At 13, She Became a Third Wife: Palestinian Girls Trafficked From the West Bank Are Trapped Twice
Young women and girls lured or sold into marriages in Israel to Bedouin men describe physical, sexual and emotional abuse, while authorities have largely ignored the phenomenon
Nothing about Intissar catches your eye. She wears just a little makeup, her veil is arranged nicely and her jewelry is unobtrusive. Her speech is ordinary, too, maybe too ordinary.
She relates her life story in a monotone, as if she were talking about someone she knew only casually. Not a single tear flows. The pain and sadness come across in her words, not her tone.
Calmly, Intissar (not her real name) describes how her father sold her to a man for 1,000 shekels ($330); she was then beaten and raped. The daughters she would have also became the targets of the man's angry outbursts, and her relatives turned their backs on her. For years she felt trapped.
That's how it is when a woman without Israeli citizenship is forced into a marriage with a man she doesn't know. But the feeling of being all alone isn't unique to Intissar, 33. Both victims and experts told Haaretz how this widespread problem has been largely ignored.
Thousands of women are believed to have been brought to Israel from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jordan to be the second wife in a polygamous marriage. Most are from poor families and are often brought in by force. When they reach Israel, they discover that without citizenship, and often without any legal status, they're almost completely dependent on their husbands. This creates fertile ground for control, exploitation and helplessness.
There are cases where women are sold or moved between family members like property while suffering constant sexual assault. Many times, when the marriage isn't framed as a business deal, it has the characteristics of human trafficking, with the woman also facing the constant threat of deportation or separation from her children.
In some cases, the woman masquerades as a caregiver for an older man, or as the manager of the first wife's household. But the husband isn't always eager to help the victim gain legal status, leaving her with a difficult dilemma. The first option is to remain with her husband on his terms, without being able to open a bank account, access public health care or seek legal assistance. The second is to notify the authorities and risk deportation and separation from her children, probably forever.
Intissar is one of a minority who chose the second option, but only after years of abuse, only some of which she could have imagined.
She grew up in a West Bank village in a home where fear was the norm. She says her father was an alcoholic who regularly beat his family. Their finances were so desperate that her disabled sister was forced to beg. Intissar tried to build a different future; she finished high school, worked and started studying accounting.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2026-04-14/ty-article-magazine/.premium/at-13-she-became-a-third-wife-the-trapped-girls-trafficked-from-the-west-bank/0000019d-8231-dc81-abbd-db7f744c0000
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