3) Killing on the basis of family honor:  

This section of the report focuses on the analysis of the survey that was carried out by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion in Beit-Sahour on behalf of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group in Jerusalem in May 2002. The main objective of the survey was to discover the veiws of the Palestinians public (people who approve and people who disapprove) the phenomenon of killing women on the basis of family honor. The survey also tried to investigate the best methods to deal with this problem. This section consists of two parts:

The first part deals with the community and the killing of women to safeguard family honor. In this section we tried to analyze the trends of people through the following topics:

a)      Killing and Honor.

b)      Type of clothes that is appropriate for women.

c)      Trends of people towards separation of men from women in many places and activities, and keeping women under observation.

d)      Relationship of tribal tribunals and domestic law to cases of killing on the basis of family honor.

The second part focuses on the community and freedom of women:

a)      The equal rights for women.

b)      The right of women to join organizations of the civic society.

Section One: The community and the killing of women

a) Killing and Honor

1- Involvement in a case that breaches the ‘honor’.

The above table shows that there is no great difference in the opinions of men and women towards the issue of killing on the basis of ‘honor’. Nevertheless, the opinion exists in 21.2% of the population who believe that the killing on the basis of family honor is a social responsibility in order to wipe out the disgrace. The percentage of females who accept the killing of women on the basis of family honor is less that that of males (16.3 to 25.9).

The above table generally shows there is a wide gap between support and opposition to the subject of ‘killing wipes out disgrace’ according to the location of residence. Support is 26.7% while opposition is 65.8%. Despite this difference we cannot ignore the fact that there is violence against women in the society. The highest percentage for support of killing exists in the refugee camps with 37.9% while it drops down to 27.4 in the villages.

The two tables mentioned previously indicate the considerable influence of the inherited culture among the population, this illustrates a social duty that reflect the dominant male authority over the woman, and this makes her preserve her honor which reflects on the honor of her male relatives. This explains the high percentage of men who support the killing of women on the basis of family honor (25.9%) while women show less supportive (16.3%).

The above mentioned table shows two trends: one concerns the secular and traditional religious people, the other concerns the religiously active people. The percentage of secular high school graduates who support the killing of woman on the basis of family honor 44.4%, while it was 27.8% among holders of bachelor degree, and 11.1% with holders of Masters degree. This suggests that the higher the education family completed, the less support to the idea that killing the woman will wipe out the disgrace. The second trend, that of the active religious people, reveals that 61.5% of holders of bachelor and Masters degrees support the idea that killing will not wipe out the disgrace. This percentage is higher than that of the secular 42.9% and that of the traditionally religious 32.5%. This fact reflects the duality of the thought of some Palestinians, and the influence of traditional ideas. The level of education and the religious commitment didn’t have much influence on the opinions of people. Therefore, the actual thought of the Palestinian individual remains committed to social traditions and the inherited culture.

2- Killing of the female on the basis of family honor:

From the above table we notice that women who agree to the killing of a woman who committed adultery are less that those who oppose it. A total of 63% of women (strongly) oppose the killing, while 42% favor the killing. 

This table shows that the percentage of the secular people who completed high school and support the right of the family to kill is 42.9% and those who oppose it are 27.9%. As for the people who obtained bachelor degree who strongly support that, they were 35.7%, and 32.6% strongly oppose that. Those who obtained their bachelor’s degree and strongly support that were 14.3%, while from the traditional people 44.9% strongly support the killing, and 40.6% oppose it. As for the religiously active people, 20% strongly support that, while 16.7% strongly oppose that, from those who finished high school. 20% from the people who finished their master’s degree strongly support the killing, while 11.1% strongly oppose it.

From those percentages we notice that the people who are secular, religious and traditional don’t differ much regarding the right of the family to kill their woman on the basis of honor. Their percentages were (42.9%, 35.7% and 44%).

Yet the percentage of the religiously active people who support the killing of woman is 20% at high school level, while it goes up to 40% at bachelor level. The general impression we get from those percentages is that there is almost no relationship between the educational and religious commitment and the right of the family to kill their daughter on the basis of honor.

3- Does the killing form a deterrent?

From this table we notice that there is a wide difference between the ideas of males and females. Males who strongly agree or somewhat agree total a 51.3% while females who strongly agree or somewhat agree total only 40%. This fact goes back to the nature of the Arab family, which is dominated by males. Honor to the Arabian family means a lot, as it gives the family a fundamental social value that is essential for its reputation. Therefore, the body of the Arab woman has a great value and importance, a fact that has its own implications and effects on the status of the family. The body of the woman has a distinguished value in this parental male society. From this environment stems out what is seen as the oppression of woman against woman. The Arab woman learns from her society to stand against her own sex in subjects such as the killing of woman on the basis of honor, because she feels inferior in her community.

It is obvious from the above table that there is no strong influence from the level of religious commitment and the level of education on the views and ideas of people on this subject, i.e. the killing of a woman involved in adultery will deter other women.

The percentage of secular individuals who completed high school and strongly support the killing as a deterrent is 40%, while 31.6% strongly oppose it. The religiously active people who finished high school and strongly support it are 37.9% whereas 33.7% oppose it. The percent of traditional people who oppose or support are the same 41%, while among bachelor holders, 16.1% support and 30.1% oppose.

We find out that those percentages do not vary much between support and opposition to the idea of killing the woman as a deterrent to other women. The highest rate of support is at the high school level, at the age of 18-22 years old. At this critical stage the men start to feel their maturity, and want to affirm their male domination over females. We also notice that despite the high level of education some individuals attain, they are still very much committed to their inherited culture and traditions.

Killing of the woman may deter others; according to place of residence

This table shows the similarities in percentages between different places of residence, regarding support or disagreement. This shows there is no fundamental relationship between the ideas of people and their living environment.

The above table reaffirms many of the issues that were discussed earlier. We still notice the high percentage among the secular individuals who finished high school and bachelors’ degree who support aggressive behavior by families against their daughters in order to wipe out disgrace. Among those who finished high school 33.3% support that while 24.3% oppose. Of the bachelor holders, 44.4% strongly support that and 29.7% strongly disagree.

Although the percentage of the people in support is high, the percentage of people who disagree among all the categories of secular, traditional and religious is also high. If we look at the people who disagree and strongly disagree together, we find out that; from the high school-leavers it is 55.1%, for bachelor holders 75.9% secular people, while from the religious at high school level it is 70.6%, and from the traditional people it is 82.7% at high school and bachelor level.

From these percentages we notice that there is obviously no strong relationship between the level of education and religion, and agreement on aggressive behavior and violence against women whose behavior may be seen as bringing shame and disgrace to their families.

b) Fashion of clothes that is suitable for Palestinian women

The value of modesty (pudency) plays an important role in preserving honor in our society. The understanding of the concept ‘honor’ is closely related to the sexual organs of the woman (the hymen). The woman’s body is the core for maintaining the honor, and it is the only mean for producing new members for the family. Therefore, the value of modesty is seen and implemented through wearing the veil (head-cover) to preserve honor.

It is clear the difference between male and female on this subject (the appropriate outfit) is very minimal, 46% for male, and 42% for female. This shows that the wearing of veil has become part of the culture of our society. This fosters the authority of man over woman, while it doesn’t necessarily reflect a religious commitment.

The appropriate outfit for a Palestinian woman is the head-cover and gown.

(According to place of living)

The above table reveals the strong and wide support for the veil and gown among the Palestinians, with almost similar percentages between the city and village, and higher percentage in the camp (55%). This is due to the fact that the veil and gown has become part of the tradition and culture in local society, which reflects the male authority over the woman. The higher percentage in the camp is explained by the motive to protect the honor and family relationships, after the loss of the land, and the density of the population in the camp.

What is noticeable in the above table is the high percentage of the people who strongly support the head-cover and gown, specially among secular individuals who completed high school (54.5%) which is the highest, followed by the religious people (41%), then the traditional people (38%), then the religiously active persons (18.5%).

As for people who hold bachelor degree, the highest percentage was among the religiously active people 48.1%, then the secular individuals 27.3% then the religious 24% and traditional 23%.

Those percentages show there is no relationship between the level of education and commitment to religion, and the appropriate fashion of clothes for Palestinian women, since the head-cover and gown here become part of the culture and a high percentage of the population support that since it shows preservation of the honor and commitment to modesty.

c) Trends of people towards separation between men and women, in their places and activities.

From the above three tables it is apparent that there is strong opposition to the idea of mixture between male and female. Males who support this idea represent 33.6% while 24.3% were females. The gender and place of living have close percentages, 28% in the city and village to 30% in the camp. People who completed high school and strongly support the idea are 40.4% while only 20% of bachelor holders agreed. This shows that part of the change in our society is materialistic. The economical need has its effect on its values. The inherited culture also has its effect on saying that the woman has to be separated at home. This further supports the concept of the inferiority of the female in our society.

d) The influence of tribal judiciary and domestic law in the cases of killing the woman on the basis of family honor

The tribal judiciary has considerable impact on the cases of killing on the basis of family honor, especially in the absence of a formal authority. However, in the tribal judiciary the practice of being flexible or trying to cover the crime to avoid the scandal is obvious in such cases. After the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority, women who were victims of family violence began to approach the domestic civil courts. Yet local law is not much better than the tribal judiciary, as in many cases the civil courts found the killer in family honor killing innocent and released him. This reveals the discrimination in the law, and the effect of the inherited culture on the judiciary.

- Referring to the tribal judiciary or civil law in cases of killing on the basis of family honor

We find out that a high percentage of males and females support the idea of referring cases honor killing to the Palestinian civil law, with a higher percentage from  females since they are the victims in such cases. However, this high support for the civil law doesn’t necessarily mean it is correct, taking into consideration the unstable economical and political circumstances. In such difficult conditions people refer to an alternative judiciary to solve their problems, the tribal judiciary, which receives higher support from the males, since it is believed that in the tribal judiciary the male authority is very dominant.

- The time period a killer on the basis of family honor has to spend in prison

From the above table we notice that males don’t support imprisonment of a male who kills his wife or daughter on the basis of family honor (21.7%) while (12.3%) for females. At the time period of ten years imprisonment, females who supported that were higher than males. At the item (I don’t know) females were 39.1% and males were 30%, and this shows uncertainty, or ignorance.

e) Killing on the basis of family honor as a social problem

- Considering killing on the basis of honor a social problem

Figures from the above table show that both males and females consider killing of women on the basis of family honor a social problem, at a total of 33.5%. This is not  a very high percentage, yet it indicates the beginning of social education towards this subject.