http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60536-3/fulltext


Although Cari Jo Clark and colleagues1 show a statistical association between increased intimate-partner violence and exposure to collective violence in the West Bank and Gaza, other conclusions are contradicted by their results.

Clark and colleagues assessed exposure to violence during 2005 among Palestinian Arabs in the Israeli-administered territories. There was no quantification of the severity, duration, or recurrence of alleged exposures. Positive determination of husbands' exposure required only one incident of being insulted, cursed, detained, hit, wounded, or made a fugitive at any time during the year.

Despite Clark and colleagues' observation that “humiliation… takes place frequently” in the disputed territories, just 8% of husbands had exposure to violence by their criteria. 20% of families, which included any one of the children, or the husband or wife's siblings or parents, had someone exposed to violence, most commonly a house break-in.

Men prone to domestic abuse might be more likely to have negative interactions with soldiers or other Israelis. But, despite more than 40 years of Israeli administration, the incidence of husbands alleged as recipients of Israeli-inflicted violence or indignities was far less than children's reported exposure to violence in urban neighbourhoods.2

The incidence of sexual intimate-partner violence was only 13% and physical intimate-partner violence 10% among the wives of husbands who experienced defined violence-a statistically higher figure than for men not exposed to such violence, but also a small minority.

These results show that Israel's administration is far more benign than concluded by Clark and colleagues and that Palestinian society is coping remarkably well with external and internal violence-cause for optimism that a peaceful solution may yet be found.

I declare that I have no conflicts of interest.