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.
During the past
decade, the issue of gender relations and women’s conduct and dress has been
occupying an increasingly prominent place in the discourse of Islamist
movements.
Is it a lapse into impressionism to ‘lend great
importance to the weight of Islam’ in considering the roots of the oppression of
Arab women? Despite all the social transformations that have occurred in the
Arab world since the era of the caliphs, secularisation has yet to take hold in
nearly all the Arab countries. Legislation dealing with marriage, divorce, and
the status of women (inferior in all cases) is still based on, or directly
inspired by, Koranic law in all the Arabic-Islamic states. What role is played
by Islam, what is its influence, and how is it used?
Mansiya, a pseudonym that means
‘the forgotten’, is a university student aged 22. She was born in the north of
Israel and lives today in the center of the country. She writes about what it’s
like to be an Arab lesbian.
Many claim that there’s no
difference between a Jewish and an Arab lesbian, because for both it demands
courage and lots of openness. In my opinion, there’s a difference between the
two experiences because Israeli society is composed of a majority and a
minority.
In referring to Middle Eastern
cultures, writers and speakers often allude to the Arab, Persian, Turkish etc.
Cultures. What do these terms mean? What do they imply? Are these the true
cultural boundaries in the Middle East?
The study of women in the Middle East, now well into its second decade, has produced
an impressive corpus of papers and periodical articles. For purely practical
reasons, this review focuses on writings in English, in a selective rather than
all-inclusive manner. The analysis of women in the Middle East has not always
been undertaken with reference to Islam, but a significant body of works,
influenced partly by the Islamic resurgence, coincident with the rise of the
study of women as a separate field, does have reference to Islam.
The report of the Board of Trustees to the General Assembly of the Arab Organisation
for Human Rights -which was adopted by the General Assembly of the AOHR in
Khartoum, Sudan, on 31 January 1987 - is in two parts.
The
first part, "The Arab Organisation for Human Rights over the past three years",
details the stages of the establishment of the Organisation, describes its
activities and includes an evaluation of its efforts as well as an examination
of future prospects.
