Bethlehem, West Bank – The brutal killing of a battered wife in front of horrified witnesses in an open-air Bethlehem market prompted angry accusations Wednesday that Palestinian police and courts ignore violence against women.
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Nancy Zaboun, a 27-year-old mother of three, had her throat slashed Monday after seeking a divorce from her abusive husband of 10 years. The husband was arrested at the scene and is the prime suspect, West Bank officials said.
The case reverberated across Palestinian society because of the brutality of the attack. However, violence against women continues to be tolerated — similar to attitudes in other parts of the Arab world — and women’s rights activists say abusive husbands are rarely punished.
Zaboun was regularly beaten by her husband, 32-year-old Shadi Abedallah, at times so severely that she had to be hospitalized, said Haula al-Azraq, who runs a West Bank counseling center where Zaboun sought help.
Even so, Abedallah was never arrested. Police only made him sign pledges he would stop hitting his wife, said al-Azraq, adding that Abedallah himself is a former police officer.
Zaboun was killed after attending a hearing in her divorce case. She was walking on the steep paths of an open-air market — not far from the Church of the Nativity, marking the traditional birthplace of Jesus — when she was fatally slashed.
On Wednesday, several dozen women staged a memorial for Zaboun in the Bethlehem market alley where she was killed, holding signs and chanting, “No to violence against women.” One sign read, “Shame on us Palestinians for killing our women.”
Women have scored some breakthroughs in traditional Palestinian society in recent years, including gaining a greater role in public life. However, tribal laws still remain strong, and violence against women is generally viewed by police as an internal family matter.
Al-Azraq said violence against women appears to be on the rise because of a deteriorating economic situation and because abusers don’t fear punishment.
Last year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree that ended a long-standing practice of treating killings within a family with leniency. Justice Minister Ali Mohanna said such killings are now treated as any other slaying, and claims of assailants that they were protecting “family honor” are no longer taken into account.
Zaboun’s husband could face life in prison if convicted, the minister said.
Thirteen women were killed by family members or in suspicious circumstances blamed on relatives in 2011, said Farid al-Attrash of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights. In 2012, 12 women were killed by relatives, including three in so-called “family honor” cases, he said. Those include suspected adultery and similar cases.
Zaboun was married at age 17, and the couple has three children, ages eight, six and three. Al-Azraq said the beatings began immediately after the wedding.
Abdel Fattah Hemayel, the district governor of Bethlehem, said the authorities stepped in at some point, attempting to solve what he described as a family dispute. He confirmed that the husband was asked to sign pledges to stop beating his wife.
Rabiha Diab, the women’s affairs minister in the Palestinian self-rule government, said the killing of Zaboun, and the failure to prevent, it were troubling.
“Every once in a while, there is a case that makes us feel worried and afraid that we are going back to square one (as women),” she said, noting that law enforcement agencies need to look at what they can do to protect women.
She called for harsh punishment of Zaboun’s killer. “We should set an example because … he slaughtered her like a sheep,” she said.
Muslim men don’t value their own lives. Why do these women think they would value women’s lives?
They deserve a lot of praise for what they’re doing. They’re risking violence at the hands of their husbands, brothers and fathers to save the lives of women and give voice to the voiceless. This is the real face of feminism.
Religion of peace.
Please show a little cultural sensitivity. In their culture they don’t look at wife beating the same way was westernized people.
And if romney said something about the Arab culture, wowo! He had to pull back his words! Animals don’t such stuff! Peace partners! 2 state solution, side by side in PEACE & HARMONY! Do they even know how to spell PEACE!?!?!
Why do we need to know this? Who cares? Let ’em continue to kill each other and rid us of their existance….
‘he slaughtered her like a sheep’, she said.
They murder their own wives like sheep yet the world expects Israel to lay down and play nice with these vermin. These are our peace partners, lest you forget.
Para’ adam, we know that’s what their mankind is. In a sense it’s sad for their women but you know they mostly hate Jews, therefore if Amalek has troubles we can’t feel neither bad nor good for them.
Yes, the open minded readers have once again showed their understanding and kindness towards all human kind. All 1.5 billion Muslims are killers who hate women, as are all Arabs. I’m so glad you have taken the time to meet each and everyone of these people so you can provide us with this helpful information. BTW, thank goodness it’s wrong to blame all Jews for the bad actions of another, only non-Jews, as I sure wouldn’t want to be blamed for what Levi Aron is about to plead to.
This is exactly the kind of thing Romney was referring to…
Hey! Did our Sec of State Clinton say anything yet?
She did have a problem with the seperation of gender on Eged bus.
This underscores the hypocrisy of the left. It champion’s Palestinian statehood, condemns Israel, but yet, is absolutely reticent as to the Arab record no woman;s rights – a prominent leftist cause.
There is an old saying that people in glass houses, can’t throw stones. Until we rid our own community of sexual perverts and child molesters, as well as husbands who beat their wives and children, then we should not be criticizing the Muslims for their domestic violence.
I’m surprised they’re not blaming the Jews as usual, by saying the so-called occupation is causing the men to be frustrated into resorting to violence against their wives!
Eerily reminds me of the cold blooded murder of the Fogel family. A society whose beliefs can justify the killing of a sleeping infant can certainly support the violence against women and spouses.
She should’ve called Sholom Task Force hot line
Seven mitzvot were commanded to the descendants of Noach. Not to murder is one of them. Enforcing just Courts of Law is another. We should be supportive when we see our fellow creatures protesting an extra-judicial killing, thereby following their cheilek in the Torah.
it seems that every culture seems to abuse their women in some way. i give these women credit that they have come out and publicly identified the abuse they have experienced and continue to experience by the men in their culture. Jewish culture also has many abuses against women. we do not publicly protest domestic violence in the frum community as a group, although it absolutely exists, possibly larger than we know. the aguna issue is a huge abuse against women that seems to have no solution. i know a woman who was an aguna for 17 years after her husband ran off with a gentile. he called to cops on anyone who came to his house to ask him to give his wife a get. she died homeless after a series of nervous breakdowns and complications of diabetes. that is nothing short of abuse against women in the frum community, and there is nothing we can do about it, which might even be more pathetic than what is happening to these Palestinian women. at least, they will eventually have the courts and public pressure on their side to bring these men to justice. nothing in modern society can ever bring a Jewish man to justice if he refuses to give his wife a get.