Palestinian women 'have suffered most in intifada': Amnesty

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Independent
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
31 March 2005


Palestinian women have borne the brunt of the pain inflicted by four-and-a-half years of conflict but their plight has been largely ignored, Amnesty International says.

The human rights group calls on both sides of the conflict to take "urgent steps" to alleviate the suffering of women in the occupied territories in a report which levels criticism at the Palestinian Authority as well as the Israeli military for failing to safeguard women's basic rights.

The report lambasts Israel for failing to allow sick and especially pregnant women access to medical care across checkpoints and suggests that some of the worst devastation wrought by the army's demolition of more than 4,000 homes since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 has been inflicted on women.

The report also highlights the ill treatment of women in Israeli detention and the impact of a "discriminatory" 2003 law that prevents couples, including parents, from living together if one is a Palestinian from the West Bank and another an Arab Israeli citizen or resident of East Jerusalem.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=625001