Rula Salameh, "A Palestinian Mother’s Fear in East Jerusalem": Not Afraid of Honor Killings?

Andrew Rosenthal's New York Times op-ed page is back to its old tricks. Who cares if Hamas has fired from Gaza more than 360 missiles at Israeli civilians over the past few days? Instead, the readership of the Times must only be informed of the anger and fear of a Palestinian woman living in East Jerusalem.

In a New York Times op-ed entitled "A Palestinian Mother’s Fear in East Jerusalem" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/opinion/a-palestinian-mothers-fear-in-east-jerusalem.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0), Rula Salameh complains:

"The world must hold the Israeli government accountable for . . . blatant disregard for Palestinians living in East Jerusalem — the lack of bomb shelters is just one of many basic services that the Israeli authorities fail to provide to Palestinians living under their rule."

Fascinating! I hadn't realized that Hamas is targeting the Dome of the Rock and Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

In addition, Ms. Salameh tells us:

"In a cruel twist of fate and policy, the Israeli authorities informed me that my son would not be given a Jerusalem ID as long as I remained married to his father. Because one of his parents was a Palestinian without a Jerusalem ID, my son was not entitled to inherit my residency status. After years of financially and emotionally draining legal struggle, my husband and I divorced — the strain ended not just our marriage but our relationship."

Interesting! Are we to understand that the "Israeli authorities" were solely to blame for her divorce?

Ms. Salameh declares:

"The world must hold the Israeli government accountable for its actions. For its military campaigns that have taken the lives of too many sons and mothers in Gaza over the past few days and in the West Bank over the past few weeks."

Of course, Ms. Salameh does not mention Hamas's policy of using Palestinian civilians as human shields. See the following July 8, 2014 MEMRI video in which Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri adulates this human-shield policy and commends "the character of our noble, jihad-fighting people":



Most remarkably, Ms. Salameh makes no mention of honor killings in Gaza and the West Bank. As reported in March 2014 by Al Jazeera in an article entitled "Upsurge in Palestinian 'honour killings'" (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/upsurge-palestinian-honour-killings-gaza-201432372831899701.html) by Lena Odgaard:

"Two teenage Palestinian girls were killed in separate incidents last month in so-called 'honour killings', revenge attacks carried out most often by family members against women suspected of 'immoral sexual conduct'.

The deaths sparked protests with more than 100 people assembling outside the general attorney's office in Gaza on March 3, demanding violence against Palestinian women come to a halt. Five women died in honour killings in the Palestinian territories in 2011. That number rose to 13 in 2012 and doubled to 26 last year.

. . . .

But the day after the protest, another woman, Samah Bader, was stabbed to death by her husband in their apartment in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. She became the eighth woman killed in the Palestinian territories since the beginning of the year - raising concerns the deadly trend will continue to spiral upwards."

But why mention "honor killings" if this horrifying phenomenon cannot also be blamed upon the "Israeli authorities"? Surely, if we think hard enough, there must also be a way to hold the "Israeli authorities" accountable for this abomination.