Legal issues of personal status - including those implicating women's rights - continue to be a focal area of shari'a judicial practice in the Muslim world. Changing ideas of marriage, relations between the spouses, divorce, and the rights of divorcees and widows challenge the courts around the Arab world. In this context, the areas that came under the Palestinian Authority in 1994 command particular attention: the particular political and socio-economic circumstances that surround Palestine's progress toward full statehood have created a remarkable crucible for the synthesis of a new family...