Ref: 25/2014
Date: 08 March 2014
Time: 10:00 GMT
On the eighth of March, the world celebrates International Women’s Day, which was first observed as a popular event after 1977 when the United Nations General Assembly invited Member States to proclaim the eighth of March as the UN Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. The majority of states selected the eighth of March in commemoration for the role played by American women in the 1909 protests against the inhuman conditions under which women were forced to work.
As we mark International Women’s Day this year, Palestinian women are still subject to the worst forms of violence. They are victims of Israeli policies as well as the practices of local society.
According to the documentation of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights since 08 March 2013, 13 Palestinian women were killed by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank mainly in the context of security chaos and domestic violence, comparing with five killing in the previous year. Five of the victims were killed by their family members on the grounds of so called “honor crimes”; five of them were killed during family disputes; two were killed in incidents of misuse of weapons; and one was killed as a result of prolonged periods of torture by one of her family members.
The latest murder of a Palestinian woman took place on 04 March 2014 when a lawyer stabbed his wife to death in Ramallah following a heated argument. This crime was preceded by a killing of an 18-year-old girl in the northern Gaza Strip after having been subjected to prolonged torture inside her family house on 20 February 2014.
With regards to Israeli violations, PCHR documented the killing of two Palestinian women during the same period. One of whom died of a previous injury while the killing of Amnah Qudeih (56) suffering mental disorder further proves the Israeli forces’ disregard for the Palestinian civilians’ lives. On 28 February 2014, Israeli forces stationed near the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip in Abassan village opened fire at her. As a result, she sustained a bullet wound that entered her left side and exited from the right one and then she was left to bleed to death. Relatives of the victim found her body the next day when they went out looking for her.
Israeli violations committed against Palestinian women do not only include killings and injuries but also the extremely complex and harsh conditions experienced by Palestinian women as a result of Israeli policies adopted in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Particularly, the Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip continue to suffer due to the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strips for years. This suffering has only worsened as a result of the successive humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip. For instance, the electricity crisis and lack of fuel deprive women of their economic and social rights and further their burdens.
In the West Bank, Palestinians have suffered due to the ongoing Israeli policies which constitute a violation of their rights, such as settlement activities, house raids, confiscation of agricultural lands and random arrests in addition to the restrictions imposed on the freedom of movement between the Palestinian villages and cities through more than 500 checkpoints and barriers.
In light of the continued deterioration of the situation of Palestinian women PCHR emphasizes that the Palestinian woman is in dire need of international and local community support as both are obliged to protect her and guarantee their enjoyment of their rights.
PCHR calls upon:
