ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the unique situation of Jewish and Palestinian female citizens of Israel, then takes a critical look at how the following affect them: marriage and divorce, family life, education, employment, politics, violence against women, and the feminist movement. Palestinian society in Israel is predominately rural in character: Although agriculture is no longer the mainstay and the villages have grown, they have no urban infrastructure. The primary framework is still the hamula. A Jewish woman cannot divorce without the consent of her husband, even if she is battered or her husband is missing or insane. Despite the fact that endogamous marriages result in a high proportion of hereditary diseases, congenital birth defects, retardation, and rare diseases, public-health officials do nothing to prevent them, not even elementary health education. In Israel, as elsewhere, in developed as well as Third World societies, violence against women, especially marital violence, is common.
