Palestinian Women and Security: A Legal Analysis

2018

Law & Policy, 1999

Major controversies regarding the value of legal and policy reforms have accompanied research on wife battering and social reactions to it. The present study examines the utility of law enforcement and emphasizes the relationship between gender, culture, and politics. It points to the difficulties arising from the shift from private, traditional methods of dealing with violence against women to a more public approach characterized by intervention of the state and the criminal justice system. In this connection, it was hypothesized that enforcement of the Israeli Law Against Family Violence among the oppressed and discriminated Palestinian minority generates new conflicts within the group, exacerbating control and abuse and re-victimizing women. Social control agents (formal and informal) who were interviewed about their perceptions and attitudes regarding the applicability of such a law pointed to obstacles created by sociocultural variables, the political legacy and procedural barriers. An attempt is made to show that application of the law without prior preparation and understanding of its sociocultural and political ramifications may produce adverse effects at the victim's expense. That is, unless power struggles, cultural pressures, and political priorities are taken into consideration, criminal strategies that seek to eliminate abuse may prove to be dangerous.

Abstract: The study presents Palestinian women’s involvement in terrorism and the way in which their security violations are processed by the Israeli justice system. The study is based on in-depth interviews of three groups involved in Palestinian terrorism or responses to it: first, Palestinian women who were arrested for security offenses; second, Palestinian community social and religious leaders and social service professionals; third, agents of Israeli law enforcement and legal system that respond to and process security violations. The results suggest that regardless of Palestinian women motivation to participate in terrorism, the roles they play, the functions they fulfill and the ways they are portrayed in legal proceedings are different from that of their male counterparts. The data further show that Palestinian women whose missions have failed or they were arrested for their involvement, find themselves doubly penalized -- for their security violations and for their gender...

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm has been subject to much criticism from feminist scholars – and specifically, gender and peace scholars – because it was drafted without gender analysis and opens up the potential of gender-based crimes as a pretext for military intervention. This essay draws attention to shared common goals between the agenda of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and R2P norms, and argues for the need to reach a consensus beyond prevention focused on the enforcement of protection of civilians enduring war crimes (Davies 2014). Although the international community (IC) has been able to reach a consensus on international norms, without a consensus on the use of coercive R2P tools, its application and enforcement have been absent or detrimental. Subsequent to an analysis of gender and R2P, this essay examines the drawing of red lines in international strategies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Israel/Palestine.

Middle East Report, 1996

“Women constitute half of societies and that half needs to be on board if we are to achieve a reconstruction of those societies, and a full and lasting peace .” The objective of this essay is to point out that although advances were made, Palestinian women need to persevere in their struggle against triple oppression; patriarchal and religion proscriptions as well as Israeli occupation to secure their rights and ensure gender equality in the State of Palestine .

2000

On a Monday morning at the end of December 1998, in downtown Gaza City, an articulate, professional woman from a prominent local family stood to address assembled journalists, politicians, women's rights activists, human rights workers, lawyers and other concerned (read: outraged) members of Palestinian civil society. Instead of giving me justice, the shari`a court has decided I should return in shackles... I appeal to you today, in the name of all Palestinian women who have passed through this bitter experience, to stand by our side and support us in our demand to eliminate this despicable measure and review all other legal procedures that undermine the dignity and freedom of women. 1 1 Urgent Appeal to Public Opinion by S. Saraj, reproduced in Sawt al-Nisa', no.62, 12/31/98. 2 Sawt al-Nisa' no. 62, 12/31/98.