Muslim mob burns Christian buildings to avenge family honor

Published: 2005-09-06

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- More than a dozen homes and businesses were burned in the largely Christian village of Taybeh, West Bank, when a mob from a neighboring Muslim village went on a rampage in the name of "family honor." The mob blamed a Greek Orthodox man for getting a Muslim woman pregnant, said the Taybeh parish priest, Father Raed Abusahlia. The woman had been killed earlier by her brothers for dishonoring the family. Family honor is generally used to describe a situation in which a family's honor is theoretically disgraced when a female member behaves in a way others believe is immodest. Depending on the family, this can range from having a platonic friendship with a male who is not a relative to having sexual relations outside of marriage, either by choice or by force. "We are not in Europe," Father Abusahlia said in a telephone interview. "In Bedouin tradition it is a big deal even if you only touch a girl. We were thankfully able to keep the circle (of violence) from escalating." The 32-year-old woman was employed in a home-based sewing workshop belonging to a Greek Orthodox family and, before she was killed, admitted to having a sexual relationship with the brother of the owner, among others.

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