GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – An Islamic court led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip has ruled that women require the permission of a male guardian to travel, further restricting entry and exit movements. blocked by Israel and Egypt as the militant group took power.
The decline in women’s rights could provoke a backlash in Gaza at a time when Palestinians plan to hold elections later this year. It could also consolidate Hamas’ support among its conservative base at a time when it faces criticism over living conditions. in the territory he has ruled since 2007.
The Sharia Judicial Council decision, issued Sunday, says a single woman cannot travel without the permission of her “guardian,” who would normally refer to her father or another older male relative. Permission should be registered in court, but the man should not accompany the woman on the trip.
The language of the sentence firmly implied that a married woman could not travel without her husband’s approval.
The edict also said his father or grandfather could prevent a man from traveling if it would cause “serious harm.” But the man should not ask for prior permission and the family member should file a lawsuit to prevent him from traveling.
The ruling is similar to the so-called guardianship laws that have long existed in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia, where women were treated as minors who needed the permission of a husband, father or even a son to apply for the passport and travel abroad. The kingdom relaxed those restrictions in 2019.
Hassan al-Jojo, head of the Supreme Judicial Council, told The Associated Press that the sentence was “balanced” and consistent with Islamic and civil law. He ruled out what he called “artificial and unwarranted noise” on social media about the edict.
He justified the measure by citing past cases in which girls had traveled without the knowledge of their parents and men had left their wives and children without a breadwinner.
Israel and Egypt have largely sealed off Gaza’s borders since Hamas took power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says restrictions are needed to isolate the militant group, which has waged three wars with Israel, and prevent it. who acquires weapons.
About 2 million Palestinians live in the territory. All the people of Gaza have to go through a long process of permission to travel abroad and rely heavily on Rafah’s crossing with Egypt, which only opens sporadically. Restrictions make it difficult to seek medical care or higher education outside the narrow coastal strip.
The ruling sparked criticism on social media, where many accused Hamas of reducing women’s rights, even when Saudi Arabia has reduced its restrictions, even allowing women to drive. The Palestinian People’s Party, a small left-wing group, called on Hamas to reverse the decision.
Zainab al-Ghunaimi, an activist leading a Gaza-based group focused on women’s rights, said the ruling violates the Palestinian Basic Law, which grants equal rights to adults, and means that the authorities they are “stepping back in the protection of human rights.”
He noted that the same legal body allows a woman to marry at age 16 and obtain travel documents alone.
Hamas has not imposed the kind of harsh interpretation of Islamic law advocated by other armed groups, such as the Islamic State group and the Taliban in Afghanistan. But she has taken some limited measures to enforce the territory’s conservative customs, including the imposition of an Islamic dress code on women lawyers and high school students.