Wife abuse in Palestinian society: a social phenomenon or a social problem?

Wife abuse, though widely known, did not come to the serious attention of social science researchers until the latter part of the Twentieth Century. The social, psychological, and criminological literature in the West is replete with studies that have examined the nature and social response to this issue. Although it is generally accepted in the West that wife abuse is a societal problem, there have been no empirical or contextual studies within the Arab World to indicate the level of awareness or social perception of this topic, or its place within the social deviancy continuum, the Palestinian case being no exception. Recent efforts, however, have been made by Palestinian researchers to remedy this deficiency,(1) although the question of level of perception or definition of wife abuse within Palestinian society has remained unanswered.

This paucity in research is compounded further by problematic issues applicable to the study of family violence, especially wife abuse. The literature on Western societies has emphasized different problematic issues in discussing the social construction of wife abuse as a social problem in terms of definition, social policy, and reaction to wife battering.(2) Issues such as gender, power, and patriarchy in society, which have been raised in the literature, especially by Western feminist scholars, were not examined thoroughly in Afro-Asian societies despite their importance in shedding light on the relationships between violence and social control within a cultural-social-structural context.(3)

It is clear from the literature that social phenomena are transformed into social problems after a lengthy process which includes social awareness (especially of those who are in positions of power) of the need to create a change in the society's perception of the phenomenon. Such a process could affect the definition of an issue from a social phenomenon to a social problem. Changes in social awareness and definition of a phenomenon gradually produce policy outcomes and societal reaction to it.

There are two major sociological approaches to the study and definition of social problems. The dominant approach adopts an objectivist-empirical method of investigating social deviance that relies on rigorous methodological designs and sophisticated statistical analyses. This approach, however, was criticized severely by advocates of the constructionist approach who believed that defining social problems in terms of objective conditions within society has two major flaws: (1) it ignored the fact that identifying a social condition as a social problem required subjective judgment, and (2) labeling conditions that have little common ground as social problems cannot serve as a foundation for the formulation of broader theories of social problems.(4) In contrast, constructionists defined social problems in terms of the activities (e.g., conferences, research, protests) performed by members of society which "claim" that the issue is a social problem. Hence, constructionists focused on subjective judgment which objectivists generally ignored.

Although the debate raging between the two competing approaches is crucial to the study of social deviance, wife abuse being included, the purpose of this study is neither to examine nor compare the efficacy or validity of the two approaches. The choice of utilizing the constructionist approach as a tool of analysis in this study is based on two considerations. Given that the study of wife battering in the Arab World is a nascent phenomenon, adoption of the empirical-objectivist approach may restrict the scope of its study and hamper its ability to detect "embedded" and "mediating" variables salient to the analysis of the issue. The global nature of the constructionist approach, on the other hand, allows the researcher to "probe" the question under study in order to delineate its boundaries. Furthermore, given that Palestinian society is a traditional society in transition,(5) the study of wife battering within it could help us determine if the theoretical constructs pertaining to the construction of social problems also could be applicable to non-Western societies. The contextual analysis generated from such an approach to the study of Palestinian society becomes more meaningful, however, if one has some basic background on the status of Palestinian women in society.

STATUS OF PALESTINIAN WOMEN IN SOCIETY

Given that Palestinian society and culture are an integral part of the larger Islamic-Arab heritage, the status of Palestinian women in society must be studied and interpreted within that broader context. Muslim societies throughout Islamic history have played a central role in defining a woman's place in Muslim society. The debate presently taking place in the contemporary Arab World between Islamists and secularists, between advocates and proponents of veiling, and the ways in which the issue of the veil and women were encoded with political meanings and references have great bearing on any discourse related to violence committed against women.(6) Women are defined as different from men in their legal rights; they are considered lesser than men.(7)

The Islamic position regarding women is problematic in that it is reactive in nature. It entraps the issue of women with the struggle over culture. The notion of returning to or holding on to an "original" Islam and an "authentic" indigenous culture is a response to the discourse on colonialism and its attempt to undermine Islam and Arab culture and replace them with Western practices and beliefs.(8) The specificity of Islam, whether manifested in the form of local cultural practices justified in religious terms, or legislation derived from the Shari'a (Islamic Cannon), or an ideology of cultural authenticity with all its complexity, is an important component of studying wife abuse in Palestinian Arab society.

The literature on the status of Palestinian women contains few studies that have dealt with the role of women in the public sphere, their rights, and status in the family structure.(9) No definitive outcome could be interpolated from these studies regarding the social status of Palestinian women. Involvement of the Palestinian woman in the political struggle of the Palestinian national resistance movement, however, appears to have promoted her status at the public level. On the other hand, the traditional make up of Palestinian society conflicts with this newly acquired status, thus not allowing her to translate the gains she made at the public level to the private level.(10)

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

A review of the literature did not reveal any study which examined the issue of how wife abuse is perceived in Palestinian society. Hence, the aim of this study is to understand the way wife abuse is conceived and perceived in Palestinian society according to the perceptions of social control agents (i.e., persons perceived as prominent, influential, or powerful). Specifically, it will attempt to answer the following questions:

1. Are Palestinian social control agents aware of the existence and nature of wife abuse in Palestinian society?

2. What is the perception of Palestinian social control agents to the reaction of women who are battered?

3. What is the reaction of Palestinian social control agents when they are faced with a wife battering case?

4. Is wife abuse in Palestinian society a social phenomenon or a social problem?

METHODOLOGY

A list of formal and informal Palestinian social control agents (prominent social representatives) living in the central region of the West Bank (Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Ramallah Districts) was made. Sixty one social control agents were selected randomly (lottery) to represent the various professions that have a bearing on the perception and definition of wife abuse in Palestinian society. Table 1 shows the distribution of the selected sample according to profession and gender. Although the procedure used to select the sample shown in the Table did not adhere to rigorous sampling conventions, its broad coverage of professions and persons who are instrumental in defining the status of wife abuse in Palestinian society is more than adequate.

Table 1

Distribution of Social Control Agents According to Profession and
Gender

PROFESSION                 MALES      FEMALES      TOTAL

Medical                      5           8           13
Law                          2           1            3
Education                    3           6            9
Mental Health                4           5            9
Clergy                       4           0            4
Social Conciliators(*)       7           0            7
Representatives of
Women's Organizations        0          11           11
Journalism                   3           2            5

TOTAL                       28          33           61

* Social Conciliators are prominent, traditional men who are sought
socially to resolve disputes. In Arabic, rijal islah.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted by the female researcher with the social control agents to assess their perception to the following issues: (1) awareness of wife abuse in Palestinian society, (2) perception toward wife abuse, (3) beliefs held regarding methods of dealing with wife abuse, and (4) extent of satisfaction-dissatisfaction toward the general public's reaction and attitude concerning wife abuse. A simple documenting procedure (taking notes) was used to record the interviewees' responses given that many of the social control agents voiced reservations about having the interviews tape-recorded. Each interview took almost two hours, and all the data (verbal statements) were gathered in a four-month period in mid-1990.

FINDINGS

The findings are divided into two main sections: (1) awareness of the existence and nature of the phenomenon, and (2) reaction of social control agents when faced with the case of a battered woman.

Awareness of the Existence and Nature of the Phenomenon

Nearly all (59/61) of the social control agents claimed that wife battering exists in every society, including Palestinian society. They were aware of the fact that there are families which suffer from family violence, and they even dealt with some of the people who sought their intervention in such cases. Despite the awareness of the existence of the problem, the focus of the discussions in the interviews was on the reasons for the existence of wife abuse, and who is responsible for it as depicted by the statements of a prominent social conciliator.

In Palestinian society, men and women know their limitations and boundaries. The man has a higher status than the woman. Both are aware of the power available to men. This understanding of the power division prevents women from misbehaving, and by the same token prevents men from abusing the power given to them on religious and traditional grounds. Therefore, the battered women phenomenon exists in Palestinian society, but its prevalence is very low, and it is limited to specific social groups. It is not on the public agenda and is not one of our priorities. More than that "wife abuse" is not a social or public issue.

The only interviewees who were very much aware of the problem were social workers, mental health workers, or representatives of women's organizations. It should be stated here that men, more than women, ignored the existence of the phenomenon. Some of the interviewees even provided justifications to the existence of the problem (i.e., "normalized" it). Hence, although social control agents were aware of the existence of the phenomenon, they considered it a private issue and Arab traditions discourage, if not forbid, the exposure of family (private) problems to public knowledge. It is not even permitted to inform other family members, or close friends and relatives about the problem because of the sanctity of the family. In addition, it was stated that social control representatives should not interfere in family matters. As one religious social control representative stated:

Women are supposed to tolerate violence; they should be clever and know how to manage their families. If there is any kind of violence practiced on them, they should ask themselves why and not seek the help of external parties.

More women (18/33) than men (9/28) defined battering as a deviant rather than normal behavior. Furthermore, very few men rejected wife battering on moral grounds. More than two-thirds of the interviewees, irrespective of gender, age, or profession stated that the occurrence of wife abuse in Palestinian society was no different than its occurrence in other societies, and perhaps was even lower. Proverbs were given to demonstrate that violence may even be an expression of love at times; e.g., "Beating a loved one is like eating sweets" (Tharb al-habib, zbib). Such responses may be interpreted as a means by the social control agents to "devalue" its deviant aspects and emphasize its "normal' ones.

Almost one-third of the interviewees believed that an exceptionally small percentage of men batter their wives. More interestingly, however, is the perception of these social control agents that the man and not the woman was the victim. For example, a physician stated: "Only a problematic woman gets beaten." This attitude is demonstrated further in statements made by a female teacher and a female lawyer: "Very few women are dealt with unjustly; most are responsible for their battering."; "Only women who do not know how to manage their husbands get beaten"; "Only women with specific characteristics get beaten." This process of moving the responsibility and blame from the husband to the wife shows that there is awareness of the existence of the problem. It also demonstrates, however, the power of social myths toward this problem, especially in the case of social control agents who determine social policy. Analysis of the whole issue of awareness, however, showed that some social control representatives gave more than one explanation for their degree of awareness. A three-level analytical scheme is proposed for the purposes of organizing the data and facilitating our understanding of the degree of awareness being reflected.

No Awareness/Denial Level.

This level represents lack of awareness to the existence of the phenomenon or total denial of it. Only two out of the 61 interviewees (two males, a teacher and a physician) fell within this category. This level was characterized by a response of categorical denial of the existence of the phenomenon

Neutralized Awareness Level.

Although this level represents the presence of awareness to the existence of the phenomenon, it is neutralized through psychosocial qualifiers. Some social control agents insisted that violence was a private, personal, and family issue, and no one had the right to intervene or interfere with it. This process could be termed as "privitization" of the issue. The issue was neutralized also through generalization and justification mechanisms. For example, it was stated that although violence was a general social problem, the present sociopolitical situation of Palestinian society precluded social control agents from taking further steps. This technique could be termed as "freezing" the problem until conditions are more favorable to deal with it. Finally, some social control agents held the belief that family violence was not a problem but a solution to the problem of women's disobedience to their husbands. This position is predicated on the premise that family violence is a function of the nature of men and women. They believed that women are in need of the protection of the stronger and more aggressive men, although they are more accepting, understanding, and forgiving than men.

Awareness/Claims Level

Respondents at this level not only showed high awareness of the existence of the problem, but also held strong beliefs that wife abuse was not a private/personal problem but a public social issue that should be dealt with through active measures. The holders of this view proposed that legislation should be enacted to modify existing non-concerned laws in order to create social structural changes which would promote equality between men and women, and provide women with greater options. Some social control agents even expressed the need to provide therapeutic programs for families experiencing violence in the home. Further analysis of such responses revealed that they were gender specific. The majority (24/33) of women social control agents gave therapeutic, feminist and reformative responses compared with most (22/28) men who responded at the neutralized awareness level.

In summary, it appears that professional Palestinian women, especially those in the helping professions or affiliated with women's organizations, tend to perceive the issue more as a social problem than a social phenomenon. In contrast, the perception of the issue by Palestinian men has not surpassed the neutralized awareness level.

REACTION OF SOCIAL CONTROL AGENTS TO CASES OF WIFE ABUSE

The reactions of social control agents to actual cases of battered women could be grouped generally into three main categories (nonintervention, conditional intervention, and clear intervention) despite some noted inconsistencies in their responses. It should be noted here that all social control representatives claimed to take a clear position of not condoning wife abuse. Such a response could be interpreted as a reluctance by the social control agents to sanction the use of violence to solve family problems and other disputes. Adopting such a clear position was justified by the social control agents for varying reasons such as it will prevent the occurrence of deviant behavior within society; or it will help promote women in society to achieve social equality with men; or it will promote social responsibility and welfare toward vulnerable groups within society.

Although the social control agents clearly did not condone the use of violence on the hypothetical level, most were not ready to commit themselves to such a position when confronted with a real case of wife abuse. In order to justify this discrepancy, they claimed that a policy of nonintervention is followed in the interest of not tarnishing the woman's reputation. Furthermore, violence against women is not an issue in need of external intervention, and any such intervention will result in a high price to be paid by both the woman and those who intervene on her behalf. Others explained their nonintervention by the absence of a legal system which could support them, or the inappropriate timing in Palestinian society.

Some social control agents expressed a conditional willingness to intervene on behalf of a battered woman. This willingness was contingent upon many factors such as who is the woman, the severity of the beating, the reason(s) for battering, the resources available on hand, and the power invested within them to intervene. Very few social control agents expressed a clear and "unconditional" willingness to intervene in cases of wife abuse. Further analysis of the findings showed that five factors appear to differentiate between noninterventionist, conditional interventionists, and unconditional interventionist social control agents when dealing with a case of wife abuse. It appears that the younger the social control agent the greater the likelihood that (s)he will intervene conditionally when faced with a case of wife abuse. This conditional commitment may be the result of the conflict between the status of the social control agent (elders are accorded higher social status in the Arab world) and her/his desire to intervene. Social control agents espousing feminist ideology, on the other hand, tended to react more in a clear interventionist position; i.e., helping the abused wife. Such a response may be explained by the ideological commitment these social representatives carry and wish to propagate. Historically, the struggle to change social policy toward wife abuse has been led by individuals espousing a feminist ideology.

Women social control agents were more prone than men social control agents to take a clear position or intervene conditionally according to the severity of the battering and the woman's general condition at the time she sought help. Similar responses were noted amongst the respondents whose profession was either in social work or mental health; they rarely hesitated to offer help and support to victims of husband violence. It is important, however, to note that not all professionals acted upon the code of ethics of their profession. Finally, traditional social control agents (e.g., prominent persons, clergy, social conciliators, and some educators, especially old teachers) tended to react either in a noninterventionist or, in extreme and complicated cases, conditionally according to the social and religious acceptability of the case.

In cases in which social control agents intervened on behalf of battered women, they expressed feelings that are noteworthy. It appears that nearly one-third of the social control agents expressed feelings of helplessness when dealing with cases of wife abuse. Although they were persuaded of the woman's need of their help and intervention, they felt they were unable to provide such aid in many instances because of the lack of resources available to them as depicted in the following excerpt of a nurse:

One day a woman who lives in the neighborhood came to our clinic. She was in an awful situation. She told us that her husband was threatening to kill her. Because of a problem with one of the children one day, he ran after her with a knife, threatening to kill her. She was so frightened she hid behind the curtains which fell suddenly on his head and injured him. In rage, he thrust toward her and she ran to the clinic to seek refuge. Although the neighbors knew his aggressiveness and temper, they blamed and shouted at her. They accused her of many things such as having a love affair, or trying to give her husband's money to her poor family, or simply trying to drive him crazy. It was clear that no one was ready or willing to support her, but I tried in vain; I really can't swim against the current.

Time and again it was found that social control agents felt they were unable to do much for the battered woman. As one journalists stated: "I believe that we should help every woman who asks for help, but the problem is that there is nothing we could do about it. This is her destiny, although we should really change the social reaction to her situation." Hence, they coped with the problem through avoidance, desensitization, and normalization of the problem. It was clear that the sole owners of the problem were the traditional cultural ideologies, and that the whole issue was considered a private family issue. It also was clear from the responses of the social control agents that they were not content with the solutions offered by them when faced with wife beating. Feminists, physicians, social workers, and some educators and lawyers felt trapped. Although they desired to offer better solutions and interventions, they felt such a step would be too costly in terms of their reputations and careers, and that society was not ready for such changes on such a sensitive issue at the present juncture in history. Some social control agents felt that they lacked clear legal support when. They felt that they could not count on the legal or social systems to protect their victims from the abuses of their husbands. What is more ominous, however, was the finding that some social control agents were not even aware that legislation existed to combat violence within the home. Furthermore, they felt that religious laws (shari'a) can neither provide the adequate protection needed for abused women, nor the power to combat family violence. Some social control agents emphasized that shari'a laws permit the use of "violence" against women, although Islamic theologians have differing interpretations regarding this issue. One could clearly see here that there was internal conflict between the belief in what should be done and the powerlessness of doing nothing. This premise is strengthened further by the following excerpt from an interview conducted with a nurse. "It is very hard to be a battered woman; I have personally faced such a situation. Personally, I do think that we should imprison the abuser, but no woman would agree on imprisoning her own husband because he practiced violence on her. This behavior does not fit our culture." Again, it is clear that the social control agent would have preferred to utilize the legal system, but the power of tradition that was translated into "shame of imprisoning one's husband" precluded such action.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study indicated that awareness to the existence of the phenomenon is high among Palestinian social control representatives, although feminists, mental health workers, and representatives of women's organizations displayed the highest level of awareness to the problem. In general, women interviewees were more aware of the existence and severity of the phenomenon than male interviewees, and that women tended more to define "wife abuse" as a deviant or even criminal act, while men tended to normalize and personalize it. The variance between the awareness levels of male and female social control representatives observed in this study requires an explanation. Just as importantly, the reasons why women were less reluctant than men to define battering as "deviant" or "criminal" also needs to be examined. One explanation that Arab feminists posit is that women are the ones who suffer from the abuse and the violation of their basic human rights. Men, on the other hand, need to preserve the Islamic and cultural authenticity of the society. Hence, they are more fearful of change.(11) A second explanation could be that some of the women interviewees were/are victims of wife abuse, and consequently have a raised consciousness to the phenomenon. A third explanation could be that men were more reluctant to express their knowledge of the existence of the phenomenon for reasons related to fear of loss of stature in society, or fear that debating such an issue publicly might open a Pandora's box which ultimately would lead to men relinquishing the power within their hands. A fourth explanation is that men reflected more the cultural perception and ideas on wife abuse, while women, because of their emotional involvement in the issue, expressed their own personal impressions and perceptions. It should be noted here that some of the women interviewees, especially those who were very active in feminist and women's organizations, were empowered socially by virtue of the power invested within them by their organizations. Hence, speaking out on such an issue reflects positively on their own institutions. Although the findings of this study indicated a high level of awareness to the existence of wife abuse, they do not support the premise that this awareness was translated into activities of claim making.

The question of why there were no activities of claim making, or at least why claims were not voiced at the public level was addressed by examining the respondents' reaction when faced with a case of wife abuse. The findings showed three kinds of reactions: (A) inaction, (B) conditional reaction, and (C) clear reaction.

Examination of the responses of the "inaction" group (i.e., those who stated that they do not intervene in cases of wife abuse) showed that they have created a new clientele and kind of deviance, which is the battered woman. Women, according to these social control representatives, are deviant because they did not submit to their husbands' will. Furthermore, these respondents justified their perception by stating that in the final analysis women remain in the violent situation because of guilt feelings. This interpretation has also noted in Western literature.(12) Their reaction may be interpreted as fear from change at the personal/professional, as well as the cultural, political, religious, and social levels. This fear of change, which was clearly detected throughout the findings, is characteristic of societies in transition similar to Palestinian society.(13) The pressures exerted on a transitional society are exacerbated further in the Palestinian case by the political hardships associated with the military occupation to which the population is subjected. It should be noted here that the data for this study were collected at the height of the Intifada (or popular uprising) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Hence, the Intifada might have served as additional pressure to suppress any desire to debate such a controversial issue. Fear of change could have meant loss of acceptable values, norms, and direction. The case of wife abuse in Western society was fraught with barriers the activists against wife battering had to surmount prior to their success of claim making and elevating the issue of wife abuse to the level of a social problem.(14)

Nearly half of the interviewees stated that if faced with a case of wife abuse they would react according to the particular conditions of the case. This group was identified as those who "react conditionally." Such a nebulous reaction may be interpreted in two different ways. It could be considered as a situation which might lead to a clear position against the use of violence, or it also could lead to a situation of total regression to a clear and definitive policy of "inaction" which considers violence against wives as a private, untouchable issue.(15) The confused reaction termed "conditional" may be indicative of the power struggle within the respondents. They disagree on the one hand to the use of violence against wives, but feel trapped when faced with implementing this abstract and ethical belief. They are part of a society which believes that family/private matters should not be opened to the public. They do not intervene in cases of wife abuse unless it is brutal (severely beaten or even killed). Although they disapprove of wife beating (at least hypothetically), their lack of experience in dealing with such cases publicly may not provide them with clear steps, options, or actions to deal with them. This problem is complicated further if one considers that almost one-third of this group claimed that their intervention might lead people to respect them less, especially if a man advocates for and supports a battered woman. Such action may be interpreted as taking advantage (sexually) of the battered woman. The sensitivity of the phenomenon, its relation to women's status, gender and power related issues in Arab society, add to the complexity of the reaction.(16) This complexity led social control agents to a state of confusion. It is not known whether the etiology of the origin of this perception is traditional, religious, legal, professional, political, humanistic, or feminist or a combination of factors. Yet, this state of confusion cognitively trapped the social control representatives, and was resolved either through "inaction" by some, or through therapeutic, conciliatory, and even putative techniques by others. This confusion and cognitive trapping has its implications in social policy which will be treated in the conclusion section.

Gender, profession, and age were the characteristics that identified the clear reaction group. Very few social control agents defined or claimed that wife abuse was a social problem. Feminism, mental health professionals, and women were found, however, to make claims that this issue is and should be identified as a social problem. This movement, despite its small size, may be considered as the beginning of a larger movement in the future. This prognostication is built on the premise that many social control agents desired to elevate the issue to the public level, but were hesitant to do so because of the transition that Palestinian society is currently undergoing. A positive thrust in this direction will require, however, immense support from feminists, the legal system, and the newly established Palestinian National Authority. The question of whether wife abuse in Palestinian society will ever be raised to the status of a public social problem is contingent on the status of women in society.

Although there are signs of activities of raising new claims, especially after the period of the data collection of this specific study, the direction is unknown. The political changes that are taking place in the region; i.e., the beginning of the reconstruction of a Palestinian state, could mean two things: a rise in awareness and offered services related to women issues, or maintaining the traditional methods of dealing with such cases. The supporting power for a clear and comprehensive change to deal with the victimization of women stems from the existing services provided, especially those dealing with victimization cases related to the occupation. Furthermore, the newly established Palestinian National Authority is pushing to engage women in different governmental and official positions. In addition, individual feminist activities and women's organizations are also raising this issue at the public level. On the other hand, traditional, cultural, and religious groups are exerting their power in the opposite direction under the guise of maintaining and preserving the traditional relationships between men and women (e.g., forcing women to wear the veil). Such a direction may lead wife abuse to become an accepted method of controlling women's "misbehavior." Kandiyoti, Hijjab, Ahmad(17) and other researchers on women in the Arab World have explained this method of social control as a way of preserving and safeguarding Islamic culture and tradition.

The reactions and responses of the social control agents clearly demonstrate that the wider gendered structures within Palestinian society have influenced the cognition of the respondents to a degree that, in some cases, they were in a state of cognitive confusion and dissonance. This dissonance could be attributed to a legacy of gendered thoughts, and a history of language, proverbs, and nuances that require much time to be modified. The relevance of these gendered patterns of social control, it is argued here, carry greater weight in Arab and developing countries than in Western societies. In analyzing these patterns from an Arab feminist perspective, it is important to look at the political and state factors, and how they contribute to the analysis of wife abuse

The emphasis of the respondents that they do not have any legal backing when faced with a battered woman case suggests that the absence of legal retribution may lead to conditions of social injustice. Future researchers and studies should examine the role of law in the reproduction of social injustice. One of the most important components that has been thoroughly studied is the effect of the personal status law on the status of women in Arab and Islamic countries in general, and Palestinian society in particular.(18) The nature of the final outcome of the proposed personal status law in Palestine will have great bearing on this issue.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study clearly show that the issue of wife abuse in Palestinian society occupies the awareness level of Palestinian social control agents. Hence, there is ample evidence to buttress the claim that the issue of wife abuse in Palestinian society could be considered a social phenomenon. Social awareness of an issue, however, does not elevate it to the status of a social problem according to the constructionist approach. Society must define the issue as a problem that is in need of a remedy; i.e., make claims that it is a social problem, and construct social policy accordingly. The findings of this study do not support this premise in Palestinian society.

The results of this case study also have implications specific to women. "Wife abuse" was found to be a "woman's problem." Social control representatives' perception of wife abuse ranged from perceiving it as a "fault/deviance" of women because of their refusal to submit to their husbands' wishes, to the other extreme of claiming that this is the "struggle of women" to negate society's faulty perception of them. In both explanations, the focus was on women. It is claimed here that "wife abuse" is a social, public issue and not a women's issue. As long as it does not take its place on the public and social responsibility-liability agenda, it will not be defined as a social problem. It is not clear at the present juncture in time whether the gains Palestinian women made during the period of national resistance will be carried over to the period of national reconstruction. The fear that the status of Palestinian women will regress following national liberation is understandable given the experience of similar Arab societies such as Algeria.

The present study, however, has considerable ramifications for future researchers on this topic in the Arab World. It has shown, for example, that Western constructs and methodologies could be applied to non-Western, traditional societies, though the findings may differ. Although the reasons given for the failure to elevate the issue of wife abuse in Palestinian-Arab society to the level of a social problem may differ than those found in Western societies, the process by which this issue is transformed from a social phenomenon to a social problem appears to be the same. In both cases, the vanguard of this movement were the feminists and human rights activists. In both cases, the process was/is lengthy, laborious, and strewn with obstacles, although the obstacles may differ. More importantly, this study has demonstrated that sensitive issues such as wife abuse are no longer taboo to the realm of serious academic research.

This study has posed many questions which need to be addressed by future researchers. Foremost amongst these is the generalizability of the sample utilized in the present study. Furthermore, this study did not take into consideration socio-economic level (high, middle, low) or domicile (urban, rural, camp dwellers) in the selection of the sample. Finally, the demography of Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is currently undergoing changes due to the return of Palestinians from the diaspora. The effects of these variables along with many other variables (e.g., the influence of new legislation) on the issue of wife abuse are yet to be determined. Given that Palestinian society is undergoing changes, the direction and degree of this change, and the factors responsible for the change should be of prime interest to future researchers.

To modify the boundaries of social order in the Arab World is the challenge. As long as the phenomenon is perceived as individual, family or women, attention is diverted from its larger structural and situational factors. This research has demonstrated clearly the importance of understanding the larger structure of this phenomenon. The origin of the perception of the phenomenon, the factors that affect it, the weight or power of each factor in defining the phenomenon from "the woman's fault" to the "woman's victimization" should be included within this structure. In addition to understanding the structure, there is a need to examine the content of claims, as well as the political process of the activities of claims making. It is argued here that the image of the problem does shape the image of its solutions. In this case study the image was a confused one.

NOTES

1. See for example, N. Kevorkian, "Perception of Palestinian Social Control Agents in East Jerusalem to Wife Battering," Doctoral Dissertation. Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1993; M. Haj-Yahia, "Towards Culturally Sensitive Intervention with Arab Families in Israel," Contemporary Family Therapy, 17/4 (1995): 429-447.

2. See for example, N.J. Davis, Battered Women: Implications for Social Control, (Portland Oregon: Department of Sociology, Portland State University, 1988); D. Loeske, "Lived Realities and the Construction of Social Problems: The Case of Wife Abuse," Symbolic Interaction 10 (1987): 229-243.

3. P Gagne, "Appalachian Women: Violence and Social Control," Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, (Special Issue: Stigma and Social Interaction), 20/4, (1992): 387-415.

4. See for example, L. Schneider, The Sociological Way of Looking at the World (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975).

5. See for example, I. Ata, The West Bank Palestinian Family (London: Kegan Paul, 1986); E. Zureik, "Toward a Sociology of Palestinians," Journal of Palestine Studies 6 (1977): 11-33.

6. L. Ahmad, Women and Gender in Islam: Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992).

7. D. Kandiyoti, Women, Islam and the State (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991).

8. Ahmad, Women and Gender in Islam: Roots of a Modern Debate

9. See for example, I. Jad, "Al-Ilaakat al-Ijtima'eyya Dakhel al-A'la al-Filistinia Ibban al-Intifada," in The Intifada and Some of the Women Issues (Ramallah, West Bank: Bisan Research Center, 1990

10. See for example, Ata, The West Bank Palestinian Family; Idem, "The Impact of Westernizing and Other Factors on the Changing Status of Moslem Women," Eastern Anthropologist 37/2 (1984): 37-61; Idem "Prospects and Retrospects on the Role of Moslem Arab Women at Present," Trends and Tendencies in Islamic Culture 55/4 (1981): 147; R. Giacaman, "Al-nisa' al-Falistiniat fi al-Intifada: Min al-Tab'ieh ila al-Qiadeh," Al-Fikr al-Dimoqrati 9/10 (1989); Jad, "Al-Ilaakat al-Ijtima'iya Dakhil al-A'la al-Filistiniya Ibban al-Intifada".

11. See for example Ahmad, Women and Gender in Islam: Roots of a Modern Debate; Kandiyoti, Women, Islam and the State; R. Sayigh, "Introduction," in O. Najjar, Portraits of Palestinian Women (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1992); O. Najjar, Portraits of Palestinian Women (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1992).

12. R. E. Dobash and R. P. Dobash, Violence Against Wives: A Case Against Patriarchy (New York: Free Press, 1979); E. Walker, The Battered Woman Syndrome (New York: Springer Press, 1984).

13. See Ata, "Prospects and Retrospects of the Role of Moslem Arab Women at Present".

14. See for details, D. Loseke and S. Cahil, "The Social Construction of Deviance: Experts on Battered Women, "Social Problems 31 (1984): 296-310.

15. A. Horwitz, The Logic of Social Control (New York: Plenum Press, 1990).

16. Ahmad, Women and Gender in Islam: Roots of a Modern Debate; M. Afkhami, Face and Freedom: Women's Human Rights in the Moslem Worm (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1995).

17. Kandiyoti, Women, Islam and the State; N. Hijjab, Women Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); Ahmad, Women and Gender in Islam: Roots of a Modern Debate.

18. F. Hussein, Muslim Women (London: Croom Helm, 1984); F. Mernissi, Beyond the Veil (London: Al Saqi Books, 1985).

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is an assistant professor of criminology and sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ahmad Baker is a professor of psychology and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Birzeit University.