Abbas: Honor Killings Benefit Women!! « Kawther Salam

Abbas: Honor Killings Benefit Women!! « Kawther Salam

Abbas: Honor Killings Benefit Women!!

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised several times that he would change the shameless laws protecting perpetrators of “honor killings”. But this did not happen. Abbas has backtracked on his promises. Today Dec. 25 2012, Ma’an News Agencyreported that Abbas “has no plans to outlaw honor killings”.

The Palestinians believe that the reason for the high numbers of “honor killings” has to do with the policies of the Palestinian Authority and the exploitation of the women who work in its institutions, women who are abused sexually by superiors and co-workers, putting their lives in big danger due to the tradition of “honor killings” in traditional Palestinian society.

In the West Bank and Gaza there are no laws that forbid women from being murdered or prosecute their murderers. The Palestinian Authority applies the Jordanian Penal Code in the West Bank towns. The Jordanian law is considered as a discriminatory law, it reduces the penalty for the murderer when he perpetrates his crime under the pretext of “issues of honor”. 
 “Honor” has become a justification for murdering women and protecting the murderers, as well keeping the power in the hands of the men who lead the society and impeding women from reaching power. This is a clear threat for all women who seek equality with men in their rights.

The statement of Abbas’ legal adviser published by Maan Agency about “honor killings” compounds the inhumanity of how women are dealt with in Palestine by law. Women are seen as being no better than herd animals and in the best circumstances. Women are often enough treated like minors and “crooked ribs” (in reference to the biblical passage whereby women were created from one of Adam’s ribs) even after they become adults and marry.

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While denigrating women and lessening our position in Palestinian society in this way, Abbas has found enough time to pass decrees and laws of questionable legitimacy to protect himself and his cronies from prosecution for varied crimes.

Maan Reports: Abbas: No plans to outlaw honor killing
By Soraya Al-Ghussein and Hannah Patchett

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – President Mahmoud Abbas has no plans to amend laws that reduce sentences for suspects who claim an “honor” defense for murdering women, his legal adviser says.

“Why change it? This would cause serious problems,” Hassan al-Ouri told Ma’an, adding that such a reform would “not benefit women.”

In May 2011, the president pledged to amend the law to guarantee maximum penalties for “honor killing” in response to protests over the killing of university student Aya Baradiya in Hebron.

The decision was announced in a phone call to a primetime show on state TV, drawing tears among crowds of mourners shown in a live link-up from the Ramallah studio to Baradiya’s hometown.

Abbas suspended Article 340, which offers a pardon for murder if the perpetrator committed the crime on finding his wife in bed with another man.

The reform was cosmetic: Article 340 had never been used in Palestinian courts since it was legislated in 1960.

“So why did we change the law? To garner public opinion,” al-Ouri said in an interview in the presidential compound in Ramallah.

“I, personally, was against the amendment because the crimes that happen in the street have no relevance to Article 340,” the legal adviser added.

Al-Ouri says the president will not change the go-to clauses for lawyers seeking leniency for clients who claim they committed murder to defend family “honor.”

Articles 97 to 100 of the Jordanian Penal Code, in force in the West Bank, still offer reduced sentences for any act of battery or murder committed in a “state of rage.”

“The (law) only addresses 1 percent of the problem. What we need is a new culture,” al-Ouri said.

Other officials insist the penal code is the problem.

The law “privileges the killer,” Interior Ministry official Haitham Arrar told Ma’an.

“It encourages some people to commit crimes against women, which will go (as far as) killing them,” said Arrar, who heads the ministry’s democracy and human rights unit.

Abbas fears ‘conservative forces’

The Palestinian Legislative Council has not met since 2007, when Hamas and Fatah split, but women’s rights expert Soraida Hussein dismisses arguments that reforms must wait until parliament reconvenes.

“For us, for women, all this is irrelevant,” said Hussein, general director of theWomen’s Technical Affairs Committee, an umbrella group of women’s organizations. “Until now, our lives — in law and in practice — are seen as less than men’s.”

The president should issue a decree that “anybody killing anyone else will be sentenced to the highest sentence possible, whether it is a woman or a boy,” says Hussein.

“The minute the law is changed and applied, the minute people will think twice,” she says. “It’s simple and it’s not done.”

Hussein suggests Abbas is hesitant to pass legal reforms because “he is not ready yet to confront conservative forces.”

In 2009, Abbas ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, but al-Ouri, the legal adviser, says it will only be implemented “so long as it doesn’t contravene Islamic code.”

“Look, we are for total equality but if there is a basic tenet of Islamic code that we would be forced to change under CEDAW, then people would revolt and brand us as non-believers,” al-Ouri said.

‘Dressing up honor’

Lax laws encourage murder suspects to claim “honor” in their defense, officials and women’s rights activists say.

“Because the penalty is one or two months, they consider killing her and dress it up as honor,” Minister of Women’s Affairs Rahiba Diab told Ma’an.

Khawla al-Azraq, who runs a women’s counseling center in Bethlehem, notes that femicide is a global issue but “now in Palestine, they call this honor killing.”

“Sometimes these girls are abused by someone in the family and they need to cover this (up) and they kill her; sometimes because they need her money,” she says. “These are the real reasons for killing.”

“In Palestine, this is the gap, that until now we don’t have our own legislation that really can protect women.”

The Independent Commission of Human Rights says 13 women have been killed this year, but the real figure is likely to be higher.

“There has been historically a problem of documentation,” says Hussein, the women’s rights expert. The cause of suspicious deaths of women was often recorded as “fate,” which could refer to forced “suicides” or being pushed from a building, she explained.

Despite repeated requests since September, the Ministry of Interior did not provide Ma’an with the official number of women whose deaths were recorded as “fate” in 2012.

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رجل يذبح زوجته من الوريد إلى الوريد في الشارع العام وسط المشاهدين في مدينة بيت لحم
قصة المرأة الذبيحة في بيت لحم من الألف إلى الياء
السلطة تستخدم القوة للسيطرة على غضب الشارع في أعقاب نحر إمرأة في بيت لحم
عائلة تسقي ابنتها سمّا وتدعي أنها شربته بنفسها

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Europa & Palestine News « Kawther Salam

Europa & Palestine News « Kawther Salam

Corruption and Honor Killings Sponsored by The EU

On last 31 July 2012 I questioned the EU, via the contact form on their website, about their policies regarding Palestine. My main issue was the continued financial support given to the PA despite the increase in “honor killings” of women and despite the increasing and apparent for everybody to see grave abuses of human rights of the Palestinians in the West Bank and the criminal behavior of the PA and their proteges. I received an astonishing answer from them via Email, which I share and comment below.

According to the EU
“President Mahmoud Abbas is not a criminal – he is the President of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and recognised as such by the entire international community, including Israel.”

This is wrong in several ways. Abbas is the de-facto “President” of the PA and PLO. He was elected in the elections of 2006 as President, and his term expired on January 19 2008 according to the Palestinian constitution. So seen, Abbas is not the President of anything but a self-appointed dictator with no constituency beyond the goons paid by the EU and USA, and the people surrounding him have taken actions apt to remind Palestinians every day since 2006 that they are nothing but criminals. The point in the disingenuous answer of the EU is exactly this: Abbas and his co-perpetrators are imposing criminal and genocidal policies upon the Palestinians on behalf of israel and an “international community” subservient to zionist interests. (Read about Abbas wealth).

The individuals who comprise this so-called “international community” are often described in their countries of origin with endearing terms such as incompetents, criminals, psychopaths among others. This illustrates the American saying, birds of a feather flock together.

So it is also no surprise that the EU, as part of that “international community” of lawless bumblers, would disregard its own laws.For example, article 2 of the EU-Israel association agreement states that the human rights situation must be taken into account in deals between the EU and israel. This has apparently never happened, because the last EU representative who dared to criticize israels extermination policies towards us Palestinians, Anna Lindh was murdered by the “crazy loner” who always appears on scene when jewish interests are in peril of defeat.

In summary the position of the EU is a continuation of the colonial policies of western powers, who have always held in high esteem the thieves and mass murderers who looted their own countries on behalf of these same powers.

The EU sends gifts of hundreds of millions of Euros each year, on the back of increasingly impoverished European tax payers, to the PA regime, to protégès of the PA, to elements of the occupation and to a gaggle of jewish groups cashing in big money on the back of Palestinian misery. These hundreds of millions of Euros flow despite the deteriorated and deteriorating financial situation across the EU, due to a storm of financial destruction unleashed by irresponsible EU policies which has ravaged all European countries.

Even if Abbas is the “President” of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and “recognized as such by the entire international community, including Israel”, this does not relieve him of charges of financial and administrative corruption.

It is very clear that the EU donations reach ONLY a certain class of the Palestinians. Among the beneficiaries of the EU largesse are the President Abbas himself and his family, the other higher-ups in the PA and the PLO and their respective families, and assorted collaborators.

• How does the EU explain, for example, what it means that President Abbas spends five million Euros monthly for the expenses of his house and family, and another five million Euros as travel expenses?
• And how does the EU explain the causes of extreme poverty affecting beyond 70% of Palestinians while Abbas and his coterie of knaves and fat cats live in unimaginable luxury in Ramallah?

I am sure that the EU will find some disingenuous, barefaced lie to plausibly deny any connection between their largesse towards the PA and the misery affecting Palestinians in the West Bank, despite the stream of visitors from the EU to Ramallah who witness this shame.

• Will the EU state in yet another anonymous communiqué that all Palestinians live the same luxurious life like the PA elements?

To be clear, the EU policy towards Palestine is no exception. Just as they support Abbas, they support the groups of criminals who ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak (whom they bankrolled while they found him useful), and the same goes for the ousted dictator of Tunisia, the murdered dictator of Libya, and the (still) supported dictator of Syria, together with the gangs of criminals and terrorists whom they support, for show, against these dictators.

The EU says in their answer that Abbas is not a criminal. The EU is constantly complaining about those criminals who, they say, are the heads of states and governments of other peoples. Of course, those are thieves, dictators, criminals and murderers, but what the EU conveniently omits to say is that these scoundrels were propped up by them.

Now the EU is doing the same in Palestine in favour of Israel, to lengthen the age of the Israeli occupation in my homeland, to strengthen its economy while you are destroying the economy of the EU and what remains of Palestine.

• Of course, how could anybody dare to call a thief among thieves, a miserable traitor and tyrant bankrolled by the EU a criminal?

Criminals are only the others, the cleptocracies who the EU does not prop up or where the role of the EU propping them up is not so blatant.

Yes, the EU and the “international community” recognized “President” Abbas and his tinpot ministerial cabinet only because he enforces zionist policies in Palestine and protects israel. On account of this, the EU can no longer be said to respect human rights as per its own constitution, passed against the will of the majority of the EU population. What makes the EU policies criminal is something called “terra nullius”, a set of policies of the british empire declaring pieces of land they coveted as empty of people – what allowed them to genocide anybody in their way because these peoples “would have died off anyway”.

This kind of policy is criminal in current international law and is exactly what zionism amounts to: genocide under a mantle of legality, and this is what the EU, impersonated by the very British Catherine Ashton is supporting with diplomatic and pecuniary largesse towards Abbas and his cronies.

The EU further states in their answer to my questions:

Although it is not clear what exactly you are referring to by “increased number of killing women in Palestine”, you can be assured that the European Union (EU) monitors closely the situation of women’s rights throughout the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and finances a number of projects supporting women’s rights there. Human rights violations in the oPt – including those against women – are addressed in the regular bilateral dialogue between the EU and the Palestinian Authority within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy and concerns related to human rights are also raised at the highest political level.

Regarding the misunderstanding of the EU regarding the “increased number of killing women in Palestine”, during the last weeks of July 2012 several women were murdered in Palestine for reasons of “honor”. Below are the only few cases which have made it to the media:

• On July 13, a woman was thrown into a septic well and left to die near Hebron
• On July 19, a father killed his daughter, Randa Mahariq, 34, in Al-Samoua near Hebron
• On July 22 a father slaughtered his student daughter after breakfast in Tulkarem
• On July 31 a man slaughtered his wife in the streets of Bethlehem
• Some months ago, a student of English at Hebron University was thrown into an artesian well by her relatives and left to die
• Also some months ago, the PA minister of civil affairs raped a minor girl and remains unpunished to this day

Nancy Zboon who was killed in the Al-Madbase St. in Bethlehem

The murder and violent abuse of women has increased in Palestine during the last years to the point of becoming a modern way of life under the full protection of the Palestinian National Authority. The crimes are perpetrated by the families of these women and girls. At the same time the PA insists in protecting the criminals, firstly by keeping in place laws which legalize crimes against women and institutionalize the discrimination of women, and secondly by actively covering up these crimes whenever they are discovered.

In the West Bank and Gaza there are no laws that forbid women from being murdered or prosecute their murderers. The Egyptian laws that are implemented in Gaza and the Jordanian Laws implemented in the West Bank discriminate between men and women, and protect the murderers of women. “Honor” has become a justification for murdering women and protecting the murderers, as well as keeping the power in the hands of the men who lead the society and impede women from reaching power. This state of affairs is a clear threat for all women who seek equality with men in their rights.

The Palestinian media covers up the crimes against women committed under the “honor” label. They write very briefly about them without releasing further details. In this way, the media protects the criminals in the Palestinian authoritarian patriarchal society and abet the continuing of the shameful practice of “honor” murders in our society.

These crimes are banned from public discussion and publication, because it is a societal tabu but mostly because the PA receives money from western countries, and the donors could not justify the largesse at home if these crimes became more widely known. In all cases, these crimes are treated in a way that will cover up the perpetrators, protecting and helping them to continue perpetrating more crimes, and by punishing the victims (women, minors, girls) or killing them in so-called “honor” killings.

I would be more than happy to receive any recommendation from the EU which would help stop these vile crimes, and any such recommendations would remain off-the-record and will hopefully help to better protect the victims in the future.

The EU continues in their answer

Human rights violations in the oPt – including those against women – are addressed in the regular bilateral dialogue between the EU and the Palestinian Authority within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy and concerns related to human rights are also raised at the highest political level.

The dialogue between the EU and PA concerning human rights and women rights is not enough. The Palestinian Authority MUST END the LAWS which protect the practice of murdering women in Palestine NOW. The Palestinian minister of justice is aware of these issues as I called his attention to this during a UN conference here in Vienna several years ago, before representatives of EU countries. The minister promised to become active, but nothing has happened until now, 3-4 years later.

There are many reports of sexual harassment of PA higher-ups being against women, both employees of the PA and not. Several of these women have reportedly been murdered in order to protect the perpetrators. Also, this knowledge that there are many PA elements involved in sexual harassment and abuse of women people is why the PA does not want to change the laws which discriminate against women and protect their murderers and abusers.

To illustrate the state of affairs regarding womens rights in Palestine, a personal story.

According to my knowledge, Samir Aoudeh, the husband of my sister who is of profession a PA security element, one of the people whose monthly salary is paid with EU money, used to have a brothel behind the back of my sister. He had married a second wife and forced her to sell her favours to his military friends. This continued until one of the clients, an officer of the PA intelligence (from the Al Zaro family in Hebron) made a sex film and posted it on the Internet.

The family of the girl discovered the video and, in order to save the family honour, cut her head and and hung it on the electricity wires before their home. To my knowledge both these PA elements are free until today and continue working for the PA to this day.

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رجل يذبح زوجته من الوريد إلى الوريد في الشارع العام وسط المشاهدين في مدينة بيت لحم
قصة المرأة الذبيحة في بيت لحم من الألف إلى الياء
السلطة تستخدم القوة للسيطرة على غضب الشارع في أعقاب نحر إمرأة في بيت لحم

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Over 13 Honor Killings in Two Months in Palestine

Seven women were killed in the Palestinian territories because of “honor killings” in the first month of the year 2010. These news were released by Palestinian human rights organizations interested in women’s issues, but according to my sources, this statistic was falsified and the real number of women who were murdered, only in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron since the beginning of the year 2010 has exceeded 13. The sources confirm that these seven women, who were registered in the statistics of human rights organizations as victims of “honor killing”, were left in public streets and in fields after being killed and there was no chance for the perpetrators to hide the crime.

My journalistic sources stated that other murdered women were taken by their criminal relatives, the perpetrators, to hospitals where these crimes were registered as natural death and other fabricated reasons. In all these cases, the Palestinian Authority covered up the crimes because of the interference of the relatives of the victims, who work in the institutions of the Palestinian National Authority and its security systems.

These dangerous statements about the victims of “honor killings” under the Palestinian National Authority have set a record of “honor killings” when compared with what happened under the Israeli occupation and before Abbas.

The Palestinians believe that the reason for the high numbers of “honor killings” has to do with the policies of the Palestinian Authority and the exploitation of the women who work in its institutions, women who are abused sexually by superiors and co-workers, putting their lives in big danger due to the tradition of honor killings in traditional Palestinian society.

The Palestinian newspapers report only one or two miserable sentences about such crimes. Al-Quds, the largest newspaper, usually publishes reports such as the following examples: “In the town of Tubas, a woman (A-KH) of age 36 was found murdered under mysterious circumstances, the body was found near the squatter colonist Mikhola near Tubas”; “In Tarqumiya near Hebron, a woman (K-A) of age 24 was found dead under mysterious circumstances”; “The body of D-S of age 37 from the village of Burkin near Jenin was found in a well”; “The woman (W-G) from Hebron was found dead, the preliminary investigations show that she killed herself”.

The Palestinian Authority applies the Jordanian Penal Code in the West Bank towns. The Jordanian law is considered as a discriminatory law, it reduces the penalty for the murderer when he perpetrates his crime under the pretext of “issues of honor”.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised last year that he would change this shameless law by the International Women’s Day of 2010. But it is seems to be that President Abbas has swallowed his words, as he didn’t change the law. The International Women’s Day passed and there were over 13 women murdered in Palestine under the presence of the PA. Abbas and friends just don’t care.

by Kawther Salam

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