honor Killing” classification as a cover up because punishment for such killings are far more lenient than those accorded for murder.

“Often, women are killed because of money,” Itaf says. “For example, if a father passes away, his daughter will receive part of his inheritance. The men in the family will want a larger share and kill the girl. Or say the husband of a woman dies. His brother will kill the wife so that the husband’s family can claim the inheritance. I’ve heard of many stories like this. Unfortunately, when the police or courts are told by a family that the killing has been committed to reclaim honor, they either don’t take investigations seriously or don’t investigate at all.”

Indeed, there have been cases in which a woman was murdered on suspicion or false accusation of participating in sexual “misconduct,” and was later redeemed by medical examination of the hymen, discovered unbroken.

Itaf has heard of a few cases in which a father or brother of a girl rapes and later kills her to prevent her from informing others. Cases such as these, she says, point to a troubled society. Yet the occurrence of “honor killing,” both for the sake of family honor or otherwise, does not reflect on society at large. (I’m waiting to hear back from a few organizations regarding recent years’ statistics, and will post them soon to lend context in terms of how many killings are taking place per year and where they are most frequently occurring).

I interviewed my colleague Dima, who reveals what she believes is the root problem in the concept of killing for honor’s sake.

Other colleagues at WATC, Mona Hamed and Amal Juma’, created a public service announcement earlier this year in a campaign against “honor killing.” You can view their video here:

The web is flooded with articles about “honor killing.” To learn more, do a quick google search. But for now, read this informative and comprehensive article from the Middle East Report: http://www.merip.org/mer/mer206/ruggi.htm

For over a decade, Amal has hosted a weekly radio program on a national station called Voice of Palestine.  She engages listeners for one hour every Tuesday morning on issues of women in society, women’s rights, and gender issues in Palestine.

I accompanied her to the station last week:

Amal speaks bluntly and from the heart, about the situation of women in Palestine and the weaknesses within the women’s movement.

Amal Juma’ is a tough woman. She is a journalist and media liason at WATC. Unlike many women I’ve met in the country who parade themselves as feminists, in large part for show, Amal’s life story is feminism discovered and practiced. She grew up and spent her formative years in Jenin Refugee Camp, a rather conservative place whose people have been hardened by decades of strife and siege. Raised with both brothers and sisters,  she often felt that she and her sisters were “inadequate” or secondary as females, and found many obstacles in daily life that boys would not face. Naturally, Amal felt wronged and in turn, grew determined to achieve what she set her mind to in education, in her career and in life.

Here, Amal speaks about her early motivations to become involved in women’s issues.

Here, Itaf sheds light on the troubles and weaknesses within the women’s rights movement in Palestine, and explains the lack of a popular, unified approach to women’s issues.

I finally sat down to interview my colleague, Itaf Yousef, a woman whom I had heard much about regarding her work, activism, strength of character and personal history. She is the editor of WATC’s monthly publication, Sowt an-Nisa, or “Voice of Women” in English.

It was truly a pleasure to speak with Itaf, and to listen to her story and recollection of the experiences which brought her to pursue a life of activism in defense of women’s rights, as she presents a unique case in Palestine. Here is Part 1 of the interview:

If interested, please read Itaf’s article published in the “Voice of Women,” which details aspects of her experience in an Israeli prison:

http://76.163.8.31/english/display.asp?DocID=169

Panelists Wafa' Abdul Rahman, Dalal Salame, Dr. Nader Said, and WATC President Nahla Qoura

Panelists Wafa' Abdul Rahman, Dalal Salame, Dr. Nader Said, and WATC President Nahla Qoura

“The role of women in political parties in Palestine should not be looked at as a separate thing to analyze and think about. Rather, it is part of the collective political life that we have; it is part of the context of our politics and our struggle for liberation,” says Wafa’ Abdul Rahman of Filistinyat, a Palestinian media organization that aims to introduce gender and youth discourse into the mainstream media. She was one of three featured speakers at WATC’s workshop on the role of women in Palestinian political parties, hosted in the aftermath of August’s Fatah general council meeting. Other panelists included Dr. Nader Said, pollster and Director of the Development Studies Program at Birzeit University, and Dalal Salame, one of only five women and the youngest ever members elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Dalal, who was first elected to the PLC in 1996 and served for the following ten years, was recently elected to the Fatah party’s Revolutionary Council.

Dalal Salame

Dalal Salame

Journalists, civil society leaders and veteran women activists were in attendance for the panel discussion and debate. WATC’s Gaza office connected through video conference.

Attendees

Attendees

Journalists, civil society leaders and veteran women activists were in attendance for the panel discussion and debate. WATC's Gaza office connected through video conference.

WATC's Gaza office connected through video conference

I was able to interview Wafa’ and Dr. Said, who highlighted the major points of discussion. Here, Wafa’ speaks about the role of women in political parties and the long way ahead before they are able to gain influence of real substance.

Dr. Said addresses the regression of women’s participation in Palestinian politics.

Unfortunately, filming was cut short due to camera battery failure and I lost the remainder of Dr. Said’s interview. He went on to say that in the absence of institutions which cater to social services, Islamist groups provided such services to fill the gap. This, in turn, particularly attracted women who were aided by the existence of health and education services, and community support interventions. A publication on his research and recent findings is due out soon.

A Palestinian Women’s Bill of Rights was first drafted in 1994 by a group of exiled Palestinian women living in Tunis (then the base of the Palestinian Liberation Organization), in concert with Palestinian women’s rights activists in Jerusalem, in order to introduce gender equality and sensitivity to the law, and demand women’s political, economic and social rights. Principles of the Bill of Rights have since faced incredible challenge to adoption into the laws that govern the Palestinian territories, which admittedly contain numerous articles which discriminate against women in favor of men. One major obstacle is the lack of unification among laws of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which follow Jordanian and Egyptian laws, respectively, on personal status and the penal code. Additionally, certain Israeli laws and laws in place under the British Mandate over Palestine remain in effect.

WATC’s General Director, Rose Shomali, has published an article detailing the account of Palestinian women activists in advocating for greater gender equality before the law:

“People Behind Walls, Women Behind Walls: Reading Violence Against Women in Palestine”

http://www.watcpal.org/english/doc/images/women%20behind%20walls.pdf

Nihaya Mohammed of the General Union of Palestinian Women leads the workshop

Nihaya Mohammed, of the General Union of Palestinian Women, leads the workshop

WATC workshop on the Palestinian Women's Bill of Rights

WATC workshop on the Palestinian Women's Bill of Rights

WATC’s board members have long since been involved with the bill’s drafting and review, and the staff here implement many projects and advocacy activities around its principles. For example, Dima’s workshops on early marriage (which I earlier documented) are designed to gather support from community leaders toward codifying into law the age of 18 as the minimum for marriage of a female--one of the Bill’s clauses.

I sat down with Rose Shomali to discuss the Women’s Bill of Rights and the day’s workshop at WATC.

After my camera’s battery died and I had to stop filming, Rose went on to state that last year, the Bill was submitted to President Abu Mazen, who gave his approval of the document and its principles. While the Bill’s articles are not codified, the aim of WATC, the General Union of Palestinian Women, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and a host of other legal and women’s rights organizations, is to eventually have the Bill’s key points adopted into law.

Please refer back to my “In the news today…” post from August 12th.

Today's Ma'an News article

Today's Ma'an News article

A woman to be appointed to Fatah’s Central Committee

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=220407

Today, I spoke with Dina Ahmed, my co-worker at WATC who is leading the series of workshops on early marriage. She had just returned from the third workshop, had earlier read my blog, and now asked me to mention the following as an addendum to my previous post:

At today’s workshop, a participating mother told Dima that if she were approached with a marriage proposal for her 16-year-old daughter, she wouldn’t hesitate to accept. This mother’s foremost explanation for allowing her young daughter to marry was the family’s financial troubles amidst the deteriorating (or should I say, the deteriorated) economic situation in occupied Palestine, with the West Bank strangled by over 600 closure obstacles and checkpoints within its territory, and Gaza…well…Gaza is a totally different (and miserable) story. (Just a few months ago, pasta was not allowed into the Gaza Strip by Israel because the Israeli government deems it a “luxury” good. Read: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45913; and http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1066821.html; and http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0513/p06s13-wome.html).

With unemployment nearing 20% in the West Bank and just over 40% in Gaza (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics for 2008, http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/worker_dayE.pdf), and GDP per capita falling short of $1,300  (http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/forecast_e.pdf), we can understand exactly how bleak the circumstances are.

Such a critical economic situation has created incentive for parents to agree to the early marriage of their daughters. For a large family with multiple children, in which the father is more than likely the sole bread winner who can barely make–or fails to make–ends meet, the marriage of a daughter to a husband who can more properly care for her serves to lighten the family’s burden.

It is reasonable to assume that many parents feel exactly the same way this mother does, as the reality of a very tough life under the stranglehold of Israeli occupation is unavoidable.