honor killings dishonor the peace process

Honor Killings Dishonor the Peace Process
Bruce S. Ticker
31 March 2003

If a father impregnates and murders his daughter, or if a young male stabs his sister to death, what should be done with them?

What would you like to do with one of them if you got them alone?

In any civilized society, such a killer would go on trial and at least be jailed for life if convicted. But not in the region that surrounds Israel. There, they have been clamoring to govern themselves in a country adjacent to Israel. Certainly, not all Arabs and Muslims can be lumped as killers of their own family members, but many of these murderers would be among the citizens of a Palestinian state that would presumably consist of a legal system established to prosecute and punish crimes.

The practice of killing one’s own wives, sisters and daughters for a breach of personal conduct – known as “honor killings” – is a longtime tradition in the Arab and Muslim world. Thousands of women are believed to be murdered by their own male relatives in Muslim nations each year. It is so pervasive that Queen Rania of Jordan is striving to end the honor killings in her country. The Palestinian-born queen is the wife of Prince Abdullah, whose late father King Hussein had worked extensively for peace with Israel.

When Rania’s efforts were reported several months ago, she related that one father killed his teen-age daughter when he learned she was pregnant. It would have been his baby. In Turkey, a teen-age male was pressured by his father and grandfather to kill his 16-year-old sister for marrying a man from another tribe, without her father’s permission. Israel reported in recent weeks that there were close to 20 honor killings in the country over the past year. We are talking about a culture where this custom is not only practiced, but is widely tolerated.

How can they make the transition from tolerating murder within the family unit to a sophisticated legal system, which aggressively investigates and prosecutes crimes of such a brutal nature? Not to mention all the other types of criminal offenses ranging from assault to robbery to burglary to reckless driving. It is among a host of delicate issues that need to be addressed if Israelis and Palestinians are to reach a point where an independent state is seriously considered.

This savage practice is underscored by the current publication of Honor Lost, in which author Norma Khouri recounts the murder of her close friend at the hands of her father. Her crime: She was seen in public walking with a man, an act which constitutes an offense in some segments of Muslim society. Khouri fled her country, Jordan, to Greece and then Australia after she publicly protested the custom of honor killings. She told a New York Times reporter last month that the male-dominated culture amounts to “a stifling prison, tense with the risk of death at the hands of loved ones.” She said that she hopes her book brings international pressure on Jordan to change the laws, which effectively allow the honor killings to persist, according to the Times article. Her book has made the best-seller lists of Australia and France and is now being published in the United States and throughout Europe.

Khouri’s family is Roman Catholic, but they lived by the same code as their Muslim neighbors. She writes that her friend, known in the book as Dahlia, was stabbed in the chest 12 times by her father and he stood over her to ensure she was dead before calling an ambulance. When Khouri arrived at their home, Dahlia’s father shouted, “I’ve cleaned my house. I’ve cut the rotten part and brought honor back to my family name.” Khouri recalls telling him, “Dahlia never shamed you, you shamed yourself. You’ve turned your home into a house of murder. The spilling of her innocent blood has stained your name, your hands and your soul forever.” Not only did the father spend no time in jail, but Khouri was compelled to apologize to Dahlia’s father.

One wonders how anyone can ever think of harming one’s own daughter. If anything, a father might be overprotective, to make sure that nothing happens to his daughter or another loved one.

You can wonder if advocates for the Palestinians are familiar with the honor killings and other dysfunctional customs in Arab society. I wouldn’t presume that all or even most Arabs and Muslims act this way, and clearly the Palestinians have legitimate concerns; however, many supporters of Palestinians treat them as if they are pure as the driven snow, and they don’t seem to apply equal energy to helping other oppressed groups around the world. Any guesses as to why?