Back in 2002, Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi brought to light one of the paradoxes of the current chapter in the Israel/Palestine conflict: that gay Palestinians are often forced to flee to Israel. Facing imprisonment, torture, or death from Palestinian forces, they cross into Israel, usually illegally, and then given that they are illegally there, forced to subsist on the margins, and often as prostitutes. It's effectively choosing a bad existence over a worse one...or no existence at all.
International human rights monitors have all but ignored gay Palestinians’ plight. The U.S. State Department’s recently released human rights report for 2001, for instance, blandly notes, "In the Palestinian territories homosexuals generally are socially marginalized, and occasionally receive physical threats." As [Shaul] Ganon [of the Tel Aviv-based Agudah-Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender in Israe] explains it, "The Palestinian human rights groups are afraid to deal with the problem. One Palestinian activist told me that Israelis need to raise the issue because they’ll be shut down if they try to. Amnesty Israel is sympathetic but their mandate is limited to Israeli human rights violations. And the international human rights groups say they’ve got a long list of pressing issues. When Israeli police harass Arab Israeli homosexuals, I send out reports, and then—-oh, you should see how quickly the human rights organizations get in touch with me to investigate. The hypocrisy is unbelievable."
Because the world hasn’t forced the P.A. to tolerate gays, Palestinian homosexuals are increasingly seeking refuge in the only regional territory that does: Israel. In the last few years hundreds of gay Palestinians, mostly from the West Bank, have slipped into Israel. Most live illegally in Tel Aviv, the center of Israel’s gay community; many are desperately poor and work as prostitutes. But at least they’re beyond the reach of their families and the P.A.
(Halevi/TNR -- Please note that the link goes to a resource on sodomy laws, which may or may not be safe for your workplace)
Despite being free from the potential of harm from relatives, Hamas, or the PA, it's not like life in Israel is a picnic for these refugees. Again, Halevi:
On a recent humid Tel Aviv night, in an area of shabby cafes for foreign workers and neon-lit sex shops, a half-dozen Palestinian teenage boys with gelled hair and sleeveless shirts sit on a railing, waiting for pickups. Ganon is here, as he is most nights, checking on "my children." "Does anyone need condoms?" he asks. "How about clothes? Who hasn’t eaten today, sweethearts?"
[...]
The teenage prostitutes, refugees from the West Bank, live in an abandoned building. They tell me that sometimes a client will offer them a meal and a shower instead of payment; sometimes a client will simply refuse to pay in any form, taunting them to complain to police. And sometimes police will beat them before releasing them back to the streets.
While this piece is several years old, the story has repeated itself in recent years:
Israel has granted a Palestinian a rare residency permit after the man, who is gay, said his sexuality put his life in danger in the West Bank, a Defense Ministry official said Tuesday.
The 33-year-old Palestinian from Jenin was issued a temporary permit to live with his Israeli partner in Tel Aviv after arguing he faced death threats from fellow Palestinians who disapproved of him being gay, the official said.
Israel's Interior Ministry rarely issues permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who want to live with their partners in Israel, regardless of sexuality. Requesting such a permit can take years.
(Ha'aretz)
So, in a region where conflict, terrorism, death, occupation are all facets of daily life, why should we care about this issue in general? Well, the Ha'aretz piece highlights how difficult the process is. When someone faces the possibility of death and/or torture for their sexual orientation, a process whereby "such a permit can take years," can translate into a death sentence. Indeed, the Israel High Court of Justice issued an order just last week to evaluate a very similar claim for a gay Palestinian, this time from Nablus.
The Palestinian, in his 20s, maintains that his life is threatened because of his sexual orientation and because he has been marked by Palestinians as having cooperated with Israel.
A native of Nablus, he fled his home at 12 and came to Israel as a result of violence and abuse at the hands of his father. At one point he worked as a male prostitute in Tel Aviv's Gan Hahashmal. Six months after living in Israel, he returned to his family in Nablus.
In the PA he was arrested by Palestinian intelligence who suspected him of collaborating with Israeli security forces. He says that he was jailed, tortured and abused until he was forced to admit such collaboration.
(Ha'aretz)
Israel has a checkered history on gay rights. While more liberal on these rights than her neighbors (see: Israel, Arab states at odds over first UN gay rights declaration), the religious communities in Israel are strong, and the most observant citizens tend to be the least tolerant on issues of gay/straight equality. Additionally, Arabs in Israel tend to suffer from significant discrimination, something that is only intensified when someone is both Arab and gay.
A ruling in favor of most recent applicant from Nablus, as well as a more liberal policy toward gay Palestinians could be part and parcel of liberalizing general Israeli attitudes toward Palestinians. If each side can begin to see each other in more human terms, there could be a groundswell for peace.