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International News
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Written by Samuel Sokol
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Thursday, 18 March 2010 16:24 |
An article run this week by a United Nations–affiliated news agency places responsibility on Israel for an increase in domestic abuse in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
As reported on the IRIN news website, a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel’s actions in the disputed coastal territory have allegedly led directly to a wave of violence against the women of Gaza.
77 percent of women in Gaza suffer from some form of abuse.
The article cited a study conducted by the Gaza-based Palestinian Women’s Information and Media Center (PWIC) that cited a putative rise in violence against women “since Israel imposed an economic blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007.â€
No mention was made of the radical Islamic ideology of Hamas or the alleged human rights violations committed by the ruling faction. Under radical Islamic regimes, women are frequently subjected to onerous restrictions and suffer from such degradations as female circumcision and honor killings.
In response to the article, a senior Israeli official, speaking with the Five Towns Jewish Times on condition of anonymity, stated that “This is part of the systematic delegitimization of the State of Israel, especially in the United Nations.â€
IRIN news quoted a draft resolution of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women which expresses concerns regarding the “grave situation of Palestinian women in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, resulting from the severe impact of the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation and all of its manifestations.†The article bears a distinct similarity to a recent article on spousal abuse under the Palestinian Authority in The Lancet.
The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, published a study in January in which the authors claim that Israeli “colonial aggression†and the “violation of everyday life under Israeli military occupation and colonization†are factors that have led to increased cases of “intimate-partner violence.â€
The study, while focusing on alleged Israeli culpability for Arab domestic abuse, did mention briefly that “within a patriarchal society Palestinian women are also the victims of oppressive cultural practices and norms.†However, this theme was otherwise missing from the research cited.
The Palestinian Authority, writes study authors Rita Giacaman, Yoke Rabaia, and Viet Nguyen-Gillham, is “non-sovereign, fragmented, and under attack,†rendering it unable to properly protect human rights.
Neither the issue of political corruption in the Palestinian Authority nor the culture of incitement and violence promoted by the official PA media were cited as contributing factors in the Lancet article.
Propaganda in the Palestinian Authority media targets children, exhorting the young to die as suicide bombers in attacks against Israeli civilians.
Last March IRIN reported that there was an increase in violence against women and children during and following Israel’s January 2009 Cast Lead anti-terror operation in the Gaza Strip.
IRIN quoted Husam al-Nounou, public relations coordinator for the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, stating that the upswing in violence was attributable to “the fact that most people were exposed to traumatic incidents during the war, and one way people react to stress is to become violent.â€
Israel launched operation Cast Lead following the firing of several thousand rockets and mortars by terrorists from Gaza into Israel over a period of nearly a decade. No comparable rise in domestic abuse has been reported in Israeli towns that have suffered from Hamas rocket attacks.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), a United Nations division tasked with working on women’s issues worldwide, describes Cast Lead as an Israeli attack that broke a “delicate six-month truce between [Israel] and Hamas,†ignoring Hamas’ role in shaping the conflict.
According to a report released this week by the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, during the conflict “Hamas implemented a combat doctrine which made massive use of civilians as human shields.†However, the role of Hamas in bringing on the conflict and in intentionally exposing civilians to danger was not mentioned in the IRIN report.
In a survey of the conditions in Gaza following the Israeli incursion prepared by UNIFEM, a significant increase in domestic violence was reported, both against women and children.
UNIFEM’s Jerusalem office declined comment on the IRIN allegations. IRIN’s Dubai offices did not respond to phone calls for comment.
According to Dr. Mordechai Kedar, one of Israel’s leading experts on Arabic culture and politics, in Arab tribal culture, women are treated as possessions. Kedar stated that Arabs view women as little more than “sex dolls†for the “service†of men. Kedar served for 25 years in IDF military intelligence, specializing in Arab political discourse.
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