As order slides, Palestinian women face honor killings
Rights activists say such murders have increased as a result of the worsened security situation, and press for a new law.
from the November 20, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Tribal traditions are often a motive
But ancient tribal mores, not Islam, are usually what drive family members to demand that their honor be restored. In this case, according to several of Wahdan's relatives interviewed for this story, the men of the family met and came to a joint decision that Ms. Wahdan should be killed.
"These men have no fear of God," says Wahdan's mother, Umm el-Walid. She pulls out of a photograph of her daughter, big-eyed and pretty, sitting with some of Mrs. Walid's now-motherless grandchildren.
"Had my daughter had an extramarital relationship, her husband would have been the first to notice and do something," says Wahdan's mother, stopping to squint out tears. "They charged her, sentenced her, and executed her all in one fell swoop."
Her children harassed in school
Hala Wahdan, a sister-in-law, says the other women in the family, who are now trying to take care of the late woman's children, are devastated. The oldest kids, aged 9 and 12, are being harassed in school.
"Her children are extremely affected by this, especially with people gossiping and saying things that aren't true," she says. "They tell her 9-year-old girl, Noura, 'You're the daughter whose mother was killed because of honor.' And to the 12-year-old son, 'Your mother was killed because she was messing around.' "
Just days after Wahdan's murder, two other young women – sisters Sima and Eman el-Adel – were killed. Under questioning, police say, their brother confessed to having killed both of them in defense of the family honor. The word around this town of 60,000, however, is that they were having an inheritance dispute.
Women's rights activists say that nearly any perpetrator of a female relative's murder can make an "honor killing" claim, when in fact quite different motives may be present.
"We consider the law here to be permitting these crimes, and whoever commits these crimes knows that he will only be punished with six months in jail," says Margaret Ir-Rai, spokeswoman for Qalqilya's Jafra Center for Women. "Therefore, our battle is with the law, which we need to change. Many people ... hide behind the killing by saying it had an 'honor motive,' and [are] exonerated."
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