Gaza Strip 8 March 2008
GAZA CITY, 7 March (IPS) - Mahasen Darduna suffers in ways the world recognizes; her suffering comes at the hands of the Israelis. But there are many Palestinian women whose suffering the world does not see, because their hell is inflicted on them by fellow Palestinians. One way or another, no day is woman’s day in Gaza.
For a week, Mahasen Darduna, 30, has sat day and night by her son’s bedside in the hospital. The boy, Yahiya, nine, was among a group of children hit by an Israeli missile while playing football on a field at the Jabaliya refugee camp. Yahia survived, but with severe injuries.
“He needs my support, he has been confined to this bed since he was maimed by the Israeli missile,” Mahasen says. But she must also slip away often to see her other five children, who she has moved to her mother-in-law’s house in belief they will be safer there.
“I think of them constantly when we are apart. I feel terrible: two are getting sick, and they all cry each time we say goodbye. I can’t be at both places.”
In the same hospital room, Umm Ali Faraj looks after her seven-year- old son, who suffered a cracked skull in a bombing. Umm Ali too has rearranged her family life. Four of her seven children stay with her in the hospital. Umm Ali goes back and forth between hospital and home, cooking for the children and sending them to school.
Like Mahasen and Umm Ali, countless women have suffered through more than 40 years of Israeli occupation.
“Palestinian women’s lives are incredibly difficult under the crippling international siege and the Israeli army’s killing invasions,” says Nadyia Abu Nahla, director of the Women’s Affairs Technical Centre in Gaza, an independent group that supports women’s rights.
The large number of women who have been forced to give birth at army checkpoints is well documented by international and Israeli rights groups. Israel’s policy of demolishing Palestinian homes has collectively punished tens of thousands of women in Gaza and the West Bank, rendering them and their children homeless.
But through this period, women have also struggled against denial of their rights by Palestinian society.
“The dire economic situation is one of the causes of an increase of violence in Gaza,” Abu Nahla told IPS. With resistance to the siege and military attacks, religious fanaticism has grown, and that has contributed to an increase in violence against women, she said.
“Islam forbids violence against women, and forbids the use of women as slaves,” explains Sheikh Dr. Hassan al-Jojo, head of Gaza’s Legitimacy Court, the main court for society and family issues. But he also acknowledges that women do not have their full rights.
“Honor killing” has increased, according to Abu Nahla. At least 17 women have died in “honor killings” in Gaza last year, her center reports. This was the highest number of “honor killings” since 2003 when 34 women were killed in Gaza and the West Bank.
Neither the Jordanian criminal laws enforced in the West Bank nor Egyptian law observed in Gaza effectively prohibit or appropriately punish violence against women. Women are rarely encouraged to use the courts, or to seek the help of social services for rehabilitation.
Police chief investigator Mussa Dawoud told IPS that violence against women is taken seriously. But in trying to solve problems, he says that the police try to protect the family structure, and avoid complications that could lead to divorce.
Police officers and clan seniors routinely mediate to resolve issues around family violence, but provide solutions that usually mean that the abused woman is sent back to her husband. When women receive support to take a strong stand, they face pressure and punishment from abusive men.
According to Abu Nahla, one 29-year-old woman from Khan Younis is not allowed by her husband to use the phone or even send a text message. She is locked up at home daily, and on one occasion could not take her sick child to hospital. Abu Nahla adds that other women have been beaten by their husbands for visiting relatives without permission.
Only 13 percent of Palestinian Legislative Council members are women, with fewer holding leading positions. “This is not enough, Abu Nahla explains, “we are hoping there will be more seats for women” and “that there will be safety at home in every way.”
All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2008). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden
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