Progress Amid Resistance

390 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA39Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC), The Legal and SocialStatus of Palestinian Women: A Gap Analysis Report Using CEDAW as Reference(Ramallah: WCLAC, 2005), available at http://www.mediterraneas.org/article.php3?id_article=278.40Adrien K. Wing, “The Impact of Custom and Islamic Heritage on Women’s Rights,”in Democracy, Constitutionalism and the Future State of Palestine, with a Case Study onWomen’s Rights (Jerusalem: Palestinian Acadmic Society for the Study of InterationalAffairs, July 1994), http://www.passia.org/.41Eileen Kuttab, Social and Economic Situation of Palestinian Women,15.42PCBS, “Median Age at First Marriage by Sex and Governorate—2008,” http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/populati/c8ed432f-717c-4b52-a798-32ca2fb93943.htm.43Chris McGreal, “Murdered in Name of Family Honour,” Guardian, June 23, 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jun/23/israel.44Eileen Kuttab, Social and Economic Situation of Palestinian Women, 7.45Social Institutions and Gender Index, “West Bank and Gaza.”46“Divorce starts as a revocable event and later becomes permanent. Husbands can divorcea wife three times without fully terminating the marriage, just by the oral announcement,‘I divorce you.’ The wife must wait a three month period (idda) before she canremarry, but if the husband changes his mind within the three months, she must resumethe marriage. The divorce is final only if he divorces her three times on three separateoccasions. Each time a husband [divorces] a wife, she has to leave the house since itbelongs only to him. The wife is entitled to alimony to meet minimal needs.” Adrien K.Wing, “The Impact of Custom and Islamic Heritage on Women’s Rights.”47Interview with lawyer Khadija Hussein Zahran from Al-Haq, previously the head of theLegal Department at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, October 14, 2009.48WCLAC, The Legal and Social Status of Palestinian Women.49These cases are dealt with in the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law, Cnn. 1055–1165, and also according to the judicial process mentioned in Book VII of the Codeof Canon Law, Cnn 1400–1752. According to an e-mail response from Bishop KamalBathish of the Latin Patriarchate in East Jerusalem, a marriage can be annulled if it wasbased on deception, for example if information related to mental or physical sicknessor homosexuality was not revealed before marriage. Infidelity is not a valid reason fordivorce or separation according to the Catholic Church.50Palestinian Legal and Judicial System Al-Muqtafi, “Personal Status Laws for Christians—Evangelical Lutheran Church Law of 1954, Articles 31 and 32,” Birzeit UniversityInstitute of Law, http://muqtafi2.birzeit.edu/Legislation/GetLegFT.aspx?LegPath=1954&MID=14956&lnk=2#A14956_30 (accessed October 13, 2009).51PCBS, Domestic Violence Survey December 2005–January 2006: Main Findings (Ramallah:PCBS, June 2006), http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1258.pdf(in Arabic).52PCBS, “Percentage of Ever Married Women Exposed to Any Violence by Husbandat Least Once, by Region, Type of Locality, and Types of Violence, During the Year2005,” http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/gender/vio1.htm.53“Few Legal Options for Abused Palestinian Women, Say Activists,” IntegratedRegional Information Networks (IRIN), October 3, 2007, http://www.irinnews.org/