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Moves for Women's Equality in the PA Stir Backlash
(Ha'aretz) Salman Masalha - Last week, tribal and clan chiefs in the Mount Hebron area of the West Bank held an emergency meeting to protest the Palestinian Authority's ratification of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW). These leaders called on the PA to retract its signature and to ban the activities of all women's organizations. They were furious at the treaty's setting the age of marriage at 18, arguing that this contravenes the laws of Islam. At An-Najah University in Nablus, the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts broke up a campus theater production about the state of women in the Arab world. The dean came on stage and stated that the performance did not conform to societal values and culture.