_
2006 story of honour killing near Rehovot unfolds
MORE than a year ago, in a disused well located halfway between the Israeli towns of Ramle and Rehovot, Reem Abu-Ghanem met a grisly end after committing the fatal sin of falling in love with the wrong man instead of accepting the one chosen by her Bedouin family.
The 19-year-old Arab-Israeli girl became one of eight women in the same extended family killed over a horrifying six-year period.
All were victims of honour killings, murdered by their relatives on the grounds that their behaviour has brought alleged dishonour to the family. All lived in the Juriash neighbourhood of Ramle, a rough part of town where crime, unemployment and poverty rates are high among its Arab residents.
Those killed were accused of perceived sexual transgressions such as wearing clothing which was too revealing, having a relationship with a man not approved by their families or refusing to marry the man chosen for them.
In early March 2006, warned by local police that the word on the street was that she too would be killed, Reem went home, telling detectives that she would be safe because her older brother, Sliman, a 31-year-old doctor, had vowed to take care of her.
Yet he and four other brothers had agreed that Reem was to be killed. As she lay sleeping in the family's Ramle apartment, Sliman smothered her in a cloth soaked with anaesthetic drugs taken from the hospital he was working at. The other brothers then bundled her into the boot of their car before driving to a derelict cottage where they threw her body down an old well.
Rehovot police now know that the young woman woke up from her drug-induced coma as her brothers opened the boot. "We know she begged for her life but they used a stone to hit her on the head," said Inspector Limor Yehuda. "She was still alive and was thrown into the well injured and screaming and then left there to die."
A prison informant tipped off police, who later arrested Sliman and his four brothers who are now in jail awaiting trial.
Despite the arrests, the killings did not stop. On January 16 this year, Reem's cousin, Hamda, also 19, was shot nine times in the head by her brother, Kamal.
The teenager, who loved jeans and did not wear a head covering, had already spent several years in and out of hiding. One afternoon - only days after writing a note to her mother that she feared for her life since she had made it clear that she was not willing to marry a man chosen by the men in the family - Hamda was shot dead as she lay on her bed.
But Hamda's tragic death was the final straw for the women of the Abu-Ghanem family. To the amazement of the Israeli police - who say they normally confront a wall of silence from families when investigating honour killings - 10 women came forward to talk to investigators within days of the murder. Hamda's mother, Imama, even gave an interview to Israeli television. "Nowhere is it written in the Koran for you to kill your sister," she said. "If I had been at home at night, I would have told her brother to save the last bullet for himself."
"It was such, such a huge step for this to happen," said Inspector Yehuda. "You have got to understand that they were silent for years despite seeing their sisters, their mothers or their daughters getting killed in front of them."
Thanks to the women's testimonies, Kamal Abu-Ghanem was charged with his sister's murder and is also now awaiting trial. But Hamda's sister, Jasmin, who allegedly witnessed the death, has since gone missing.
Ramle's streets are now full of talk about the Abu-Ghanem murders. A working-class town of nearly 70,000, it is one of the few Israeli towns with a mixed population of Arabs and Jews, with Arabs making up 20% of its residents.
Some in the Arab community are attempting to address the problem, such as social worker, Sama Salima-Eghbarieh, who runs educational programmes for young Bedouin women between the ages of 13 and 25 at a local community centre.
Salima-Eghbarieh's programmes primarily encourage the women to overcome strong family pressure and stay at school - a key problem for Bedouin girls who are told that it is better and safer for them to stay at home in the care of their families. Salima-Eghbarieh also managed to bring together representatives of key Bedouin families in Ramle, public figures and religious leaders for a series of meetings on the murders.
"It's the case of teaching self-empowerment, and while it's good that the women are talking, we still have a long way to go," Salima-Eghbarieh said.
Another outspoken Arab leader is Dr Auni Khil, a general practitioner who lives and works in Ramle. "Somebody must say 'stop the killings', and tell these men to instead use their power to seek a better job, better housing or better conditions for their families," he said.
Source: Annette Young. Women expose killers in their midst NEWS.scotsman.com (22 April 2007) [FullText]
IN RAMLE
Last updated: 22-Apr-07 01:26 BST
The 19-year-old Arab-Israeli girl became one of eight women in the same extended family killed over a horrifying six-year period.
All were victims of honour killings, murdered by their relatives on the grounds that their behaviour has brought alleged dishonour to the family. All lived in the Juriash neighbourhood of Ramle, a rough part of town where crime, unemployment and poverty rates are high among its Arab residents.
Those killed were accused of perceived sexual transgressions such as wearing clothing which was too revealing, having a relationship with a man not approved by their families or refusing to marry the man chosen for them.
In early March 2006, warned by local police that the word on the street was that she too would be killed, Reem went home, telling detectives that she would be safe because her older brother, Sliman, a 31-year-old doctor, had vowed to take care of her.
Yet he and four other brothers had agreed that Reem was to be killed. As she lay sleeping in the family's Ramle apartment, Sliman smothered her in a cloth soaked with anaesthetic drugs taken from the hospital he was working at. The other brothers then bundled her into the boot of their car before driving to a derelict cottage where they threw her body down an old well.
Rehovot police now know that the young woman woke up from her drug-induced coma as her brothers opened the boot. "We know she begged for her life but they used a stone to hit her on the head," said Inspector Limor Yehuda. "She was still alive and was thrown into the well injured and screaming and then left there to die."
A prison informant tipped off police, who later arrested Sliman and his four brothers who are now in jail awaiting trial.
Despite the arrests, the killings did not stop. On January 16 this year, Reem's cousin, Hamda, also 19, was shot nine times in the head by her brother, Kamal.
The teenager, who loved jeans and did not wear a head covering, had already spent several years in and out of hiding. One afternoon - only days after writing a note to her mother that she feared for her life since she had made it clear that she was not willing to marry a man chosen by the men in the family - Hamda was shot dead as she lay on her bed.
But Hamda's tragic death was the final straw for the women of the Abu-Ghanem family. To the amazement of the Israeli police - who say they normally confront a wall of silence from families when investigating honour killings - 10 women came forward to talk to investigators within days of the murder. Hamda's mother, Imama, even gave an interview to Israeli television. "Nowhere is it written in the Koran for you to kill your sister," she said. "If I had been at home at night, I would have told her brother to save the last bullet for himself."
"It was such, such a huge step for this to happen," said Inspector Yehuda. "You have got to understand that they were silent for years despite seeing their sisters, their mothers or their daughters getting killed in front of them."
Thanks to the women's testimonies, Kamal Abu-Ghanem was charged with his sister's murder and is also now awaiting trial. But Hamda's sister, Jasmin, who allegedly witnessed the death, has since gone missing.
Ramle's streets are now full of talk about the Abu-Ghanem murders. A working-class town of nearly 70,000, it is one of the few Israeli towns with a mixed population of Arabs and Jews, with Arabs making up 20% of its residents.
Some in the Arab community are attempting to address the problem, such as social worker, Sama Salima-Eghbarieh, who runs educational programmes for young Bedouin women between the ages of 13 and 25 at a local community centre.
Salima-Eghbarieh's programmes primarily encourage the women to overcome strong family pressure and stay at school - a key problem for Bedouin girls who are told that it is better and safer for them to stay at home in the care of their families. Salima-Eghbarieh also managed to bring together representatives of key Bedouin families in Ramle, public figures and religious leaders for a series of meetings on the murders.
"It's the case of teaching self-empowerment, and while it's good that the women are talking, we still have a long way to go," Salima-Eghbarieh said.
Another outspoken Arab leader is Dr Auni Khil, a general practitioner who lives and works in Ramle. "Somebody must say 'stop the killings', and tell these men to instead use their power to seek a better job, better housing or better conditions for their families," he said.
Source: Annette Young. Women expose killers in their midst NEWS.scotsman.com (22 April 2007) [FullText]
IN RAMLE
Last updated: 22-Apr-07 01:26 BST
Labels: Rehovot Criminal
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home