‘Honor killings’, mostly targeting Palestinian women, are on the rise across Palestine and prove that women all over the civilized world are vulnerable to social injustice irrespective of religion and caste. The senseless violence against women has particularly increased since the bitter rivalry between Hamas and Fatah began earlier this year rendering the official Palestinian Authority voiceless and too weak to take any action against the perpetrators.
Not only in Palestine but across the Middle East, hundreds of women and girls are murdered by male family members every year for the perceived misuse of their sexuality.
Honor killing has become a thorny social issue in the region. Women rights activists claim that many such crimes remain unrecorded given that the killings are regarded as private family matters. But, even more astounding is the fact that these particular killings do not have any relation to Islam which has a lawful procedure in dealing with adultery cases.
Honor killing emerged in the pre-Islamic era. It was deeply related to primitive Arab society which had powerful and strict tribal family rules. In Arab societies family is the most important compared to individuals and feelings are very strong regarding any sort of dishonor of the family or group.
The voice of males is the most important to the family and various human rights activists claim that even rape victims have been murdered for dishonoring the family. Even false rumors about a woman having an affair are regarded to be true and the inevitable punishment is meted out to the poor victim. According to many families in Palestine, virginity is something that the woman must protect at all costs whether it is a forced sex or a consented one.
Due to the continuous violence between Hamas and Fatah and years of anarchy, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has not been able to develop a constructive and cohesive framework in dealing with honor killings or violence against women as a whole. Due to lack of expertise and finance, the PA, cannot encourage the victims to report the incidents of violence and protect them from a family backlash. With no institutional law in place the women are hardly protected and the killers walk freely on most occasions.
