Buthaina Abu Ghanem was murdered in cold blood last night in Ramleh, in front of her six year old son. Her two sisters were murdered under similar circumstances. Kayan Feminist Organization condemns the murder of women and works to eradicate this abominable practice. In 2013, an article written by Kayans Community Organizer Adella Biadi Shlon about the banality of killing Arab women, appeared in Haaretz newspaper. Sadly, it is still relevant today. The banality of killing Arab women Adella Biadi-Shlon Morning of September 1st 2013 seemed like a regular morning, until the news titles at 7:30 reported the vile killing in Daburieh village. The killing shocked everyone heard about it, and rumbled the women organizations working to eradicate the phenomenon of killing women in the Palestinian community in Israel. Zahira, Madlene, Amani, Lama and Abed El-Salam, are no longer alive. Each one of them had a program in that day, to go to school, meet friends, play at the kindergarten or go to work. All of this was stopped because the father went out for his death (killing) journey and moved from one scene to the other with no intervention from any one, a journey which ended with the death of his ex-wife, 3 daughters and a worker at the local nursing home. The list of victims since the beginning of 2013 includes: Ala’ Shami (Eibelin), Maya Zbeidat (Basmat Tavon), Mona Mahajneh (Um El-Fahem), Fatmi Jabareen (Um El-Fahem), Suha El-Baz (Kfar Bara), Shahinaz Daoud (Majd El-Krum), Asinad and Rimas Emtirat (Al-Fura’). Killing women in general, Palestinian women specifically, became a worrisome phenomenon getting wider. Therefore, we, women organization and human rights organizations joined together in the coalition against killing Palestinian women. Today, we as a coalition and active women are fighting this phenomenon in two major levels. One is the poor handling of the state’s institutions, and the second is the social structure of the community. For many years, there are serious flaws with reference to the police and the judiciary complaints threatened murder women and utilizing the killers to justice. Many cases are closed, or end with plea bargains and light sentences, even when the killers identity is known. So far facts show that the legal system is on the side and hang the murder of Arab women cultural factors - social obligations to the state of them. In her book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the Banality of Evil (1963), Hannah Arendt argued that every murder case there are three axes of the triangle banal act: the first vertex is the victim, second the operator and the third is in any bystanders. It is not the place to document the long-standing practice of various womens organizations to eradicate the phenomenon, but this is to note that the triangle banality Arendt described, the Israeli legal system, the police and political leadership are among those bystanders. Law enforcement, including police and courts, must cease to stand aside. It was an amazing surprise when it turned out that the victim from Daburia, as in most cases, complained to the police and asked for help, but, as in most cases, complaint handling fell through the cracks - between the police and prosecution. According to police, a few months ago she recommended the filing of charges against the killer, following a second complaint of the woman that follows her ex-husband - but the office has decided to close the case. Some present statistics that indicate on a decline in the incidence of violence against women, at least in the Northern District. How is it possible that there is a decrease - if the last decade there were 88 victims, of which 13 in the current year, and all were killed by men? Moreover, instead of giving security for women who suffer from violence and threats, police and welfare departments send them to shelters, and by that doubling their suffering and the suffering of their children. Murderers, threatening, and who supports them, are the ones who need to be detached from society, not vice versa. Poor and degrading treatment by the police and prosecution in Daboria case, and in many other cases, proves that they did not bother to do the work required, and the result: four victims who were murdered in cold blood by a despicable killer, then they say: the writing was on the wall. How many more murders must happen before the police and prosecution do their job properly? How long will the prosecution and the police stand aside without action as if the phenomenon of killing women is something that cannot be prevented? Where is the political leadership’s responsibility to all citizens and women in particular? How long will women pay with their lives for contempt and indifference of the police, prosecution and the judiciary? Killing women is not a “unique” phenomenon for the Arab society, it is not culture oriented, with no romantic background, and it has no “honor”. Thanks to the persistent struggle women organizations and human rights organizations, the term murdered for honor killings” has been deleted from the accepted discourse in Arab society. Some may argue that in recent years there has been an increase in referrals of Arab women to the police and filing complaints about domestic violence, and this is following to the increased public awareness of Arab society in general and Arab women in particular as to their right to live in security and without violence. On the other hand, the police and the judicial system should explain why there was an increase in deaths of women despite the increase in the number of complaints? In order to eradicate this phenomenon, we, the coalition against killing of Arab women, we will continue to fight against it at both levels, in Arab society and the law enforcement authorities. We will continue to go out to the streets and protest against this, we will continue to monitor and criticize and call a killer with his name. We call the law enforcement system, legal system and political leadership to stop standing on the sidelines, so we do not have to say again “the writing was on the wall.” This article first appeared in the printed version of Haaretz newspaper.You can read it in Hebrew here: haaretz.co.il/opinions/.premium-1.2131805
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:56:16 +0000
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