The Occupied Palestinian territories in 2021, three lockdowns at once: living through a protracted crisis, the pandemic, and the violence against women
The gendered impact of violence in Palestine
By Virginie Mathieu-Tahboub,
Jalal Khader and
Dr Mustapha Al Masri
The worldwide experience of psychological distress associated to the Covid19 Pandemic has taken a special turn in the occupied Palestinian territories, as it has hit an already fragile health and socio-economic system. If local and international actors have shown a steady will to respond and protect the most vulnerable groups of the population, the gendered impact of the health crisis has raised specific concerns. Médecins du Monde – Switzerland, SAWA and AISHA have witnessed the day-to-day hardships faced by women during the different lockdowns and attempts to restart local economy.
The occupied Palestinian Territories regularly come on and off the international media scene according to the level of active conflict between parties - namely, the state of Israel and Palestinian Armed Group Factions- and its related number of casualties and level of destruction of Palestinian infrastructures. Along those rounds of escalation, the conflict is categorized by international institutions as “a protracted protection crisis (…) leaving many Palestinians struggling to live a life with dignity. It is driven by Israel’s military occupation, including the blockade on the Gaza Strip, insufficient respect for international law, continuing internal Palestinian political divisions, and recurrent escalations of hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups” (OCHA, 2021).
Palestinians are known for their high literacy rate (96% of the population is literate), and their narrative of resistance through education, arts and the oral tradition. A history of female’s participation to society also categorizes Palestine. Yet patriarchal norms & values as well as traditional views and harmful practices upon women roles are still prominent among the population. While women can work and participate in politics and public life (the Ministry of Health is headed by a Woman), it is obvious that their life is restricted and submitted to higher social pressure: In 2019, early marriage under 18 years old reached 13% among females out of the total married population in Palestine (PCBS & UNFPA, 2020); approximately 15% of married women in Gaza experienced incidents of sexual abuse by husbands over the previous year, and more than half of these experienced it repeatedly (3+ times) (UN Women, 2017);50% of Palestinian women and 63% of Palestinian men agreed that a woman should tolerate violence to keep the family together (UN Women, 2017 Bis).
A complex protection protracted crisis affecting gender and family dynamics prior to the Covid19 pandemic
In Palestine, the impacts of the protection protracted humanitarian crisis on gender and family dynamics “have exacerbated gender-based violence (GBV) in all its forms, including sexual violence, intimate partner violence and child marriage. Distance, mobility restrictions, fragmentation of areas and services and reluctance to report GBV due to fear of stigma, social exclusion, so-called honor killings or reprisal limits survivors’ access to and utilization of critical services. The available services and capacity of service providers also remain limited, and survivors and communities have minimal information on existing services and how to access them. Only 0.7% of GBV survivors seek help due to the lack of confidential and compassionate services and fear of stigma and reprisal.“ (UNFPA)
Interestingly, gender-based violence reports in Palestine have decreased from the 51% to 30% and from 35% to 22% within the last decade (2011 versus 2019), both in the Gaza strip and on the West Bank respectively (PCBS, 2019). Yet, GBV remained a considerable issue in Palestine before the Covid19 Pandemic hit the country.
50% of Palestinian women and 63% of Palestinian men agreed that a woman should tolerate violence to keep the family together.
The occupied Palestinian territories witnessed its first Covid19 cases in March 2020. If the local authorities rapidly drew an emergency response plan (Palestinian Authority, 2020) emphasizing national containment measure while facing severe institutional pre-existing fragilities, daily life of Palestinians, including access to employment, to medical and protection services, were quickly disrupted: cities were put under closure for long periods, schools and MHPSS services (e.g. rehabilitation centers for children with special needs) were shut in a repetitive manner. Women’s shelters were initially closed and when they re-opened after the pressure from women’s organizations, they did not have the capacity to offer quarantine conditions to newcomers, hence increasing health risk for their beneficiaries. Palestinians had to wait until March 2021 to receive their first shipment of vaccines through the UN-led COVAX initiative, and these vaccines were planned for only 20% of the population.
It was shortly understood that the pre-pandemic conditions would increase the odds that the Palestinian population would be negatively impacted at all levels. This became even more true for women and girls: a UN Woman study done at the beginning of the health crisis rose concerns about the gendered impacts of the pandemic onto the female population of Palestine (UN women, 2020). It showed that the Covid19-exacerbated economic insecurity increased the burden of unpaid work on women & girls and that women were more concerned than men by the increasing household burdens (62% and 46% respectively). Another study (AWRAD, 2020) showed that 68% of women said that their household work has increased compared to 44% for men.
At the beginning of the pandemic, a third study, conducted by SAWA under the auspices of the Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN), highlighted the crucial role women’s rights organizations played in supporting vulnerable women and girls, at a time when public institutions failed to respond to the emergency and to address the basic needs of women in emergencies (FHN & SAWA, 2020).
But in Palestine this year, the Covid19 was not the only precipitating factor toward a deterioration of life conditions and its impact onto women’s health: in May, a new round of escalation between Israel and Palestinian groups led to 11 full days of violence (aerial bombing from the Israeli army and Rockets fire from Gazan Palestinian groups, civil unrest in Israel, East Jerusalem and the West Bank), resulting in the death of 245 Palestinians (among those 63 children and 40 women) and 12 Israelis (including 2 children), 1 900 wounded Palestinians and 200 wounded Israelis, and massive infrastructure destruction in the Gaza strip. Gaza population went through another episode of constant bombing with not much means to find a protective shelter (no safe rooms as it exists in Israel, extremely high population density, cut of communication tools preventing the reach to Support services, etc.). Reports of domestic and gender-based violence rapidly flared-up.
At the beginning of the pandemic, a third study, conducted by SAWA under the auspices of the Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN), highlighted the crucial role women’s rights organizations played in supporting vulnerable women and girls, at a time when public institutions failed to respond to the emergency and to address the basic needs of women in emergencies.
Making sure there will always be someone who listens and supports
Médecins du Monde – Switzerland,with support from donors likeLATITUDE 21, Zurich Municipality, ECHO, Swiss Solidarity and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation among others, works with two major local actors in the field of Protection and Covid19 response: SAWA and AISHA, both providing helpline, legal, medical and MHPSS services to the local population. The 3 actors increased their response capacities from the early stages of the Pandemic, and witnessed increases in all of women’s health, domestic and GBV indicators:
SAWA, operating a 24/7 toll-free helpline covering the whole territory and providing tele-counseling, received 80 305 calls during 2020. Among the answered calls, an increase of 40% of female callers (Covid19 period versus ante-Covid19 one) was reported and among this, a grow of 58% of GBV cases. A dramatic increase (+63%) of suicide threats was also observed, illustrating rising levels of helplessness and hopelessness in the population. 20% of the calls came during the night shift, with women expressing that they have a hard time calling when locked in their houses together with their perpetrators.
AISHA worked with 2 654 individuals through counseling and Mental Health support, provided case management to 1 422 persons, and received 4 233 calls to their helpline during the pandemic period. Among those, 42% reported that family conflicts, quarrels and arguments heightened due to house Isolation, 37% of married participants informed that they had experienced a marital conflict, and 45% reported family violence.
If all social categories seemed to have been affected by the above mentioned, Médecins du Monde – Switzerland observed, through a community survey (MdM-CH, 2020) initiated at the beginning of the pandemic, that people with diagnosed MH condition were paying the heaviest toll. Among those, 80% of those reported facing familial difficulty linked to the quarantine needs (only 50% of the general population did).
In Palestine, the pandemic showed us that the Covid19 worldwide widely observed MHPSS signs such as general anxiety, isolation feeling, psychosomatic symptoms, fear of contamination and loss of hope dramatically echoed pre-existing hardships related to the protracted crisis and led to a drastic increase of worrying psychological suffering markers such as level of aggressiveness & violence (here, mainly targeted toward women and children) and hopelessness & helplessness – the two latest being major risk criteria for suicide. It also showed us how social inequities can increase rapidly because of loss of income, and impact access to services in an aftermath effect.
SAWA, operating a 24/7 toll-free helpline covering the whole territory and providing tele-counseling, received 80 305 calls during 2020. Among the answered calls, an increase of 40% of female callers (Covid19 period versus ante-Covid19 one) was reported and among this, a grow of 58% of GBV cases.
Médecins du Monde -Switzerland, SAWA and AISHA believe that a holistic approach is the most effective to address the gendered impact of violence exacerbated by the on-going Covid19 pandemic, and that a combined offer of legal, medical and psychological counseling should be provided to women at-risk and/or survivors. Social and economic skills should also be strengthened, to allow women a sustainable access to financial security, and enhance their capacity to feel empowered and experience lasting motivation. Marital counseling should be proposed, while protective shelters should be supported (in Palestine, only a very few numbers of shelters exist and their – limited – offer of services should be expanded).
While we are aware of the heavy social stigma women presenting signs of psychological suffering and needs to mental health services, we believe that the promotion of selfcare principles to all family members can break through resistance and enhance connectiveness among family members. Advanced MHPSS services should integrate mind-body approach and strengthen systemic resources. We also believe sensitization of frontliners (GPs, hospital staff, paramedics, police services) enhances cases identification, the provision of gendered response, and improve access to care.
We can only advocate so gendered responses be part of global humanitarian & development Covid19 operations to prevent, mitigate and respond to the negative impact of the pandemic onto already fragilized members of the Palestinian society, and that related funds be made available for field actors.
We can only advocate so gendered responses be part of global humanitarian & development Covid19 operations offer of legal, medical and psychological counseling should be provided to women at-risk and/or survivors.
UN Women (2017). Navigating through Shattered Paths: NGO Service Providers and Women Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: An Assessment of GBV Services in Gaza https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-...
UN Women (2020). COVID-19: Gendered Impacts of the Pandemic in Palestine and Implications for Policy and Programming Findings of a Rapid Gender Analysis of COVID-19 in Palestine. https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2020...
Virginie Mathieu-Tahboub, MdM-CH, Clinical Psychologist, Mental Health Adviser. Email
Jalal Khader, SAWA, Director of Ramallah office. Email
