Palestinian women in Israel, working together
and at times in coalition with Jewish Israeli femi-
nists and/or members of the anti-occupation peace
movement, continue to call for gender equality
within a national framework, in order to make vio-
lence against women in all its forms unacceptable.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
M. Bassok, Census. One quarter of Israel’s children are
Muslims, 2 February 2004, <www.haaretzdaily.com>.
M. Freedman, Exile in the promised land. A memoir,
Ithaca, N.Y. 1990.
Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical abstract of
Israel, no. 49[in Hebrew], Tel Aviv 1998.
E. Konur, State funding for organizations that serve vic-
tims of violence against women 1990–2000, Adva
Center, Tel Aviv March 2000, < http://www.adva.org/
violence1999.html>.
Sikkuy, The Sikkuy report 2001–2002. Monitoring civic
equality between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel,
Jerusalem 2002.
Working Group on the Status of Palestinian Women in
Israel, The status of Palestinian women citizens of
Israel, NGO parallel report submitted to CEDAW July
1997.
Secondary Sources
M. Adelman, No way out. Divorce-related domestic vio-
lence in Israel, in Violence Against Women6:11
(2000), 1223–54.
——, The military, militarism, and the militarization of
domestic violence, in Violence Against Women9:9
(2003), 1118–52.
M. Adelman, E. Erez, and N. Shalhoub-Kevorkian,
Policing violence against minority women in multicul-
tural societies. “Community” and the politics of exclu-
sion, in Police and Society7 (2003), 103–31.
N. Berkovitch, Motherhood as a national mission. The
construction of womanhood in the legal discourse in
Israel, in Women’s Studies International Forum 20
(1997), 605–19.
A. Ghanem, The Palestinian Arab minority In Israel,
1948–2000. A political study, Albany, N.Y. 2001.
M. Haj-Yahia, Patterns of violence against engaged Arab
women from Israel and some psychological implica-
tions, in Psychology of Women Quarterly24 (2000),
209–19.
——, Beliefs about wife beating among Arab men from
Israel. The influence of their patriarchal ideology, in
Journal of Family Violence18 (2003), 193–206.
N. Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Law, politics, and violence
against women. A case study of Palestinians in Israel, in
Law and Policy21 (1999), 189–211.
R. Torstrick, The limits of coexistence. Identity politics in
Israel, Ann Arbor 2000.
Madelaine AdelmanThe Ottoman EmpireAlthough several modern legal codes make refer-
ence to domestic violence, Islamic law (Sharì≠a)
addresses it through the concept of ∂arar(harm)
the ottoman empire 121that encompasses several types of abuse against a
spouse. For example, ∂ararcan include the failure
of a husband to provide obligatory support (nafaqa)
for his wife, which includes food, shelter, and cloth-
ing. A husband’s absence from the home, his inabil-
ity to fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, or mistreatment
of his wife’s family members can result in dissolu-
tion of the marriage. Îararalso includes physical
abuse against a spouse. The laws concerning ∂arar
maintain that if a woman is harmed in her mar-
riage, she can have it annulled: “the most impor-
tant proof needed was to show that the husband
had broken the marriage contract or that the mar-
riage caused the woman harm” (Sonbol 1996, 281).
Physically assaulting a wife violates the marriage
contract and is grounds for immediate divorce.
There are very few studies available on domestic
violence in Islamic history. Colin Imber (1997)
mentions it in the context of Ottoman fatwas.
Ottoman law tends to treat cases of ∂ararin
accordance with the Sharì≠a; this is reflected in a
sixteenth-century fatwa from the Ottoman Çeyhül-
islàm Ebu’s-su≠ud (Abùal-Sa≠ùd) that reads: “Ques-
tion: Zeyd hurts his wife Hind in many ways. If the
qà∂ìknows about it, is he able to separate Hind
from Zeyd? Answer: He is able to prevent his hurt-
ing her by whatever means possible” (Imber 1997,
216). Further evidence of Ottoman treatment of
∂ararcan be found in studies currently being
undertaken using Sharì≠a court records from the
Ottoman period. For example Sharì≠a court cases
from Aleppo, Syria reflect the ability of women to
seek retribution when subjected to abuse. The
courts of Aleppo ruled against abusive husbands in
several cases of domestic violence. In one court case
from May 1687 Fà†ima bt. £ajj ≠Alìfiled a lawsuit
against her husband testifying that he was abusing
her; he had hit her with a stick on her body and on
her mouth causing her to bleed. She claimed that he
was constantly abusive. In her defense she brought
along five witnesses. The court reprimanded the
abusive husband, ordering that he be given ta≠zìr
(discretionary punishment) (SMH 36:78:214 16
Rajab 1098 A.H./May 1687).
In the Sharì≠a courts women had several strate-
gies for defense. First, a woman could bring wit-
nesses to testify on her behalf and strengthen her
case. Second, she could include a clause against
domestic abuse in her marriage contract that would
offer her further protection if her husband ever
abused her. Including these conditions in a mar-
riage contract was an option in any Muslim mar-
riage and offered the bride an opportunity to
protect herself legally. For example, women could
use their rightful conditions in the marriage contract