Ammon News - 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.



(Illustration by Muhammad Sabaghneh)

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 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/ Palestine Think Tank)