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LGBT rights in the

State of Palestine
Article Talk

Homosexuality in the Palestinian

territories is considered a taboo
subject; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) people
experience persecution and violence.
There is a significant legal divide
between the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, with the former having more
progressive laws and the latter having
more conservative laws. Shortly after
the Jordanian annexation of the West
Bank in 1950, same-sex acts were
decriminalized across the territory
with the adoption of the Jordanian
Penal Code of 1951. In the Egyptian-
occupied Gaza Strip and under
Hamas's rule, however, no such
initiative was implemented.

LGBT rights in Palestine

Map of the two Palestinian territories,

highlighted in green: the West Bank
(right) and the Gaza Strip (left)

Status Mixed legality:

West Bank –
legal since
1951, equal age
of consent

Gaza Strip – no
consensus on
applicability of
British 1936
Sexual offences
provisions to
homosexual
conduct

Family rights

Recognition of No recognition of
relationships same-sex couples

Legal status and

criminal law

On September 18, 1936, the criminal

code of Mandatory Palestine, British
Mandate Criminal Code, which drew
from Ottoman law or English law,[1]
was enacted. Section 152(1)(b)(c) of
the code states that any person who
"commits an act of sodomy with any
person against his will by the use of
force or threats" or "commits an act
of sodomy with a child under the age
of sixteen years" is liable for
imprisonment up to 14 years, while
Section 152(2)(b) states that anyone
who has "carnal knowledge" of
anyone acting "against the law of
nature" is liable for a prison term up
to 10 years.[2] Palestinian academic
Sa'ed Atshan argued that this criminal
code was an example of British
export of homophobia to the Global
South.[3] The present applicability of
this law is disputed. The Human
Dignity Trust states that the criminal
code is still "in operation" in Gaza
albeit with scarce evidence of its
enforcement,[4] and Human Rights
Watch states that the criminal code is
still "in force" in Gaza.[5] Amnesty
International does not report same-
sex sexual activity as being illegal in
any Palestinian territory but
emphasizes that Palestinian
authorities do not stop, prevent or
investigate homophobic and
transphobic threats and attacks.[6]
The editor-in-chief of the Palestinian
Yearbook of International Law, Anis.
F. Kassim argued that the criminal
code could be "interpreted as
allowing homosexuality."[7]

The decriminalization of
homosexuality in Palestine is a
patchwork. On the one hand, the
British Mandate Criminal Code was in
force in Jordan until 1951, with the
Jordanian Penal Code having "no
prohibition on sexual acts between
persons of the same sex," which
applied to the West Bank,[5] while
Israel stopped using the code in 1977.
[8]
On the other, the Palestinian
Authority has not legislated either for
or against homosexuality.
Legalistically, the confused legal
legacy of foreign occupation –
Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Egyptian
and Israeli – continues to determine
the erratic application or non-
application of the criminal law to
same-sex activity and gender
variance in each of the territories.[9] A
correction issued by the Associated
Press in August 2015 stated that
homosexuality is not banned by law in
the Gaza Strip or West Bank, but is
"largely taboo," and added "there are
no laws specifically banning
homosexual acts."[10]

In 2018, Human Rights Watch noted

that laws in the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip include a combination of
unified laws passed by the Palestinian
Legislative Council and ratified by the
President of Palestine, and stated
that laws from the former British
Mandate, Egypt, and Jordan still
apply when unified laws have not
been issued. However, HRW added
that Hamas has issued separate
decrees and has not applied
presidential decrees by the President
of Palestine.[11] Also, the organization
reported that articles 258 and 263 of
the draft penal code, in 2003, for
Palestine, contained "provisions that
criminalize adult consensual same
sex conduct". However, it is not
known whether this code, which
prohibited sexual intercourse with
women who are over 18 in an "illicit
manner" with imprisonment, a prison
term of up to five years if they are
related to the said woman or up to
ten years for those who engage in
rape, and up to five years in prison for
a male who "commits the act of
sodomy with another male", was
implemented.[12][11] There have also
been attempts by the Gazan
legislative body, following Hamas's
takeover of Gaza, to "amend or
replace the British Mandatory Penal
Code" with a proposed change in
2013, including "flogging for
adultery" but it did not pass the
legislature.[13]

Civil rights and

government action

In the State of Palestine, there is no

specific, stand-alone civil rights
legislation that protects LGBT people
from discrimination or harassment. It
has been reported that the hostilities
homosexual Palestinians face has led
to many seeking refuge in other
countries, such as Israel.[14] However,
the complex legal status of the
Palestinian territories results in almost
no assistance from most countries.
Some have reported that while
hundreds of homosexual Palestinians
have fled to Israel, they have been
subject to house arrest, or
deportation, by Israeli authorities.[15]
However, in June 2022, Israel began
issuing work permits for gay
Palestinian refugees, who had been
granted asylum, and those "fleeing
domestic violence."[16] Prior to the
rule change, the Israeli government
resisted changing the terms for
issuing permits, fearing it would
"encourage more Palestinians to flee
to Israel and seek asylum."[17] The
Israeli LGBT organization The Aguda
stated, in 2013, that around 2,000
Palestinian homosexuals live in Tel
Aviv "at any one time." There have
also been reports that Palestinian
Authority police kept files on gay
Palestinians and that Israeli
intelligence blackmailed gay
Palestinians into becoming
informants.[18][19]

In February 2016, it was reported that

one of the leading commanders of
the armed wing of Palestinian militant
group Hamas, Mahmoud Ishtiwi, was
executed under the charges that he
engaged in homosexual activity and
theft.[20][21] Scholar Timea Spitka
stated that in Gaza, coming out is a
"death sentence" because police
don't act against queerphobic
violence, domestic violence isn't
pursued, and civil society
organizations, which protect women
and children, are reported to be
"vulnerable to attack." Spika added,
in a related article, that this
vulnerability has "been exploited by
Israel," noting a connection between
the Israeli occupation, lack of security
and protection for women and non-
heterosexual people, and lack of rule
of law.[22][23] In 2019, Haaretz
interviewed four gay men and one
gay woman living in Gaza, who
recounted their experiences: one man
recounted his rough treatment by
Hamas members, while others said
they feared being arrested, outed,
then forced into heterosexual
marriage by their families. All four
said that social media was a "game
changer" in meeting other LGBTQ
individuals, but some feared
catfishing by undercover Hamas or
Israeli intelligence agents.[24]

In August 2019, the Palestinian

Authority announced that LGBT
groups were forbidden to meet in the
West Bank on the grounds that they
are "harmful to the higher values and
ideals of Palestinian society". This
was in response to a planned
conference in Nablus by Al-Qaws, a
Palestinian LGBT group.[25][26][27]
Following backlash, the ban was later
withdrawn.[28]

In October 2022, Palestinian police

arrested a suspect who beheaded a
25-year-old male Palestinian, Ahmad
Abu Murkhiyeh, who was seeking
asylum in Israel "because he was
gay." At the time it was reported that
90 Palestinians who identified with
the LGBT community lived "as asylum
seekers in Israel."[29][30]

Over three months before, the Israeli

government told the Israeli High
Court that LGBT Palestinians from the
West Bank who were "fleeing
persecution" could work in Israel but
that their presence was only
temporary "in order to find a
permanent solution in the [West
Bank] or in another country."[16] A
month after the murder, the Times of
Israel noted that gay Palestinians who
leave the West Bank, with public
opinion polls indicating low tolerance
for homosexuality, and arrive in Israel
are faced with "an existence filled
with dizzying uncertainties and life-
threatening hazards." The article
went on to say that such Palestinians
have various escape routes to Israel,
but that making them eligible for
permanent residency includes
"working with Israeli security forces"
although those forces have been
accused of blackmailing Palestinians
into becoming informants for Israeli
intelligence services; only "select few
who have passed on invaluable
knowledge" are granted this kind of
permit, which requires the sign-off of
the prime minister.[31]

Activism

Summary table

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Last edited 6 days ago by Do…

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