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Palestinian
Women's Model Parliament
Dahlia Scheindlin, Middle East Review of Internationanl Affairs,
Volume 2, No. 3, September 1998
The decision stunned even its leaders. During their model parliament
held last April in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian women's rights activists
first recommended that laws be enacted to restrain and regulate polygamy;
that it be allowed only in exceptional cases and with the first wife
being offered a divorce. But after the 126 "delegates" confirmed
the vote, they dramatically invalidated the decision. Instead, a large
majority called for a total ban on polygamy amid widespread applause.
The Islamic community called the vote a "slap in the face to
the Koran," according to the Palestinian daily, "al-Ayyam."
The activists were denounced as "devils, satans and demons,"
accused of desecrating and disrespecting the Shari'ah (Islamic law).
"Everyone was against us, and they were totally irrational and
emotional. They feared that we were trying to undermine the whole
religious court system, and simple religious people became truly scared,"
recalls Maha Abu Dayyeh Shamas, head of the Women's Center for Legal
Aid and Counseling based in Palestinian-populated East Jerusalem which
organized the parliament.
The polygamy vote was a highlight of the "Palestinian Model Parliament:
Women and Legislation," a two-day forum to demand civil rights
and equality for Palestinian women held in both Gaza and the West
Bank town of Ramallah. For 18 months, the Women's Center for Legal
Aid and Counseling prepared for the parliament by holding forums in
cities and refugee camps throughout the Palestinian Authority on the
status of women.
Gaza has operated since 1954 under the law of Egypt, with the West
Bank under Jordanian law since 1967. Legal regulations and customs
are also heavily influenced by the Shari'ah. Under these laws, women
are treated like second-class citizens.
"The parliament's goal was to change long-term attitudes that
women aren't strong enough to decide anything, and that only their
brothers or fathers can decide," said Murwa Kassem, the model
parliament's Gaza coordinator. "We needed to start somewhere."
The delegates--equal numbers of women and men--included members of
women's and non-governmental organizations who were picked by organizers
based mainly on whether or not they were "outspoken and articulate,"
said Shamas. Members of Islamic fundamentalist groups were invited
to participate as observers.
Whatever it accomplishes--and that remains debatable--the parliament
in and of itself was a remarkable event. The majority of women in
Gaza are traditional Muslims. Most wear headscarves, as did many at
the mock parliament. The influence of Islamic fundamentalists was
so strong here a few years ago that women who went out unveiled faced
harassment. But Palestinian women have also long had an extensive
organizational network and were active in the six-year intifada or
uprising against Israeli occupation. With the establishment of the
quasi-independent Palestinian Authority four years ago after the Israel/Palestinian
peace agreement, feminists succeeded in abolishing some sexist laws,
including one requiring female drivers to be accompanied by a guardian.
Still Palestinian feminists are struggling to prioritize their goals:
Should they fight exclusively for Palestinian statehood, in the hope
that this will further their goals? Or should they be social critics,
promoting long-term issues of democracy and women's rights as national
institutions and a constitution are being formed? In 1988, Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat proclaimed that "Palestine is a state...based
on social justice, equality with no discrimination...on the basis
of ethnicity, religion, color or between men and women." The
mechanics of achieving such a vision were left undefined.
The Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling boldly opted for the
role of social critic. "The Palestinian women's mock parliament
has a role: to teach people how to give voice to democratic debate,"
said Kassem, an earnest, high-cheekboned woman with a BA in nursing
and mental health, during an interview in her Gaza office with its
staff of young, friendly and dynamic women and men.
The model parliament's agenda dealt exclusively with personal status,
leaving aside labor, economic, and political inequalities in an attempt
to defuse political differences. Gaza participants called for making
the minimum age for marriage 18 for both women and men--under Egyptian
law women can be married at age nine--and abolishing a law requiring
women to get permission from a male relative to marry. They also collected
16,000 signatures for a social covenant calling for justice and equality
between the sexes.
That's considerably more than the 170 imams (religious leaders) who
signed a petition against the parliament, and yet their sermons could
be heard throughout the Palestinian Authority. They claimed that the
participants were against family values, dividing society, introducing
foreign elements and "collaborating," although with whom
it is not clear.
On the second day of the Gaza meeting, an Islamic cleric who is a
member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, disrupted the proceedings
to distribute a pamphlet that castigated the proceedings in the strongest
language possible: "After al-Nakba [The "Catastrophe",
referring to the establishment of Israel in 1948] of the land, comes
the Nakba of religion and family purity," the pamphlet read,
according to the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz."
In Ramallah, participants convened under police protection after an
Islamic demonstration was called, although it was cancelled at the
last minute. A motion by Ramallah delegates to lessen the punishment
for female adultery--which can be capital punishment--was denounced
as encouraging immoral behavior.
Model parliament organizers insist they are not against Islam.
"I believe that Islam has the capacity to make sense for our
society," said Kassem. "All of our recommendations come
from the Shari'ah. Our problem is not with religion, but with the
politics of the religious: the leaders are against civil society."
She furrows her brow and tries this point again, to ensure that she
is understood.
"We are not against the Shari'ah. But even if we were, we have
the right to talk and have a discussion among the people."
Some opposition against the parliament has decreased. Zuheir Al Daba'i,
an official in the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Religious Affairs
and a preacher, stated publicly that much of the hostile sentiment
against the parliament was based on misrepresentation, and he ultimately
came to support it.
"Eventually, the religious leaders began to call us. They wanted
to hear directly what we were trying to do," says Shamas, "We
are building a stronger political base, and a number of political
parties have even distributed leaflets in support."
Most importantly, the parliament has government approval. In Ramallah,
the area's governor himself attended the mock parliament's opening
and conveyed Arafat's support of the event. Sessions of the parliament
were broadcast on the government-controlled Palestinian television.
Analysts believe such support is intended to counter the strength
of Islamic fundamentalist movements who are critics of Arafat, as
much as out of a belief in women's rights and equality.
Still, the women are hard-pressed to defend charges that their parliament
will lead nowhere. Organizers plan to publish and distribute the decisions
reached by the parliament, and to present some of the less controversial
issues to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). But several of
the official parliamentarians will likely be unsympathetic to a legislative
competitor. (A Palestinian asked for the phone number of the model
parliament, and a Gaza operator mistakenly gave the number for the
PLC. When he called, an irate PLC receptionist snapped that it had
no information whatsoever about some "women's parliament".)
Moreover, the PLC is locked in its power struggle with Arafat, and
much of its own legislation has not even been ratified.
Therefore, critics contend the model parliament as simply divisive
and to no one's advantage. To what extent anyway, they add, were the
Parliament's hottest issues, such as polygamy or child marriages a
real problem? No more than four percent of men marry more than one
woman; and only a very small percentage of girls were married below
age 12 (although 46% of all marriages in Gaza involve girls between
13 and 17). The women have thus been repeatedly attacked for gratuitous
internal division for the sake of minimal social change.
But even if none of their actions became law, supporters say such
a model parliament fosters long-term democracy via women's progress.
"These are basic concepts to other people: the right to an opinion,
freedom to debate opinions, and the right to hold a public forum.
Democracy has to become cultural, it has to start in the home. Otherwise,
you can build all the structures and they won't help," states
Shamas.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dahlia Scheindlin is a freelance writer who writes about culture and
social and political issues.
*Reprinted with permission from Women's International Net (WIN) Magazine.
Issue 11, July 1998. For a free subscription: <winmagazine@oak.net.pub.com>
write subscribe in body of message. WIN's homepage is: http://www.winmagazine@base.org
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