The Independent Commission for Human Rights brother controls the mother and the rest of the family’s members, thus creating a situation characterized by the marginalization, persecution and control of women. This study addresses the problem of the law’s view of women’s status with regard to incest and the consideration of incest as a crime consisting of sexual activity with women of close “blood relationship”. It also addresses the law’s embodiment of patriarchal authority limiting the right to file a complaint of incest with a male relative of the woman of up to the fourth degree of blood ties, and granting the man the personal right to drop or forego the lawsuit. In addition, it addresses the problem of the law’s classification of incest as a misdemeanor crime. To shed more light on the problem, a number of questions need to be asked: • To what extent can the provisions of the penal code that is in force ensure security and safety to women within the structure of the family? In particular, to what extent does the relevant legislation take into consideration the social reality and cultural fabric of the Arab society in general and the Palestinian society in particular, where patriarchal domination is embodied across the different levels within these societies? • What kind of penalty is applied to such crimes? • How effective and how much of a deterrent is this penalty? • What is the position within Arab legislation for such a crime and what is their legal classification of the penalty issued against perpetrators of such a crime based on these laws? • To what extent these penalties harmonize with human rights conventions? • What future development mechanisms are suggested to meet the objectives and functions of the law in this regard and to what extent they meet human rights standards? Incest has long been taboo due to beliefs generated by the common human social culture that is based on the family as the smallest social unit and also created the concepts of paternity, maternity and fraternity that influence human thought from an early age. Any breach of such social culture would contradict the long-accepted precepts of society and possibly lead to dysfunction. Incest was criminalized on the grounds that it harms the status of the family and its basic function. It especially has been given attention by divine creeds and man-made laws. The family is considered to be among the first basic elements of society, reflecting cohesion and conserving values and ethics. Hence, it is crucial to direct attention to incest as a crime that causes harm to the family and its values and ethics. Human beings should enjoy the right to security of person at home among his or her relatives. The woman who sleeps at her father’s home should be assured that she needs no protection at that home because it is expected to be the source of her protection. 6