Intimate Partner Violence Among Palestinian–Arab Women in Israel: Perspectives Across Three Generations

Abstract

This study explores the multi-generational female perspective on intimate partner violence (IPV) within Palestinian–Arab society in Israel, focusing on women who have experienced or been exposed to IPV. It examines how cultural, religious, and modernization processes influence women's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors across three generations. Using a qualitative interpretative phenomenological approach, 45 women from 15 three-generational Palestinian–Arab families participated in in-depth interviews. Findings reveal belief in God's righteousness and acceptance of one's violent fate, barriers to seeking help, the perception of feminism as a dangerous dream, and the winds of change. Modernization is visible in lifestyle, but changes in attitudes toward violence are slow.

Keywords

intimate partner violence Palestinian–Arab society in Israel feminist approach older women Palestinian–Arab women in Israel the intergenerational transmission of IPV

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abdo

(1997). Assessing gender/women’s regional workshop. In Cairo papers in social science (pp. 20–40). The American University in Cairo Press.

Adelman

Erez

Shalhoub-Kevorkian

(2003). Policing violence against minority women in multicultural societies: “Community” and the politics of exclusion. Police & Society,7(2), 105–133.

Alnabilsy

Elias

Pagorek-Eshel

(2022). Patterns of receiving support and barriers to service consumption among young Arab women in Israel. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 42(4), 409–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2023.2202042

Andrews

(2012). What is social constructionism? Grounded Theory Review, 11(39–46).

Azaiza

(2013). Processes of conservation and change in Arab society in Israel: Implications for the health and welfare of the indigenous Arab population. International Journal of Social Welfare, 22(1), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14682397.2011.00866.x

Azaiza

Abu-Baker

Hertz-Lazarowitz

Ganem

(2009). Arab women in Israel: A picture of the situation and a look to the future [In Hebrew]. Ramot.

Barakat

(2011). The perception of women victims of intimate violence in the family and their treatment in community clinics [M.A. Thesis, University of Haifa]. [In Hebrew].

Buchbinder

Karayiannis

N. G.

(2015). Rejection and choice: Arab battered women coping with stigmatization after leaving battered women’s shelters in Israel. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 24(3), 235–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2014.991981

Collins

P. H.

(2015). Intersectionality’s definitional dilemmas. Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112142

10.

Cowles

K. V.

(1988). Issues in qualitative research on sensitive topics. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 10(2), 163–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/019394598801000205

11.

Daoud

Sergienko

Shoham-Vardi

(2020). Intimate partner violence prevalence, recurrence, types, and risk factors among Arab, and Jewish immigrant and nonimmigrant women of childbearing age in Israel. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(15–16), 2869–2896. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605177056

12.

Dayan

(2021). Female honor killing: The role of low socio-economic status and rapid modernization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(19–20), 4316–4341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519872984

13.

Djamba

Y. K.

Kimuna

S. R.

(2015). Gender-based violence. Springer International Publishing Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16670-4_1

14.

Elghossain

Bott

Akik

Obermeyer

C. M.

(2019). Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in the Arab world: A systematic review. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 19(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-019-0215-5

15.

Eriksson

Mazerolle

(2015). A cycle of violence? Examining family-of-origin violence, attitudes, and intimate partner violence perpetration. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(6), 945–964. https://doi.org/10.1177/088626051453975

16.

Golley

N. A.

(2004). Is feminism relevant to Arab women? Third World Quarterly, 25(3), 521–536. https://doi.org/10.1080/0143659042000191410

17.

Gover

A. R.

Kaukinen

Fox

K. A.

(2008). The relationship between violence in the family of origin and dating violence among college students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(12), 1667–1693. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260508314330

18.

Haj-Yahia

(2000). Wife abuse and battering in the sociocultural context of Abuse society. Family Process, 39(2), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2000.39207.x

19.

Haj-Yahia

M. M.

(2004). Beliefs about wife beating among Arab men from Israel: The influence of their patriarchal ideology. Journal of Family Violence, 18(4), 193–206. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024012229984

20.

Haj-Yahia

M. M.

(2019). The Palestinian family in Israel: Its collectivist nature, structure, and implications for mental health interventions. In Haj-Yahia

M. M.

Nakash

Levav

(Eds.), Mental health themes among Palestinians in Israel (pp. 97–120). Indiana University Press.

21.

Haj Yahia-Abu Ahmad

(2006). Couplehood and parenting in the Arab family in Israel: Processes of change and preservation in three generations [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Haifa, Haifa. [In Hebrew].

22.

Jacoby

T. A.

(1999). Feminism, nationalism and difference: Reflections on the Palestinian women’s movement. Women’s Studies International Forum, 22(5), 511–523. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(99)00056-4

23.

Karakurt

Koç

Katta

Jones

Bolen

S. D.

(2022). Treatments for female victims of intimate partner violence: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 793021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.793021

24.

Kimber

Adham

Gill

McTavish

MacMillan

H. L.

(2018). The association between child exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and perpetration of IPV in adulthood—A systematic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 76, 273–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.07.018

25.

Lee

R. M.

(1993). Doing research on sensitive topics. Sage.

26.

Mahamid

Band-Winterstein

(2024). From a humble identity to an identity of respect: Lifetime abuse among arab Israeli older women. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 36(2), 148–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2024.2324324

27.

Malka

Haj‑Yahia

M. M.

Sokar

Hassan‑Abbas

. (2022). Beliefs of social work students in Israel about wife‑beating: Are they influenced by their patriarchal ideology and exposure to violence in their families‑of‑origin? Victims and Offenders, 17(2), 258–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2021.1898507

28.

Martínez

P. R.

Khalil

(2013). Battery and development: Exploring the link between intimate partner violence and modernization. Cross-Cultural Research, 47(3), 231–267. https://doi.org/10.1177/10693971124633

29.

Meler

(2017). The Palestinian family in Israel: Simultaneous trends. Marriage & Family Review, 53(8), 781–810. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2017.1359810

30.

Meler

(2023). Violence against women—The case of divorced Palestinian–Arab women in Israel. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 30(2), 724–748. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxad007

31.

Melville

Hincks

(2016). Conducting sensitive interviews: A review of reflections. Law and Method, 1(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.5553/REM/.000015

32.

Mertens

D. M.

Ginsberg

P. E.

(2008). Deep in ethical waters: Transformative perspectives for qualitative social work research. Qualitative Social Work, 7(4), 484–503. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325008097142

33.

Mohanty

(2002). ‘Under Western eyes’: Revisited: Feminist solidarity through anticapitalistic struggles. Sign: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(2), 449–535. https://doi.org/3175803

34.

Moore

(2020). “My husband has to stop beating me and I shouldn’t go to the police”: Family meetings, patriarchal bargains, and marital violence in the eastern cape province, South Africa. Violence Against Women, 26(6–7), 675–696. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801219840440

35.

Moshtagh

Amiri

Sharafi

Arab-Zozani

(2023). Intimate partner violence in the Middle East region: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(2), 613–631. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211036060

36.

Mrug

Madan

Windle

(2016). Emotional desensitization to violence contributes to adolescents’ violent behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44(1), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-9986-x

37.

Nichols

M. P.

Schwartz

R. C.

(2007). The essentials of family therapy (3rd ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. Allyn and Bacon.

38.

Patton

M. Q.

(2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Sage Publications. 4.

39.

Pietkiewicz

Smith

J. A.

(2014). A practical guide to using interpretative phenomenological analysis in qualitative research psychology. Psychological Journal, 20(1), 7–14. https://doi.org/10.14691/CPPJ.20.1.7

40.

Safadi

R. R.

Daibes

Haidar

W. H.

Al-Nawafleh

Constantino

R. E.

(2018). Assessing intimate partner abuse: Associated factors and health consequences among Jordanian women. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 39(4), 344–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2017.1401187

41.

Shaheen

Ashkar

Alkaiyat

Bacchus

Colombini

Feder

Evans

(2020). Barriers to women’s disclosure of domestic violence in health services in Palestine: Qualitative interview-based study. BMC Public Health, 20(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09907-8

42.

Shakir-Zoevi

(2011). The female experience of rural Muslim Arab women in Israel: Meaning of feminism (Final research submitted for an accredited degree, Faculty of Welfare and Health). University of Haifa. [In Hebrew.].

43.

Singh

El-Bassel

Kaushal

Meinhart

Hartmann

J. K.

Mukherjee

Jaber

Al-Qutob

Dasgupta

(2022). Financial dependence and intimate partner violence (IPV) among married Syrian refugee women living in non-camp settings in Jordan. Journal of Global Health Reports, 6, e2022011. https://doi.org/10.29392/001c.33049

44.

Smith

J. A.

Flowers

Larkin

(2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. Sage Publications.

45.

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. (2024). 2023 country reports on human rights practices: Israel (p. 77). U.S. Department of State. https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/israel/ .

46.

White

S. J.

Sin

Sweeney

Salisbury

Wahlich

Montesinos Guevara

C. M.

Gillard

Brett

Allwright

Iqbal

Khan

(2024). Global prevalence and mental health outcomes of intimate partner violence among women: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 25(1), 494–511. 10.1177/1524838023115552

47.

Widom

C. S.

Wilson

H. W.

(2015). Intergenerational Transmission of Violence. In Lindert

Levav

(Eds.), Violence and Mental Health. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8999-8_2

48.

World Health Organization. (2013). Responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women: WHO clinical and policy guidelines. World Health Organization.

49.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2016). Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Intervention Research on Violence Against Women. WHO. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241510189 .

50.

Zedan

H. F.

Haj-Yahia

M. M.

(2023). The relationship between sociopolitical stress and intimate partner violence among Palestinians in Israel: Examining cognitive appraisals and psychological distress as serial mediators. Psychology of Violence, 14(1), 34–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000487