The UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will meet on March 21-23, 2018 to consider and adopt a resolution regarding the January 5, 2018 report of the Secretary-General on the "Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women." Each year, the CSW adopts only one country-specific resolution - against Israel.
According to the Secretary-General's report, over a third of Palestinian men believe honor killings should not be punished, and a majority of all Palestinians believe some violence against women should be tolerated. Nevertheless, the report claims that Palestinian men beating Palestinian women cannot be explained without considering Israel's "occupation" of Arab-claimed territory. The report includes the following:
"37. Gender-based violence in all its forms, including sexual violence, intimate-partner violence and forced marriage, remains a major protection and health concern. In Gaza, poverty and the absence of economic opportunities contribute to violence against women. Pervasive impunity for violence against women means that perpetrators of violence rarely, if ever, face legal, criminal or social penalties... Survey findings demonstrate the high value placed on 'honour', with 47 per cent of men and 38 per cent of women believing that women and girls deserve punishment from their families when 'honour' is perceived to have been breached. Thirty-five per cent of men and 22 per cent of women also indicated that 'honour' killings should not be punished by law. In addition, one third of men and one quarter of women surveyed believed that some violence against women can be justified, and the majority of men and women believed that women should tolerate such violence...
53. Palestinian lives and livelihoods and the enjoyment of human rights by Palestinians continue to be seriously affected by more than 50 years of the military occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel, including a 10-year closure of the Gaza Strip, as well as by the Palestinian political divide. Women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by unstable political circumstances that systemically create gender-based vulnerabilities. They also experience multiple forms of violence, based on the continuing military occupation, human rights violations and a growing humanitarian crisis, compounded by conservative traditions and patriarchal norms...
57. Building an accurate understanding of the patterns and drivers of gender-based violence cannot be isolated from the impact of the overall political, humanitarian and economic context created by the prolonged occupation and other political realities in terms of increasing the risk and vulnerability for gender-based violence... The Israeli occupation has severely limited the possibility of advancing protection through legal frameworks for addressing gender-based violence..."