Samira: “I have no purpose in life, and the choice isn’t mine.”

“I have no purpose in life, and the choice isn’t mine. I used to care for three daughters—now I’m responsible for no one.” With these painful words, 27-year-old Samira from Hebron described her current life. She now lives with her family after a marital dispute, and is one of many women who have turned to the Palestinian Maintenance Fund seeking their right to financial support. Her suffering began two years ago when her husband started physically abusing her and forcing her out of their home to her family’s house. “He swore that if I ever came back, he’d divorce me—and I never went back,” she says. What escalated the situation was a conflict between her husband and his father, who wanted to sell the family home and move to the Old City—something her husband refused. Caught in the crossfire, Samira and her daughters paid the price. For seven months, Samira was separated from her daughters. Eventually, her husband brought them to stay with her for just two days, then took them away again. Her husband later married another woman, only to divorce her 20 days later. Meanwhile, Samira, who filed a “discord and dispute” claim (شِقاق ونزاع), neither wanted a divorce nor for her husband to be imprisoned. Her husband had married again in an attempt to pressure her to return, while Samira filed her case not out of anger, but out of desperation. Today, she finds herself caught between two impossible choices—neither of which she has the power to make: Her family will only allow her to raise her daughters if she gets divorced (something she does not want). Her husband will only allow her to live with her daughters if she returns to the marital home (something her family strictly forbids). In this legal and emotional deadlock, Samira is left with no voice, no power—and no choice.