In a rare moment of self-criticism, the official Palestinian Authority (PA) daily highlighted the Palestinian custom of forced marriages of young Palestinian girls to much older men. The cartoon chosen to accompany the article expressed the horror: a balding groom with a cane off to his wedding with a teary-eyed child bride who has just dropped her teddy bear.

The following are excerpts from the article:

Headline: “Girls in bridal clothes — from the wedding dress to the emergency rooms. Marrying off female minors in Palestine … A childhood stolen under the guise of exceptional cases.”

While R.K. was arranging her books for a school exam, her mother interrupted her with a sentence that changed the course of her life: ‘A groom is coming for you.’ Just months later, R.K. wore a white wedding dress, but she did not know that the white color was liable to conceal a deep pain that would accompany her for a long time. R.K. was forcibly married at the age of 14, after her father’s death. In words dripping with pain, R.K. tells [the official PA daily] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida about some of her tragedy:…

‘My husband was always violent towards me. He is addicted to Tramadol pills. I would run away to my family’s home, but the [clan’s] dignitaries returned me to him every time, following his false promises to stop the violence.’ She believes that the early marriage robbed her of her childhood and prevented her from getting an education. The last time, R.K. was beaten with a sharp object and fled barefoot with her children without any personal belongings. After suffering for two years, she received a divorce without alimony or support!

Despite the publication of [PA] Decision with Legislative Force No. 21 of 2019 to limit the marriage age to 18, the exceptional cases allowed by the law under the pretext of ‘necessity’ and ‘the interests of both parties’ have emptied the law of its content, and left the door open to the phenomenon. The exception due to a need that the judge deems appropriate continues to be an open window for child marriages, through which hundreds of cases pass each year, against the backdrop of a lack of effective supervision and differences in enforcement between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Between 1995-2019, about 200,000 marriages were registered in Palestine, 95% of which were of girls under the age of 18…

In 2019, Decision with Legislative Force No. 21 of 2019 was published… [which] changes the marriage age to 18 for males and females alike. However, paragraph 2 of the same article states: ‘As an exception to what is stated in paragraph 1 of this clause, an authorized court is allowed – in special cases and if the marriage is a necessity required by the interests of both parties – to permit marriage for those who have not yet reached 18 years with the approval of the supreme Shari’ah judge of Palestine or the religious authorities of other groups.’ …

According to initial estimates and statistics from 2020-2021, more than 10,000 cases of marriages below the legal age, 18 years, were registered… Director of the Policy and Legislation Oversight Department at the Independent Commission for Human Rights lawyer Khadija] Zahran… said: ‘The amendment to the law did not reduce the marrying off of female minors, and the monitoring we conduct in cooperation with the women’s organizations indicates that the exceptional cases have become the rule that is relied upon to circumvent the law, instead of being rare cases.’ …

Despite repeated attempts to obtain an official response, the Shari’ah judicial system refrained from providing any response…

As for the reasons that cause some of the families to obtain a legal exception to marry off their daughters before they reach the legal age of 18, Chairwoman of the Women’s Studies Center in Jerusalem Sama Uweida… said: ‘The first reason is the social heritage, which views marrying off the girl early as a means of protecting her from getting entangled in socially unacceptable relationships, thereby preserving the family’s ‘good name.’ Marriages of girls are also perceived as a means to ease the financial burden on the family, especially in low-income families. There are also those who believe that a girl has a better chance of marrying at a young age, because there are men who prefer to marry young girls to ensure a longer period of physical ability and giving.’ …

Ministry of Women’s Affairs Legal Advisor Souna Nassar emphasized that a minimum age of at least 17 should be set for exceptional cases, and exceptions should be prohibited in cases of sexual assault. This is in accordance with the repeal of Article 308 of the Penal Code, which allowed the perpetrator to escape punishment by marrying the victim.

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 6, 2025]

The author is the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.