The Israeli magistrate’s court in Jerusalem on Sunday sentenced a 19-year-old Palestinian girl to 16 years in prison, after she was accused of attempting to stab an Israeli settler in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem in Oct. 2015. Members of Shurouq Dwayyat’s family told Ma'an that the sentence also included a fine of 80,000 shekels ($20,929). Shurouq was shot and injured by a 35-year-old Israeli settler in Jerusalem's Old City after she allegedly attempted to stab him on Oct. 7, 2015. However, witnesses told Ma'an that she had been assaulted by the Israeli settler and did not have any sharp objects on her at the time of the incident. Israeli media said at the time that the man sustained light injuries, while Shurouq was shot four times in her upper body, leaving her in serious condition. more

Several dozen Palestinian women, including 12 minors, are currently being held in Israel’s HaSharon prison, according to a statement released Thursday by the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs. The committee said in the statement that 41 Palestinian women and girls are being held in the prison, with some suffering from deteriorating health conditions, adding that Israel’s treatment of women prisoners is against international law, and requires “international institutions to end their silence" and to stop Israel's "perpetual crimes.” The committee also called upon all Palestinians to unite behind the prisoners’ cause, highlighting the recent escalation of raids and assaults by Israel Prison Service (IPS) officials in recent weeks in response to a mass hunger strike under way inside Israel’s prisons in protest of the arbitrary detention of Palestinians without charge or trial. More than 300 Palestinian prisoners have joined the strikes. The committee identified th...

The family of Nisreen Hassan is being denied contact with her. In October last, Hassan was arrested at Erez, the military checkpoint between Gaza and present-day Israel. She has been imprisoned by Israel since then. Hassan, a 41-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel, has been diagnosed with lymphoma, according to her family. She had been undergoing chemotherapy in Gaza before her arrest and had responded well to treatment. Although her family have been assured by Hassan’s lawyer that she is receiving adequate medical care, they are not able to speak with her. The last time Hassan was allowed to phone Hazem Abu Kmail, her husband, was in February. “She told me that she was fine and sent her love to the kids,” Abu Kmail said. Hassan has been accused of photographing Israeli military sites in order to benefit Palestinian armed groups. She has rejected the accusation. When her case went before an Israeli court in March, she refused to stand before the judge as she insisted that the...

Karam Aziz, a shy 16-year-old, knocks on doors in Jabaliya refugee camp, asking for old shopping bags. Locals enquire why he wants them, yet happily hand over any they can find. Within half an hour, Karam usually has about 70 bags — vital raw material for an arts and crafts project using recycled materials. Once he has collected the bags, Karam brings them to his sister-in-law Zainab. She and her team of 20 women transform plastic and nylon garbage into colorful toys, baskets, cushions and ornaments. Zainab Aziz, a 25-year-old mother of two, set up the project after graduating with an Arabic language degree from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza City last year. The project is known as The New Heritage because it gives a modern and environmentally conscious twist to traditional handcrafts. The process of making art from garbage is a long one. First the old bags have to be washed and sterilized, then cut into pieces suitable for crocheting. more

Israeli forces on Wednesday shot and killed a Palestinian woman and youth after they allegedly attempted to carry out a stab attack on border police at Qalandiya military checkpoint near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, police and witnesses said. Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said two suspects -- a woman and a youth -- approached the vehicular path leading through the military checkpoint and walked towards border police officers, the woman with her hand in her bag and the youth with hands behind his back. Officers ordered them to halt several times and they began to turn back before police said the woman threw a knife at an officer. Police opened fire, killing the woman immediately. The youth's death was confirmed shortly after. An eyewitness told Ma'an that Israeli forces fired more than 15 rounds into the woman’s body, confirming her death. Witnesses are heard in video footage of the scene following the incident claiming that a Palestinian boy approached th...

The unemployment among women in the Gaza Strip has reached more than 60 percent, a women’s organization said on Saturday. Fida Abu Darbi, the executive officer for the Association Of Women’s Work Committees, said the unemployment of women in Gaza had reached "astronomical" levels at 63.3 percent. Abu Darbi's comments were made during a seminar organized by the association, titled "Unemployment among female graduates" in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. The Association's head in Gaza, Arij al-Atrash, said unemployment was the biggest issue facing the Palestinian economy in Gaza, as the crippling Israeli blockade on the enclave has severely limited opportunities for job creation. The UN has warned that unless current trends are altered, Gaza could become uninhabitable for residents in just five years. more

Five years ago, Soha Masri lost her husband because of an Israeli air strike on Gaza. Becoming a widow placed her in financial peril. She had three daughters, all of whom had plans to study at university. How could she support them? Masri, now aged 45, took the initiative of setting up a small poultry farm in Nuseirat refugee camp. She began selling the food produced on it to relatives and neighbors. “It is not an easy job to take care of the chickens,” she said. “But I try my best so that I can make enough to pay part of my children’s expenses.” Many other women in Gaza are in a similar situation. Although men are usually the main breadwinners for their families here, their death or injury leaves their wives having to perform that role. Manal Azizi set up an embroidery business for traditional Palestinian dresses after her husband was left paralyzed when Israel bombed Gaza for eight consecutive days in November 2012. She lacked much of the equipment required at the beginning. “Y...

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian prisoner Fathiyeh Abd al-Fattah Khanfar, 61, is currently being held in solitary confinement in Israeli jail, the lawyer of a prisoners' committee said Saturday. Khanfar, from the village of Silat al-Thahr in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, is being held in a "tomb-like" room in unbearable living conditions, lawyer Hanan al-Khatib of the Prisoners and Former Prisoners' Committee told Ma'an. Al-Khatib visited Khanfar in the Al-Ramla jail and said she is suffering from foot and back pain and infection in her trachea. The detainee reported to al-Khatib that the room she is being held in lacks electrical appliances and is infested with cockroaches. She said she sleeps on a thin mattress on top of the concrete and is prevented from receiving visits or contacting her family. Khanfar added that she needs to request water from the prison personnel as prisoners held in solitary confinement don't have access to water or restrooms...

From the Guardian - During the worst of the violence between Israel and Palestine last summer, Gaza student Hoda Elrayes shared her experiences of living on the frontline with GuardianWitness. One year on she tells us about three women in her community whose lives are still affected. The conflict between Israel and Gaza last July has left the most acute humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip for decades. An international donors’ conference in Cairo last October raised $5.4bn (£3.4bn) to rebuild Palestine – however, according to a World Bank report in May, only a quarter of that sum has actually been delivered to those desperately in need. Life for women in Gaza has never been easy but last summer’s escalation of violence has made the situation much worse for many. Over the last year I have have been in contact with three women whose lives were shattered – and I have approached the authorities in Gaza to find out the reasons why their situation has still not improved. On the outskirt...

Dozens of women took part in a sit-in protest on Monday in front of UNRWA's headquarters in Gaza to demand that the international community accelerate the reconstruction of Gaza. The protest was organized by the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) and also called for an end to the eight-year Israeli blockade on the coastal territory. Women held placards calling on the international community to uphold its responsibilities and pressure Israel to allow reconstruction material into Gaza, as well as calling on Fatah and Hamas to end their disunity. Large swathes of the Gaza Strip remain in ruin following last summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, which left 100,000 Gazans homeless. One activist at the demonstration, Andalib Adwan, stressed the importance of holding Israel accountable in front of international courts. more

In what might be justified by the New York Times as an attempt to “depoliticize” and “humanize” Palestinian women in Gaza the paper ran a photo essay this past Sunday titled “Female in Gaza.” However the article obfuscates, covering up Israeli oppression and obscuring Gaza’s connection to the West Bank and to Palestinians in general. The introductory text for the article mentions Gaza eight times, but never uses the word “Palestinian” or “Palestine” and mentions Israel only once, despite mentioning towering concrete blast walls, barbed wire, drones, patrolling soldiers, border controls, etc.. ”I have been photographing in Gaza for several years, initially to cover the conflict with Israel, but over time returning because I am mesmerized by the women, and their strength,” author Monique Jaques explained. Gaza is portrayed as a disconnected disembodied place in conflict with Israel where residents seem to have some undefined interest in the West Bank, “Her dream is to sing in Ramallah...

BETHLEHEM (AFP) -- A Palestinian woman died in hospital after inhaling tear gas used by the Israeli army to disperse protesters near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, a medical official said Tuesday. Late on Monday the army "fired tear gas near the home of the woman, who was suffering from health problems," the medical official told AFP. The woman, in her 40s, "died after arriving at hospital," the official said. The incident took place in Aida refugee camp northwest of Bethlehem. "The death was not linked to the use of riot dispersal means by the army, including tear gas," an army spokeswoman said, confirming the clashes but giving no further details. In a similar incident in January, an 85-year-old Palestinian man died in his own home after breathing in tear gas fired by Israeli security forces near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. more

The Head of the Census Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees, Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, stated that, since 1967, Israel has kidnapped and imprisoned more than 15,000 women, including 1,000 since 2000, and that 21 women are currently held by Israel. Ferwana stated that the army has kidnapped mothers, wives, children and ailing women, subjecting them to torture and very difficult conditions. He said that 21 women are currently held by Israel, and that the longest serving is Lina Jarbouni, who was taken prisoner twelve years ago, and was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment. Arresting and imprisoning women is part of Israel’s policy of targeting Palestinians and subjecting them to extreme torture, abuse and harassment. “The arrests escalated after the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada, in late September 2000. This is a form of collective punishment and is in direct violation of International Law”, Ferwana said. “In many cases, women are kidnapped by the army to force wante...

The Palestinian Center for Prisoner Studies said in a report that the Israeli occupation has been exercising all forms of torture and violence against Palestinian female prisoners in its jail. The center's report was marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that falls on November 25th. The center said that the international institutions, which enact laws prohibiting torture and violence against women, have been turning a blind eye to the occupation's abuses and practices against Palestinian women and female prisoners. Media spokesman for Palestinian Prisoners Center, researcher Riad al-Ashqar pointed out that Israel has arrested since the occupation of the Palestinian territories more than 10 thousand Palestinian women and since the Aqsa Intifada more than 1,100 women, 14 of whom are still held in Israeli jails, including 5 patients. He added that the Palestinian women are held under harsh conditions in Israeli custody, as they are subjec...

In conservative Gaza, Palestinian woman Jamila Abu Oushiba has broken the taboo by working in construction in order to provide for her family (Reuters) At the Abu Eida cement factory in the West Bank, Jamila Abu Oushiba shovels cement into bags and lift them onto a neat pile. This is usually a job reserved for men, but for Palestinian woman Jamila, it’s a way to generate income and support her family. Born in Beit Hanoun, Jamila is helping her family financially after her four brothers were killed during various years of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Gaza strip. “Really, what made me do this hard work is the difficult economic situation. There is no [income] provider in our home. My four brothers were martyred. There’s nobody to provide for us and that’s what made me to this job,” she said. The 39 year-old single woman, who is one of the very few women working in cement factory in the besieged territory, says she started working at the Abu Eida factory three years ago and n...

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Palestinian female prisoners in the Israeli Hasharon jail returned their meals on Saturday in protest at the prison administration’s deliberate medical neglect. Prisoner Mona Qadan told lawyer Amer Abu Hamdiya on Saturday that the prisoners were protesting the administration’s neglect of the health condition of their colleague Leena Jarboni, 34. She said that Jarboni’s health condition was steadily worsening and was in need of an urgent surgery due to acute pain in her gallbladder. She said that the prisoners would escalate their protest if the prison administration did not extend urgent medical assistance to Jarboni, who is serving an 18-year sentence. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A 22-year-old woman died on Saturday after setting herself on fire last week, a medical official said. Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma'an that the woman, whose identity remained hidden, suffered burns to 80 percent of her body after pouring gasoline over herself and setting it alight. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Hamas government in Gaza apologized on Wednesday after reports emerged of security forces attacking female activists in Gaza City on Tuesday, a statement said. "The government clearly apologizes for what has happened, and the Ministry of Interior will form a commission of inquiry to determine the circumstances of the incident, because what happened does not reflect the culture of the government or the Palestinian people," director of Hamas' media office Ehab al-Ghusein said. A protest, organized by women's organizations including the general union of Palestinian women, was held outside the parliament building on Tuesday to demand national reconciliation. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas police officers beat women demonstrating in Gaza City on Tuesday during a protest demanding national reconciliation. The protest, organized by women's organizations including the general union of Palestinian women, was held outside the parliament building. Iktimal Hamad, a member of the union's secretariat, told Ma'an that police ordered protesters to leave the area. "Women refused to leave, because this is a right for every human being to express their opinions and demand their rights," Hamad told Ma'an. "We were verbally insulted and hit by fists and sticks. Police tried to arrest some of us but despite that we will continue with our campaign which calls for ending the division," she added. more

At a demonstration in south Tel Aviv demanding the immediately expulsion of all non-Jewish African asylum-seekers, a lone Israeli woman who does not agree with the rest of the crowd is shouted down with ferocity and told that she deserves to be raped. The worst of the racism and sexism starts at 0.45s.