Progress Amid Resistance

366 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA2009, but it is unclear what effect this move will have on Palestinian laws,and whether it is legally valid given the PA’s lack of full statehood andother impediments. 30 Nevertheless, women’s rights organizations continueto push for equality to the extent that they are able in the current politicaldisorder. Under Article 26 of the Basic Law, Palestinians may establish andparticipate in organizations and associations in accordance with the law.Multiple women’s rights organizations have been established for the purposeof combating gender discrimination. However, the continued Israelioccupation and the lack of a unified legal structure has made effective ad -vocacy extremely difficult. 31The urgent political and economic problems stemming from the secondintifada and the Fatah-Hamas rift have overshadowed issues related topatriarchy and discrimination. The uphill battle faced by women’s rightsactivists is evident in the legislative record of recent years. The PLC electedin 1996, in which women held only 5.7 percent of the seats, was able toen act far more gender-sensitive legislation than the troubled legislatureelected in 2006, in which women held 12.9 percent of the seats.RecommendationsF The PA should enact a penal code that would apply to all parts of theoccupied Palestinian territories. It should offer women protection fromall forms of violence, embody internationally recognized human rightsstandards, and include accepted punitive measures to safeguard women’srights.F The penal code should specifically be amended to prohibit honor killingsand impose sentences equal to those for ordinary murder.F The future Palestinian nationality law should grant women the right topass their nationality to their husbands and children without discriminationand retain their maiden names on their passports.F The PA should appoint more women as judges and prosecutors. Legaleducation should be made more accessible to girls through affirmativeactionmethods, including scholarships.F Court and police officials should be obligated to attend training seminarsregarding gender issues and women’s rights. Courts and policestations should be made more accessible to women, in part through thehiring of more female personnel.F The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the government entity charged withempowering women, should take a more active role in ensuring that