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Palestinian Women Face Discrimination In Inheritance
Ramallah
– They may argue they enjoy better conditions than their peers in Arab
countries, but Palestinian women share a similar problem with them:
being forcibly denied their legitimate inheritance.
Women
are usually shy about making such demands or fear social pressure such
as being ostracized by their family. Others simply believe their male
relatives are more entitled to the inheritance because they are the
family's bread-winners, and give up their rights to inherit
intentionally.
Social
workers and lawyers familiar who work on such cases blame Arab
society's culture and norms, since women's right of inheritance is
granted by Islam's Sharia law and the Palestinian laws derived from it.
The
Sharia law implemented in this area clearly classifies who gets what.
Christians refers to their churches' courts which also give women the
right of inheritance.
Jwana Rafeedie, Coordinator of the YMCA's Inheritance Denied Project, told The Media Line
that the YMCA started their lobbying and awareness project after 2004
statistics showed only four percent of Palestinian lands and properties
were owned by women. "We believe if women acquired their rights [to
inherit], the figures would go up to 33%," she added.
The
tribal and family unit still plays an important part in Palestinian
society, making women less willing to challenge traditions regarding
inheritance. In an attempt to try to keep the wealth within the family,
the inheritance is split solely among the males. Rules are even stronger
regarding property because granting a piece of land to a woman is seen
as tantamount to giving it to her husband, often labeled a "stranger" if
he is from a different clan.
Keeping
the money in the family is what often leads to a preference for young
Palestinians to marry close relatives, such as first cousins.
Of
the 10,000 men and women the YMCA and their partners targeted in
inheritance rights awareness campaigns in the middle and southern West Bank, only 50 women utilized the free legal consultation offered, and just two went to court.
Social
pressure in particular discourages women from demanding their rights.
"One woman couldn't find witnesses to prove the date of her
grandfather's death. No one from the village agreed to stand by her,"
Rafeedie told The Media Line.
The relatively long and costly court procedures also make women reluctant to seek justice.
Women
are often asked to waive their right to inherit a deceased relative’s
land in exchange for a sum of money, Sheikh Youssef Idees, Chairman of
the Supreme Council for the Islamic Courts, told The Media Line.
Since
it is often unclear exactly how much land the deceased had, and women
are often unable to have the land properly appraised, they frequently
waive their inheritance claims for a fraction of its true value.
Idees told The Media Line
that he is working on issuing a decree that women who agree to the
money instead of the land must sign the waiver in front of a judge to
ensure they are given their full rights. However, he said he expects to
encounter social resistance to the idea.
Sahar Ahmed (not
her real name) fought for her sister-in-law’s right to inherit her
father, who died five years ago. "My mother-in-law didn't want to give
any of the land even to her own daughter, saying that she was living a
good life already," Ahmed told The Media Line.
She
said that her eldest brother-in-law agreed with his mother, saying that
he also didn't want his daughters to inherit him in the future," she
added.
After
years of discussion, Ahmed succeeded in convincing her mother-in-law
that Islam gives Palestinian women the right to inherit even when they
are wealthy.
"It's
strange when people try to impose religious views on women, like
wearing the hijab [head covering] and so on, but when it comes to their
rights in inheritance, they just turn their backs," she added.
The Ahmed family members plant their land with olive trees, sell the olives, and share the yearly revenue.
Sa'eda, who finished secondary school, is a housewife and received her first share of the land's crop of olives this year.
"You
can't imagine how happy she was. I believe I did a good thing because
her husband is not doing well now, and this year's crop helped sustain
the family," Ahmed said.
Over
the last three years of the YMCA project, Rafeedie noted that she
didn't find any major differences between women and the inheritance
issue in terms of their social and academic status, location or
religion.
Rafeedie
believes changing this long-held tradition will not be an easy task. "A
man killed his sister last April because of an inheritance dispute, and
then the killer claimed it was an 'honor killing' incident, she said,
adding that the idea of women having financial independence is still
unacceptable in Palestinian society.
Honor killings refer to a family member who kills a woman suspected of adultery to preserve the family’s honor.
Salman Jabareen, 48, keeps asking her brothers for
her share in her father's lands but to no avail. "My husband and sons
won't allow me to file a law suit against my brothers. They think it's
unacceptable that we go to court over this," she said. Jabareen, a housewife and mother of four, told The Media Line she believes her brothers will eventually give her and her sisters their share.
Conversely,
Rabab Mousa's family not only gave her the inheritance, but also split
the money equally. "Islam says that the son inherits double the
daughter, but my brothers said they wanted us to be equal," she told The
Media Line. Mouse, a 38-year-old government employee, said that her
family is not highly educated or very religious, but behaved ethically
in this matter.
As
Islam doesn't acknowledge wills of the deceased, some men still get
their way by convincing relatives close to death to legally transfer the
lands to male relatives, making it impossible for the women to inherit
this land.
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Labels: Culture, Human Relations, Human Rights, Islamism, Palestinian Authority, Political Realities, Sexism
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, December 27, 2012
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