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Palestinian women protest against femicide

PALESTINIAN women held a sit-in protest in Bethlehem on Saturday demanding an end to femicide and violence after three people were killed in a brutal attack in the occupied West Bank.

The Association of Women Development Institutions umbrella organisation called the action after the triple murder in which a woman, her husband and sister-in-law were killed in Wadi al-Nar.

According to director of the Women’s Media & Development Centre Suheir Farraj, protesters wanted to highlight a worrying spike in crime and violence: at least 26 women have been murdered since the beginning of the year.

They called for action to end femicide and called for the perpetrators to be held to account for their actions.

Mass protests took place last September as part of the #Talat movement, meaning “women rise up,” after the shocking murder of 21-year-old Israa Ghrayeb, who is believed to have been beaten to death by her relatives in a so-called “honour” killing.

Authorities were criticised for their response to Ms Ghrayeb’s death. Video footage circulated on social media that appeared to show her screaming and pleading for her life while in hospital, where it is suspected she was subjected to further assault.

Police initially failed to conduct investigations, insisting that she had told them she had been injured in a fall and that she had no visible marks on her body.

When arrests were finally made, three unnamed perpetrators were charged with “assault that led to an unintentional killing,” which carries a sentence of at least five years in prison.

But women’s rights groups have hit out at a lack of progress in introducing measures that will ensure that perpetrators are not able to continue committing crimes in a climate of impunity.

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