West Bank: Two Palestinian women become judges in Islamic court

RAMALLAH (West Bank): The Islamic courts were among the last male-only bastions in Palestinian society, where women have been presidential candidates, police officers and even suicide bombers.

Now two stern-looking women in Muslim head scarves and long black robes have smashed through the thick glass ceiling.

Khuloud Faqih, 34, and Asmahan Wuheidi, 31, made history in February when they became the first female Islamic judges in the Palestinian territories.

Across the Arab world, only Sudan has had women judges in Islamic courts, West Bank-based academic experts on Islamic affairs said.

Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, all relatively progressive states in the region on women's rights, do not.

"I compare us to other Arab Muslim women, and I think we've done well," said Faqih, wearing a sash in the colours of the Palestinian flag across her robe. "I think I've opened a door for myself and other women."

She spoke between meetings with petitioners in her modest courtroom -- an office with a few couches, a desk and a coffee table with plastic flowers.

Muslim courts in the Palestinian Authority rule over family affairs like marriage, divorce, inheritance and custody, relying on Islamic jurisprudence rather than secular rules.

-- Associated Press

Middle East: Women of Jordan join the Women Business Leaders Summit in Bahrain

Women business executives from Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and Palestine joined together with women business leaders from the US joined to share their experiences and exchange best practices in a variety of panel discussions and fact finding visits around Bahrain and Dubai over the course of the week.

In their meeting with Deputy King Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, his royal highness 'Hailed the role of women in various domains in which they have proved their extraordinary ability to manage different businesses. He also urged them to create contact channels among Arab and US business women', Gulf Daily News.

The Bahrain summit, which builds on the previous success of Washington D.C. summit and the summit held in Jordan last February 2007, addresses the challenges faced by all women in business, and establishes connections on professional levels.

The summit programme included meetings with H.E. Sheikha Mai Al Khalifa and Sheikha Meriam Al Khalifa. Delegates visited the cultural and economic zones of Bahrain and participated in presentations and brainstorm sessions focusing on the exchange of business information and exports and joints ventures, as well as the capitalisation on existing and potential business relationships between the delegates and the organisations they represent.

'The Women Business Leaders Summit has been a unique spot for the Arab business women leaders to exchange their experiences with their business counterparts from the Middle East and the US. The Arab women were historically good merchants and we know that borders frequently visited by traders are seldom in disputes. I would also like to thank the chairman of the Red Cross Ms Bonnie McElveen-Hunter who has inspired the group with her dedicated efforts and focus on business and women leadership. Women from Jordan represented the ICT sector through the participation of ESKADENIA Software and the Information Technology Association of Jordan (int@j), Bidaya Corporate Communications, the Pharmaceutical industry through the participation of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, and Jordan's reputable NGO INJAZ,' said Doha Abdelkhaleq, member of the board of directors of the Information Technology Association of Jordan int@j and Executive Director at ESKADENIA Software.

-- AMEINFO.COM

Middle East: Bush still hoping for two-state solution

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush reaffirmed his commitment for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue and called on Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations to work for a final resolution to the long-standing problem.
He made the remarks on Thursday at a White House reception for a group of more than 40 women from the Middle East and North Africa visiting the United States.

Bush told the delegation that he has moved Israel closer to accepting a two-state solution during his time in office.

“I believe there needs to be a Palestinian state, and I stand by it,” Bush said.
“More than six years ago, I became the first American president to call for the creation of a Palestinian state.”

Bush said he sympathized with the plight of the Palestinian people.

“I said that Palestinians should not have to live in poverty and occupation and I laid out a new vision for the future — two democratic states, Israel and Palestine — living side by side in peace and security.”

He praised Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah as both a great friend and ally and hoped that other nations would unite with America to seek an equitable solution.

“I have worked hard to change the terrible condition of Palestinians, and I ask for the support of Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to achieve this,” Bush said.

Bush dismissed notions of Islamophobia behind America's current stance in the Middle East and Iraq and spoke of his respect for Islam and Muslims.

“Muslims and Christians pray to the same God,” Bush said, vehemently denying reports that portray him as a person against Islam and Muslims.

Bush portrayed himself as a friend and an ally of Arab governments who support peace.

At the end of the meeting, he told the delegation he would be meeting with the mothers of American soldiers killed in Iraq, saying he has a duty to console them and “stand by their side.”

The delegation, consisting of women from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Qatar, is part of an exchange program to promote economic and educational reform in their home countries.

Samar Fatany | Arab News

West Bank/Gaza: A Profile of Palestinian Women’s Political Participation within the Hamas Party

Palestinian Legislative Council member, Sameera Abdullah Halaykah, of the Hamas Party.

By Cheryl Rettig for the Alternative Information Center (AIC)

The 2006 Palestinian national elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip resulted in the largest increase ever of women members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). After the ballots were tallied, six women from Hamas, eight from Fatah, and three from democratic political parties were members of the PLC. Many have speculated on the reasons for the substantial increase in women candidates, especially in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

It is important to realize that Hamas is not simply a political or military organization. Hamas members are extensively involved in grassroots initiatives concerning the economy, education, culture and health care. For example, Hamas provides assistance to the poor and runs preschools, youth clubs and health clinics. It has also attracted the support of women by offering assistance programs for widows, day care, kindergartens and preschools, in addition to beauty parlors and women-only gyms.

One of the women attracted to Hamas and encouraged by the organization to stand for elections is Sameera Abdullah Halaykah, 44, a woman with a bright smile and visible passion for the people in her community. She was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 on the Hamas ticket after earning her BA in Islamic Studies from Hebron University and working as a journalist with Sawt al-Haq and al-Risala (journals affiliated with Hamas) and as the Director of the al-Rassad Office for Journalism and Media. However, though she belongs to Hamas, it is important to stress she does not speak on behalf of Hamas. Rather she limits her statements to her own background and experiences, as well as the general issue of female Palestinian political activism.

Before being elected to the PLC in 2006, Halaykah operated a media office in Hebron, where she monitored political and social issues in Palestine. It was in this capacity, she says, that she saw people’s suffering and made their stories public in reports for numerous websites. In the course of meeting with people who had lost family members through violence and their homes through demolitions, she was confronted with their problems on a daily basis and became well known in the community. It was also through this work and meetings with people, she says, that she learned what they were saying on a political level and what they were thinking regarding solutions. These experiences ultimately led Halaykah to become a candidate in the elections as she believes it is a “very important position that women be in legislative council”, though she stressed it is not easy for a woman to take this role due to factors such as culture and social expectations. However, she believes the presence of women in the legislative council is important despite these obstacles.

When Halaykah was running for office, she faced opposition from three primary groups. Obstacles came from Israeli security forces, which arrested activists involved with her campaign. Local Palestinian security officials were concerned that Halaykah spoke against the agreements of Fatah, and even called her husband to complain about her actions. Unknown persons further attempted to sabotage her efforts by burning her office. Despite these obstacles, says Halaykah, she remains determined and optimistic. It is clear from the respectful treatment she receives from male visitors to her office that she has already succeeded in dispelling certain stereotypes concerning women in positions of authority. Halaykah notes that one of the main ways she has done this is by closely following the problems experienced by people in her community and responding appropriately. She clearly states her main aim as an elected official is to help people; her office and home are always open to people in her constituency.

Halaykah closely monitors the situation of prisoners detained without charges for their political affiliations or beliefs, in addition to compiling reports and holding meetings, workshops and seminars on women’s rights. Halaykah is also very committed to working towards political unity and creating one government in the West Bank and Gaza to enable the Palestinians to have more effective representation. She said unity between Gaza (Hamas) and the West Bank (Fatah) requires will from both sides. In other words, if both sides make the decision, then it will happen. She also said the recent truce between Hamas and Israel, as well as the delegation from Fatah that entered Gaza, has given her hope something positive may develop and unity may become a reality.

When it comes to the role of women in political activism, specifically as representatives of the PLC, Halaykah said the election of 17 women in the West Bank and Gaza was a positive beginning, but she is hoping for more women to be elected in the future.

While Halaykah is working to open the way for more women to be in decision making positions, she is against a quota system that automatically guarantees a certain number of seats to women, simply due to their gender. She doesn’t want to be treated as special; she wants to be in the council because she has worked hard and has earned her position. In other words, “Women must struggle to be elected the normal way.” Halaykah was very emphatic when she said, “I am against the quota since the beginning. I have a right to be there without the quota.”

Sitting in front of a large Palestinian flag, wearing pink-rimmed glasses and a green head scarf, Halaykah discussed the two main areas that must change if women are to take a larger role in the Palestinian political arena. “Women must pursue any chance to be elected, but culture must also change,” she noted. If a man and a woman were both running for office, Halaykah said most would still elect the man because he is seen as stronger and able to discuss the issues more knowledgeably and persuasively. This is why Halaykah stressed the need for more advocacy and education among men and women in Palestine. Secondly, Halaykah said political parties have a responsibility to make changes as well. It is necessary to appoint more women within each party to positions of leadership and responsibility to demonstrate that women belong anywhere.

Sawsan Zama’ra, a young woman in her early 20s working for the Palestinian Psychologists Union in Hebron, echoed similar sentiments regarding the changes necessary for women to become more involved and accepted in positions of authority within Palestinian society. She stressed the importance of education for women, forcefully saying that “without education, you can’t understand your rights,”

Halaykah also had critical words for the international community concerning its general attitude toward Palestinian women. She criticized NGOs which receive money with the contention that Palestinian women are weak and need support. “From the beginning, women have been involved in the struggles,” related Halaykah. “Because of the Israeli occupation, women have had many responsibilities as farmers and teachers, and women have spent time in prison and participated in political work. The women in Palestine are not as weak as NGOs portray them to be. As Palestinian women, our first mission is to survive.”

---Alternative Information Center (AIC)

West Bank/Gaza: No Day Is a Woman's Day in Gaza

Mahasen Darduna suffers in ways the world recognises; her suffering comes at the hands of the Israelis. But there are many Palestinian women whose suffering the world does not see, because their hell is inflicted on them by Palestinians.

One way and another, no day is a woman's day in Gaza. For all of a week, Mahasen Darduna, 30, has sat day and night by her son's bedside in hospital. The boy, Yahiya, 9, was among the group hit by an Israeli missile while playing football on a field at the Jabaliya refugee camp. Yahia survived, but with severe injuries.

"He needs my support, he has been confined to this bed since he was maimed by the Israeli missile," Mahasen says. But she must also slip away often to see her other five children, who she has moved to her mother-in-law's house in belief they will be safer there. "I think of them constantly when we are apart. I feel terrible: two are getting sick, and they all cry each time we say goodbye. I can't be at both places."

In the same hospital room, Umm Ali Faraj looks after her seven-year-old son, who suffered a cracked skull in a bombing. Umm Ali too has rearranged her family life. Four of her seven children stay with her in the hospital. Umm Ali goes back and forth between hospital and home, cooking for the children and getting them off to school.

Like Mahasen and Umm Ali, countless women have suffered through more than 40 years of Israeli occupation. "Palestinian women's lives are incredibly difficult under the crippling international siege and the Israeli army's killing invasions," says Nadyia Abu Nahla, director of the Women's Affairs Technical Centre in Gaza, an independent group that supports women's rights. The large number of women who have been forced to give birth at army checkpoints is well documented by international and Israeli rights groups.

Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian homes has collectively punished tens of thousands of women in Gaza and the West Bank, rendering them and their children homeless. But through this period, women have also struggled against denial of rights by Palestinian society. "The dire economic situation is one of the causes of an increase of violence in Gaza," Abu Nahla told IPS.

With resistance to the siege and military attacks, religious fanaticism has grown, and that has contributed to an increase in violence against women, she said. "Islam forbids violence against women, and forbids the use of women as slaves," says Sheikh Dr. Hassan al-Jojo, head of Gaza's Legitimacy Court, the main court for society and family issues.

But Dr. Jojo acknowledges that women do not have their full rights. 'Honour killing' has increased, according to Abu Nahla. At least 17 women died in 'honour killings' in Gaza last year, her centre reports. Last year and 2003 have been the worst years for known 'honour killings' in Gaza. In 2003, 34 women were killed in Gaza and the West Bank.

Jordanian criminal law enforced in the West Bank, and Egyptian law enforced in Gaza, neither effectively prohibit nor appropriately punish violence against women. Women are rarely encouraged to go to the courts, or to seek the help of social services for rehabilitation. Police chief investigator Mussa Dawoud told IPS that violence against women is taken seriously.

But in trying to solve problems, he says the police try to protect the family structure, and avoid complications that could lead to divorce. Police officers and clan seniors routinely mediate to resolve issues around family violence, but provide solutions that usually mean that the abused woman is sent back to her husband.

Where women receive support to take a strong stand, they face pressure and punishment from abusive men. One 29-year-old woman from Khan Younies is not allowed by her husband to use the phone or even send an sms, says Abu Nahla. She is locked up at home daily, and on one occasion could not take her sick child to hospital.

Other women have been beaten up by husbands for visiting relatives without their permission, Abu Nahla said. Only 13 percent of Palestinian Legislative Council members are women, with fewer holding leading positions. "This is not enough," Abu Nahla said. "We are hoping there will be more seats for women." And, she said, that there will be safety at home in every way.

-- Mohammed Omer from IPS

Middle East: In the Middle East, women directors unspool social commentary

By Danna Harman Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Tel Aviv - In the Middle East, women have a new voice: the movies. As nascent film industries bloom in the region, a few emerging women directors are probing some of the most delicate subjects within their male-dominated communities, giving viewers a glimpse into once-veiled worlds.

"Women realized that they were in double jeopardy – of having Westerners speak for them, and men speak for them.... so they got behind the cameras," says Mona Eltahawy, a New York-based Egyptian commentator and lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues.

The Monitor recently contacted three such filmmakers – Israeli Arab Ibtisam Maraana and Buthina Canaan Khoury of the Palestine Territories; and Haifaa Al-Mansour of Saudi Arabia – to talk about their hard-won successes.

In time, these directors may come to emulate the commercial fortunes of Nadine Labaki's "Caramel," a comedic social commentary set inside a Beirut beauty salon that became Lebanon's top-grossing film of 2007, or Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis," the Oscar-nominated film based on her childhood in Iran. (Both films are in release in the US.) But the three directors are wary of being pigeon-holed, a notion voiced by Satrapi, who lives in France.

"I think I am interesting because I make good movies," says Satrapi in a phone interview. "Not because I represent anything."

Like Satrapi, these three bold directors have often been criticized but they each share Satrapi's ethos: "I was not surprised by the objections and I don't care," she says. "I fear nothing."

Haifaa Al-Mansour

Growing up in Saudi Arabia, a country without any movie theaters, meant that when Haifaa Al-Mansour's family wanted an outing to the cinema, they'd have to drive to Bahrain.

"There is a debate nowadays in our local Shura council about opening a theater ... but it has not passed yet," sighs Mansour, speaking by phone from Australia, her new home with her husband, an American diplomat. "I make films for Saudis. I want to talk to them. Provoke them. Make them think about the issues. But it's hard when they cannot see my work."

In any case, Mansour's films wouldn't win the sort of accolades in Saudi Arabia that she has garnered at film festivals abroad. By peeking a camera lens behind the veil of Saudi Arabian life, she has ventured into unprecedented territory for a woman in a society where women are not allowed to vote, drive, study the same subjects men do, or take on the same jobs.

Mansour, one of 12 children, didn't intend to focus her filmmaking career on women's issues, but found the issues too important not to address. She began her filmmaking career making a seven-minute short, "Who?," in which a man disguised as a women – i.e., dressed in a traditional black, full-body covering called the abaya – stalks women and enters their homes. The film explores the theme of hiding behind disguises, says Mansour. Shot with a hand-held camera, the film was released in Turkey and could be seen in Saudi Arabia only on pirated DVDs. Many perceived it as an anti-abaya message.

A few years later, the documentary "Women Without Shadows" – winner of the Golden Dagger for best documentary at the Muscat film festival in Oman – wondered whether it is necessary for women to cover their faces in public in order to comply with Islamic teachings.

"I get hate e-mails," says Mansour. "People say I am not religious. That I don't respect my own culture. It's not true. I don't want to corrupt my viewers, but there are certain situations in Saudi Arabia that merit people talking about them."

Mansour's fountain of strength, she says, is her family. Her father, famous Saudi poet Abdul Rahman Mansour, brought home films for his kids to watch on video. He encouraged his daughters to study – Mansour studied comparative literature at the American University in Cairo – and didn't force them to wear the veil or rush into marriage. He was very open-minded, she says.

She hopes that viewers will bring that same quality to her work. Anyone who loves Saudi Arabia, she concludes, "needs to be critical. It can only make us better."

Ibtisam Maraana

Ibtisam Maraana was 19 when she went to see a movie for the first time. She recalls the occasion, right down to the hour, vividly. Venturing outside the Arab village of Paradise, too small to merit its own movie house, she went to a nearby Jewish town to take in a 5 p.m. showing of the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski." Maraana loved it.

A decade on, she's funneled a rebellious streak into a career as an accomplished director who examines cultural mores in a fresh light.

Her 2005 film "Badal," which won the best short documentary award at Toronto's Hot Docs festival, looks at the local tradition of a package-deal arranged marriage in which a brother-sister duo from one family are married off to a duo from another family. "By coupling a girl with her more attractive brother, a family could thus ensure she found a mate," explains Maraana, who herself was considered an unattractive marriage candidate because of her "advancing" age, a scar on her hand, and beyond all, her independent streak.

The daughter of a maid who cleaned houses in a Jewish town, Maraana recalls spending that time looking "at bikes I was not allowed to ride at home in the village because I was a girl." She resented those wealthier houses and their owners but she also got a glimpse of a certain social and cultural openness that intrigued her.

Later, Maraana studied media communication in Jerusalem but soon shifted her focus. "I realized there were so many stories no one was telling," she says.

One such story, chronicled in "Three Times Divorced," is often difficult to watch. It delves into divorce and child custody in the Arab world by following Khitam, a Palestinian woman from Gaza, who is beaten, divorced, and thrown out of her house by her Israeli Arab husband. Her efforts to gain custody of her six children, to fight the Islamic sharia courts, and to gain legal status in Israel, show the power of a determined woman against all odds.

"Courage is in my genes," says Maraana calmly, sipping tea in her apartment in Florentine, an artsy south Tel Aviv neighborhood. "Women typically appreciate my movies and want to have a forum for these important issues," she says. But men, especially, surprisingly, educated ones, feel threatened."

Maraana compares her filmmaking to going to war. Not surprisingly, she longs to write a feature. "In fiction you can create your own reality," she says. "I want to make movies about love, too. I don't always want to be fighting."

Buthina Canaan Khoury

Buthina Canaan Khoury, a Christian Palestinian filmmaker from the West Bank town of Taybeh, is used to pioneering unchartered territory. She was the first Palestinian camera woman and producer for the European Broadcasting Union inside the Palestinian Territories. Now the head of her own Majd Production Company, she has nothing less than a filmmaking agenda: to highlight key Palestinian issues.

Her latest film, "Maria's Grotto," which opened November in Ramallah, takes on the often taboo subject of honor killings. In it, Khoury looks at the aftermath of two honor killings and interviews two other women who survived brutal stabbings. "This movie is not meant to give a bad image to Palestinians," she stresses. "On the contrary, we criticize ourselves because we love our society and want to help it improve."

Khoury got her start in Boston by getting an MBA in photography and filmmaking. Her first splash as a filmmaker was 2004's "Women in Struggle," an account of four women who had spent years in Israeli jails.

The filmmaker is thrilled that more women are getting behind the camera.

"It's a domino effect, in which seeing one Arab woman making a film soon inspires and encourages others to follow suit," she says. "And the more we produce, the greater the interest – before we were seen as exotic, one-off phenomenons, but now we have a diversity of voices and we are being taken more seriously."

She wouldn't mind a turn at lighter fare, though. Khoury's next film will relay the story of her own family, which moved from Boston back home to Taybeh, in the West Bank, in 1994 after the Oslo Accords – in order to fulfill their father's dream of opening the first microbrewery in the Middle East. (Not easy in a region full of "dry" spots.)

"It's challenging to do women's issues all the time," concludes Khoury. "I would like to have a little fun."

West Bank/Gaza: Women are still more Supportive of Hamas

Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) conducted an opinion poll dated 16-18 January 2008 after and during the latest Gaza attacks. A representative sample, of 3200 Palestinians, was interviewed in all West Bank and Gaza districts.

The main results were published on January the 23rd showing a decline in the support for Fateh and a slight increase in the support for Hamas. One must note that the latest attacks on Gaza influenced Palestinian views on most issues. Other important factors in this poll were gender, age and education that are clearly correlated with political attitudes.

During the last decade, various polls had shown that women, youth and educated Palestinians comprised the main bulk of support for Hamas. This poll shows major shifts, where these groups do not seem to be as supportive of the movement as traditionally believed. The opposite is true for Fateh that seems to have made gains among young and educated respondents, but still lagging behind among women.

Fewer Women Supporting Hamas; No Signs of Reconciliation between Women and Fateh

Previous polling had shown that fewer women, than men, support the peace process, and more women, than men, support Hamas. The current poll shows a continuation in the gender gap for most political issues, but a declining gap on support for Hamas. Women are, however, still more reluctant to support Fateh.

Around 31% of men fully support the outcome of Annapolis and the continuation of negotiations.

This view is shared by 23% of the female respondents.

Again, 39% of men support the division of Jerusalem and exchange of sovereignty, compared with 25% of women.

51% of men support steps taken by Abbas to end the occupation, compared with 41% among women.

28% of women believe that Hamas has a real alternative to end the occupation, compared with 23% of men.

In terms of support for Hamas, the gender gap is declining with only 18% of the women stating that they will vote for the movement, compared with 16% among men.

When it comes to Fateh, the gender gap continues where 27% of the women and 37% of the men declared that they might vote for Fateh in a PLC election.