Palestinian Women Fight Back After 8th ‘Honor Killing’ In One Family

by Infidelesto on February 26, 2007 · Comments

Over the course of six years these women said nothing out of fear. Now they are speaking out. Good for them.

Abu-Ghanem women speak out against serial ‘honor killings’. The murder of Hamda Abu-Ghanem, whose bullet-riddled body was found in mid-January at her parents’ house in Ramle, surprised nobody. As police set about their investigation, everyone was aware that the victim’s brother had been threatening to kill her, and that long before the murder, she had taken refuge in a battered women’s shelter.It was a typical “honor killing,” meant to remove some perceived stain on the family’s reputation.

The perpetrators of most honor killings in the Arab community are not apprehended. Hamda’s murder, however….read more

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  4. Saudi Gang rape victim in danger of “Honor killing” from own family
  5. Jordan: Man Stabs Sister to Death While She Slept to Protect Family “Honor”
  6. Gaza: Father kills daughter to “preserve family honor”
  7. Jordanian family drops all charges in son’s ‘honor killing’ of sister
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  10. Jordan Honor Killing: 3 men stab sister to death because of “bad reputation”
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  • Beejj
    JEWHAWK, the moment Israel places its faith in the UN, she is finished. The most disgusting sight I ever saw was the UN Assembly standing and clapping as Yasser Arafat, wearing a side arm (not that this piece of shit ever knew how to use it), strode down the aisle to address that body.
  • JEWHAWK
    Why the leftist demonstrators don't react when stories like that appears??
    Shouldn't they uphold the so-called 'HUMAN RIGHTS"??
    Where are the U.N. resolutions?

    If HIPOCRISY has a size,then the world leftist media and politicians that
    criticize Israel with a passion,has a GODZILLA-HIGH one.

    Shame on them!
  • JEWHAWK
    Why the leftist demonstrators don't react when stories like that appears??
    Shouldn't they protect the so-called 'HUMAN RIGHTS"??

    If HIPOCRISY has a size,then the world leftist media and politicians that
    criticize Israel with a passion,has a GODZILLA-HIGH one.

    Shame on them!
  • Kal_El
    @Radiaaaa Radkab:

    What a woman does regarding sex is her own business, not the family's. But killing is a part of islam, from the days that its founder Muhammad was ransacking caravans and killing those who refused to submit to his delusion.
  • Radiaaaa Radkab
    Honour killings should be stoppedd.. why should women have to go through such torment and destruction for FAMILY PRIDE. REPUTATION IS EVERYTHING. these days even though many arabs still believe that many will keep talking no matter what the situation, it is not about the obsession with what society thinks. its about the vunerability that we have the right to live in freedom. and who caress if your family is put to shame. the girl in the 1st place should not be that disrespectful to her family for e.g having sex before marriage which is forbiddon!!!!!!!!!!
  • andy
    while "honour killings" perfectly demonstrate the fucked up mindset of these savages,I find it hard to be  upset with the idea of one less islamic baby factory to make more soldiers for the war against us.
  • tippi maravala
    yes honour killings should stop very very soon . it is terrible as to how it goes on. the only reason it did was because it was not brought to public s eye. we are free to be who we are . why should somebody else tell us what to do . beware in some cases honour killings is a excuse to take her house away or get monies from insurance policies and than i have seen cases because of money the poor women are killed and than blamed she was unfaithfull or something thats why they killed her. she might be a normal perfectly straight honest person . keep the eyes open. no killing under no circumstances. there is no honour in honour killings. my biggest worry is the women themselves who conspire honour killing in the first place and provoke the men. what about those women? love to you. from tippi
  • It is amazing that these brave female relatives have stepped forward to say "enough is enough," taking their own lives into their hands.

    In my own family, in the United States, the honor killing of my great-aunt was a secret for eighty years. The women in the family cried whispered about her in the evenings, when they thought their children were asleep. The women were terrified to speak out against the brothers and sons who had committed this heinous crime, yet it was the women who kept her memory alive and who eventually restored her to the family.

    We can only pray that our collective voice against such atrocities will embolden our sisters to accuse the criminals, and that the world will join us in our cries for justice for the silenced victims.

    Karen Tintori, author
    Unto the Daughters: The Legacy of an Honor Killing in a Sicilian-American Family
    www.karentintori.com
  • ERS
    I am just now reading this. When it was happening, I was living and working in neighboring Jordan on the "honor" killings situation there.

    With the possible exception of the Arabs who live in Jerusalem and actually have legal status as Israelis, most Arabs I know in the region consider Arabs living in what the West considers Israel to actually be living in Palestine. So they identify them as Palestinians, not Israelis.

    Most experts consider Jordan and the Palestinian Territories to have the highest rates of "honor" killings in the world (Pakistan and Turkey have the highest numbers, but on a larger population base, so their rates aren't as high). Sadly, there is very little protection for these at-risk girls and women. . .dysfunctional gender relations within their families, no shelters to run to, a callously unconcerned state that, if anything, protects the perpetrators more than the victims. In Jordan, for example, there are three penal code articles on the books that offer leniency to the killers. The average sentence is six months (not a typo). Legally, the West Bank of the Palestinian Territories still operates under Jordanian laws (it used to be part of Jordan, prior to the Six Day War of 1967, at which point it was seized by Israel and is now contested land). So any crimes committed there would be taken similarly unseriously.

    I have no doubt the women of this family have been living in terror. It took guts for them to speak up. I, too, wish they'd have done it sooner and maybe spared some lives, but considering little in the system will protect them, even now, I can kind of understand their reticence.

    It makes more sense to me to be critical of the system and the people who are in charge of it (and maybe the international community for not doing more) than to blame these girls and women. These laws that support the perpetrators of these crimes are against 17 different international agreements and covenants Jordan has signed. Why is there no enforcement mechanism? Why are so many people choosing to look the other way?

    Ellen R. Sheeley, Author
    "Reclaiming Honor in Jordan"
    (Available on Amazon.com)

    These crimes actually pre-date Islam, so it is unfair to blame the faith. In fact, Islam does not condone these crimes. They are believed to have their origins in misinterpretations of pre-Islamic Arab tribal codes. Nonetheless, it is the case that, of the estimated 5,000 "honor" killings committed per annum (i.e., the UN's estimate), the overwhelming majority of them occur in Arab/Muslim countries and in Arab/Muslim immigrant communities elsewhere. So there is a correlation, but no causality.

    Sadly, not enough is being done to address and prevent these wholesale murders of girls and women.

    Ellen R. Sheeley, Author
    "Reclaiming Honor in Jordan"
  • BioNexus
    This Honour kiling is a Joke what the hell kind of family would kill each other for HONOUR if my family disgraced me which they do in public all the time i would laugh it off or ask them not to do that simple as that. who wants to live where you have your life constantly threatened. Woman you gotta stand up after the first 1st not the 8th death.
  • Sistainfidel
    Arab's in Israel consider themselves "Arab-Israeli"? That's news to me. Arab's don't even acknowledge the existence of Israel.

    If you read the article, there is fear that the women that spoke out will be hurt or killed before they can testify, since there is no witness protection program. I can see it being marginally less risky speaking out in an Arab neighborhood in Israel, as opposed to Iran, but not much. Hopefully we'll get updates on this story and the safety of these women.
  • Your title says "Palestinian women", but these are Arab-Israeli women. Arab Israeli might be Palestinian as well, but I think the fact that they live in Israel might be the reason why these women are speaking out. They are living in a mixed town and they realize that things can and should be different. Additionally, the police force is expected to come down on "honor" killings and not to just hide it.
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