Twilight Zone / Child bride By Gideon Levy
Ghosheh was born in the Shoafat neighborhood of north Jerusalem 35 years ago. When she was in fifth grade, her family moved to the United States, but was unable to obtain a visa for her. They left her in Shoafat in the care of her older sister, who was already in her thirties. One day, when she came home from school, Ghosheh relates now with businesslike detachment, she encountered a group of people in the house.
"This is the man who is going to be your husband," her sister told her, pointing to a man who was 32. "I was dumbfounded," she recalls. "There was no one to protect me, so I waited for the next day, to tell my teachers - maybe they would protect me."
But three days later her sister came to the school and said they were going to phone her mother in America from the post office. Instead, the girl was whisked to the sharia court, to register her marriage.
"My last chance was to try to protect myself with the help of the judge. I kissed his hand and said I did not want to get married. But the groom's father gave him 60 dinars and the judge certified the marriage." She was 13 years old.
On her wedding night she was taken to the Intercontinental Hotel (now the Seven Arches) on the Mount of Olives. "It was my last opportunity." As her new husband was about to get into bed with her, she relates, she asked him to shower first. While he was in the shower she was going to jump out the window, perhaps to escape, perhaps to kill herself - but her husband caught her and flogged her with his belt. Even now, more than 20 years later, she can't even say his name. She told him she hated him, and the rest of that night is a blank in her memory. "It was rape," she says. "It was as though I had been [treated as] a woman and not a girl."
"This is the man who is going to be your husband," her sister told her, pointing to a man who was 32. "I was dumbfounded," she recalls. "There was no one to protect me, so I waited for the next day, to tell my teachers - maybe they would protect me."
But three days later her sister came to the school and said they were going to phone her mother in America from the post office. Instead, the girl was whisked to the sharia court, to register her marriage.
"My last chance was to try to protect myself with the help of the judge. I kissed his hand and said I did not want to get married. But the groom's father gave him 60 dinars and the judge certified the marriage." She was 13 years old.
On her wedding night she was taken to the Intercontinental Hotel (now the Seven Arches) on the Mount of Olives. "It was my last opportunity." As her new husband was about to get into bed with her, she relates, she asked him to shower first. While he was in the shower she was going to jump out the window, perhaps to escape, perhaps to kill herself - but her husband caught her and flogged her with his belt. Even now, more than 20 years later, she can't even say his name. She told him she hated him, and the rest of that night is a blank in her memory. "It was rape," she says. "It was as though I had been [treated as] a woman and not a girl."
posted by temporal at 11/17/2008
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