Asia

The violence between Israel and Palestine is increasing. – The civilian population of Gaza is being severely affected, regardless of socioeconomic status. Civilians have died, including a pregnant woman and several children, says Linda Öhman, working for the women's rights and peace organization The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation in Jerusalem.

Abeer Abu Ghaith, a poised young woman overflowing with optimism, works tirelessly to help Palestinian women achieve their dreams and improve their lives. She is just one of many women who are finding creative ways to overcome the restrictions Palestinians face in finding work and starting a business.

Lawmakers in Iran are preparing to consider legislation that may drastically alter an adult woman's ability to obtain a passport and travel outside the country.

The draft law, set to go before the 290-seat Majlis, stipulates that single women up to the age of 40 must receive official permission from their father or male guardian in order to obtain travel documents.

MADRE, an international women's human rights organization, condemns the growing violence that has killed at least 18 people in the past days: 15 in Gaza and three in Israel. We assert that all attacks against civilians must end immediately.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the Palestinian female police's violent dispersal of a women's sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service (PPS) in Hebron.

It's been nearly two years since Syria's dictator Bashar al Assad began his brutal assault on hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, a country of over 20 million people. Since the Arab uprisings began, women from Damascus to Aleppo have played a critical role in trying to build a better future for their country.

Six women were arrested at the Western Wall on Thursday for wearing prayer shawls during services in a manner that has been disallowed by the site's management and police. The women said they were arrested while praying for Israel's southern citizens, who have been suffering from incessant rocket attacks since the launch of Operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday afternoon.

Editor's note: The people in the story have been photographed with their faces covered and their names have been changed for security concerns. For the same reason, the exact locations in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon where the interviews took place have been kept hidden.

Nasrin Sotoudeh's awards would cover a wall. But 49-year-old Iranian human rights defender has no walls on which to hang them.

Amnesty International called on Iranian authorities to protect all detainees and prisoners from harassment and degrading treatment, after nine female political prisoners—including some deemed "prisoners of conscience" by Amnesty—started a hunger strike Nov. 1 in response to alleged abuse by prison guards. The women, all held in Tehran's Evin Prison, include activists and journalists.