Domestic abuse against Palestinian women soars
Since start of coronavirus lockdown, at least five women have been killed at the hands of their abusers, activists say.
Banging pots and pans and waving homemade banners, scores of Palestinians have expressed their solidarity with women enduring various forms of domestic violence during a lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The initiative on Monday, which saw both women and men stand at their windows and balconies across the occupied Palestinian territories and historic Palestine, was aimed at shedding light on the plight of women who are locked down with their abusers. According to a tally combined by Tal’at, an independent political feminist movement that organised the campaign, 11 Palestinian women have been killed as a result of domestic violence so far this year, with five of the fatalities occurring since the implementation of the lockdown in early March. Of these five, four succumbed to gun wounds. Tal’at activist Soheir Asaad said that while for many “quarantine” suggests being safe at home, for others it is “hell”.
“It means living with someone who could end your life,” Assad told Al Jazeera from Haifa, describing the reality faced by some women during the lockdown. Assiwar, a women’s support NGO, says the number of calls it has received in recent weeks has risen by 30 percent, notwithstanding a plethora of messages landing on its social media platforms. Other groups report similar increases, with the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PW
WSD) saying its counseling hotline received 924 calls between March 22 and April 15. Lamia Naamneh, head of Assiwar and a women’s rights defender for more than 20 years, said most appeals for help involve women who have received death threats. Just yesterday, a call led us to a woman who was only able to speak to us via Facebook Messenger chat while at home,” Naamneh told Al Jazeera on Monday.
“She said she was threatened, beaten, and we had to send the police to get her transferred to a safe house,” she said.Naamneh added there has also been a surge in cases of both sexual violence and domestic abuse against children following the implementation of the lockdown measures. At the same time, there are major concerns that many cases of domestic violence go unreported. “Fear is the biggest barrier faced by abused women … Fear of being ostracised, excluded, abandoned, of not being a good mother or daughter,” said Amany Khalifa, a social worker who also participated in Monday’s campaign. The situation becomes even more difficult when authorities do not work to protect women, she told Al Jazeera from occupied East Jerusalem.
“We cannot ask an inherently violent institution to change the reality of Palestinian women.” It is common for cases to be underreported in certain areas of the West Bank, such as in Area C - which is under full Israeli military control. This is because it is difficult for the police to reach homes in these areas, according to PWWSD coordinator Futna Khalifa, who notes there are checkpoints hindering the movement of Palestinians. “Many Palestinian families live in small apartment complexes, and the small spaces can increase the chances of friction and conflict between a husband and wife,” Khalifa said. “This is especially true for those women who already faced abuse prior to the lockdown. What may have been psychological abuse, may have turned into a physical form of abuse during this time.”