Staying Real in Israel
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Leave it to the good-old UN, the “Useless United Nations”, to blame Israel for everything that is wrong in the universe. Probably Israel is the major cause of global warming, not to mention global cooling. And then there is the AIDS epidemic, and, of course Swine Flu. And the bird flu, of course…and don’t forget about the genocide in Darfur and rising oil prices, plus, the damage to Arab economies by falling oil prices. And the famine induced by the Israeli occupation is starving millions annually in Africa, while Jewish control of the world banking system has obviously caused the world economic crisis. I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it to the geniuses at the UN themselves to mention anything I’ve forgotten.
The interesting thing when it comes to domestic violence is, if Israeli policies in Gaza are causing the elevated woman-beating there, how do you explain the SAME statistics in Egypt and the REST of the Muslim world? I guess the UN will figure it out…as long as Israel gets condemned in the end…

Gaza Men Beat Women; UN Blames Israel


Violence against women has long been common in Gaza: a Palestinian Women’s Information and Media Center study found that between half and three-quarters of Gaza women are subjected to physical violence from male relatives.

Reprinted from INN Maayana Miskin

A recent report created by IRIN, which provides “humanitarian analysis” in coordination with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, quotes Gaza women in putting the blame for the high rates of violence on Israel. “Widespread unemployment was one of the biggest contributors to household stress, and in turn male violence against women,” the article said in the name of a Gaza women’s center worker. The worker accused Israel of causing high unemployment with an “economic blockade.”

IRIN also quotes the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which last week drafted a resolution expressing concern over “the grave situation of Palestinian women in the occupied Palestinian territory… resulting from the severe impact of the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation and all its manifestations.”

Blame the occupation
The draft resolution blamed Israel for gender inequality in Muslim society, saying, “The Israeli occupation remains the major obstacle for Palestinian women with regard to their advancement, self-reliance, and integration in the development of their society.” It also called on Israel to “facilitate the return of all refugees and displaced Palestinian women and children,” a reference to the Arab demand that descendants of Arabs who fled Israel during the War of Independence be allowed to “return” to Israel.

The IRIN article bears a picture not of violence within Gaza society, but rather, of a Gaza woman mourning her son who died in an Israeli counterterrorist operation.

While IRIN and the Gaza activists it quoted sought to blame Israel for the violence against Gaza women, stating that rates of violence are “certainly higher” in Gaza than elsewhere, the violence reported in Gaza is not dissimilar to that in surrounding Muslim countries.

In Egypt, an estimated 33 percent of women are beaten by their husbands, and an even higher number report being beaten by their fathers or brothers. Studies show that approximately 40 percent of married Turkish women are beaten by their husbands. The frequency of domestic violence is similarly high in Lebanon and Jordan.