Law, Politics, and Violence Against Women: A Case Study of Palestinians in Israel

Abstract

Major controversies regarding the value of legal and policy reforms have accompanied research on wife battering and social reactions to it. The present study examines the utility of law enforcement and emphasizes the relationship between gender, culture, and politics. It points to the difficulties arising from the shift from private, traditional methods of dealing with violence against women to a more public approach characterized by intervention of the state and the criminal justice system. In this connection, it was hypothesized that enforcement of the Israeli Law Against Family Violence among the oppressed and discriminated Palestinian minority generates new conflicts within the group, exacerbating control and abuse and re-victimizing women. Social control agents (formal and informal) who were interviewed about their perceptions and attitudes regarding the applicability of such a law pointed to obstacles created by sociocultural variables, the political legacy and procedural barriers. An attempt is made to show that application of the law without prior preparation and understanding of its sociocultural and political ramifications may produce adverse effects at the victim's expense. That is, unless power struggles, cultural pressures, and political priorities are taken into consideration, criminal strategies that seek to eliminate abuse may prove to be dangerous.

Beliefs of Palestinian Women From Israel About the Responsibility and Punishment of Violent Husbands and About Helping Battered Women

“…Furthermore, Shalhoub-Kevorkian (1999) maintained that the criminalization of wife abuse in Israel has created confusion and discomfort among the Arab minority in the country, and might have affected their response to dealing with wife abuse as a result. This argument is also supported by the findings of the present study, especially with regard to considering police intervention.…”

‘Suddenly she realizes that her husband is not exactly Rabbi Akiba …’ – perceptions of masculinity of ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jewish battering men

“…However, the point some of the interviewees make regarding their violence refers to the changing reality of their economic lives in Israel (Cohen 2005) and the social and cultural influences these changes have on family life and on gender identities (Hakak 2005). Literature on traditional societies undergoing changes point to an increase in intimate violence against women that is related to the weakening of gender identities (Shalhoub-Kevorkin 1999). We cannot conclude, therefore, whether what is described here is unique to Israeli haredi batterers or not.…”

The cultural inertia of the habitus: Gendered narrations of agency amongst educated female Palestinians in Israel

“…As in other modernizing societies, this traditional masculine order has slowly changed in the Israeli context (Mazawi, 1994; Shalhoub‐Kevorkian, 1999), constituting greater space for variance in cultural practices. As of 1949, Israel imposed mandatory school attendance on male and female Palestinian‐Israelis, thereby initiating a gradual process of modernization through schooling.…”