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Arab Israeli women's renunciation of their inheritance shares: a challenge for Israel's courts*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2012

Haim Sandberg  and
Adam Hofri-Winogradow
Haim Sandberg*
Affiliation:
School of Law, Academic Division of the College of Management, Rishon Le-Tzion, Israel
Adam Hofri-Winogradow*
Affiliation:
Law Faculty, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
*
[email protected]; [email protected]
[email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract

The practice of Arab women voluntarily renouncing their shares in the family inheritance is well known, having been noticed in several Mediterranean and African countries, including Israel and the West Bank. This practice seems grossly inegalitarian, reflecting many Muslim women's social and economic inferiority and their dependent status. Some Islamic feminists argue that the practice contradicts not only the letter of the sharia, which guarantees women shares in the family inheritance, but also fundamental Islamic principles. Conservatives, however, see the practice as cohering with the spirit of Islam (though not with the letter of sharia), as a voluntary choice by many Muslim women to let their brothers or husbands fulfil their traditional role of providing for their sisters or wives. International institutions concerned with enhancing gender equality have taken the latter view seriously enough to refrain from judging the practice negatively. Our article highlights the Israeli civil courts' diverse responses to the practice: some judges criticise it while others choose a policy of non-interference. The article further discusses the practice and Israeli civil courts' responses in the comparative perspective of Jewish women's practice of renouncing their property and other rights on divorce. Some Jewish husbands make such renunciation a condition of their dissolving the marriage. Israeli civil courts often see such renunciation as an effect of extortion and permit women to rescind it once divorced. We thus conclude with a plea to the civil courts to encourage gender equality among the Arab population to the same extent, at least, to which they promote it among Israel's Jews.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 8 , Special Issue 2: Family – An International Affair , June 2012 , pp. 253 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this article was presented in March 2009 at the 4th Conference of the Concord Centre: ‘Family – An International Affair’. It was further presented in April 2009 at an Islamic Law Research Symposium held at the Van-Leer Institute, Jerusalem, and in October 2009 at an International Workshop entitled ‘Islamic Law and the Challenges of the 21st Century’, held at the same institute. We extend our thanks to the participants of those fora. Particular thanks are due to Professor Aharon Layish and Professor Frances Raday for their useful and enlightening comments. The usual caveats apply. All websites cited were last visited on 17 December 2009.

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