"It Was the Saddest Eid – My Children Left Their Father’s House with Broken Spirits"

“My life with my husband was miserable from the start, but I tried to give it a chance. Things never got better. It wasn’t him, really—it was his mother. She constantly interfered, and eventually, she started hitting me... I endured it all. But when he started neglecting our children—no food, no medical care—and even asked my brother to provide for our household’s basic needs, I had no choice but to leave.” This is just a glimpse into the suffering of Nawal, a 36-year-old woman from Hebron. She now lives in her married brother’s crowded home, a father of four, having escaped years of abuse, humiliation, and hunger. Her only refuge was her family’s home. “Eid is supposed to be a time of joy, especially for children. But that year, it wasn’t for us. It was the day I left my husband’s house. I had left my family home as a bride, and I returned with three children—and one unborn.” “It was the saddest Eid. My children left their father’s home with broken spirits,” Nawal says. Now, after more than two years, her children no longer recognize their paternal family—they identify only with their mother’s side. Some even believe their uncle is their father. This deeply worries Nawal, who says she is not against returning to her husband—but never to his family’s home. “A woman belongs in her own home, with her husband,” she says. When asked why she filed for maintenance, she responds: “To take what’s rightfully mine and my children’s—to make him realize that children are not toys, and neither is his wife. I am the daughter of a dignified family.” Although she is grateful for her family’s support, Nawal emphasizes the hardship of living in a shared household: “Everything is shared—space, meals, decisions about how and when to feed my kids—I am not the queen of this home. I wait for the day this burden is lifted and I return to my own house. What worries me most is what future awaits my daughters if they continue growing up in a household with their cousins as siblings.”