Good evening to all of you out there
tuning in to "Direct Talks". 
Talk show host Makbula Nassar
is doing what few women
in Israel's Arab sector do: she
is openly criticizing her own society.
Most of her darts are aimed at
conservative sectors in Muslim communities
whose customs, she claims,
discriminate against women.
Our society is a fertile ground 
for murder of women,
in which a woman can be killed
just because someone claimed
she behaved improperly
or in an immoral manner.
Against these traditions we struggle;
these are the customs we must fight against.
Nassar's current events program
airs twice a week
at the Arab sector's 
most popular radio station. 
Since the Middle East is
always action packed   
most of the on-air discussions
are about regional politics.
But between arguments on the Occupation
and the Arab Spring,
Nassar insists on raising the issue of
gender equality in the Muslim society.
Makbula, on the topic of Syria we must...
Before we talk about Syria
I want to discuss another topic.
I spoke earlier about primitive customs 
that some view as
religious imperatives
and as part of our culture.
Nassar was raised in a traditional Muslim
family and adopted secular life as a teenager.
She's 34 years old and single, a rare sight 
in a society where women usually marry early.
During most of her adult life 
she has been working to promote
equal status for women
in Arab communities.
I think that raising the issue 
of women's rights
is very important for our society,
it contributes greatly to the society.
A society in which half the people
are deprived of equal rights,
in which half the population 
do not create or contribute anything,
is a society that is not strong;
it's makes the society politically weak.
Her program has been on for seven years
and is considered very controversial. 
The founder and manager of Radio-A-Shams
remembers how following a recent show,
in which Nassar raised 
the issue of same-sex relations,
he received angry phone calls 
from listeners and public figures. 
A religious community leader called
to express his anger, saying that
we are encouraging people to be
gay and lesbian by raising the issue
and that is should be a taboo issue.
But we don't have taboos.
Today Nassar is visiting Jiser A-Zarka,
a small town in north Israel,
whose population is very traditional.
She's meeting local social workers to
discuss the influence of bigamy on family life.
The meeting is part of Nassar's voluntary work
at a coalition of human-rights groups,
who promote equal status 
for women in personal issues.
The Working Group for Equality 
in Personal Issues exists since 1995.
It was created to provide solutions
for Arab women who have serious problems
with the religious family laws, for 
example bigamy, teenage marriages,
women's right to inheritance,
women's right to child support,
or the right to win custody of a child.
All these issues are determined
based on religious laws
and as a result many women suffer
and pay a heavy price.
Down the street from the town's 
biggest mosque, Nassar and
the social workers discuss whether bigamy
should be treated as an acceptable custom.
According to the research
Nassar is presenting,
men marrying more than one wife is not rare
amongst Israel's traditional Muslims
and it often leads to problems
within the family.
Bigamy is a very delicate issue in our society
because some people believe
that religious laws permit it.
But actually this interpretation is controversial.
Does religion really permit it?
Or not?
There are several social workers
here who are convinced
- be it their religious belief
or their personal opinion -
that in some case bigamy is legitimate
and serves as a solution to social problems.
I personally do not encourage it (bigamy)
except in special cases.
As a religious woman,
I can accept it when it's done 
based on religious laws.
The meeting extends longer than planned.
The social workers listen to Nassar
but also challenge much of what she is saying.
We are no longer in a traditional society
in which everything is decided
within the family, and 
the man is the authority.
We are no longer there.
The inevitable conflict between traditional values
and liberal ones is felt in the room,
as it is felt in the entire Arab society.
Her ideas are very influential
in the Arab sector, and she
displays an Arab society which is 
free, and willing to accept, to listen.
A society that is coming into
being as a democracy.
Those hoping for a more pluralistic,
open-minded Arab society,
have been - in the past few years -
outweighed by traditional factors.
In Muslim communities in Israel and throughout
the Middle East, religion is on the rise.
Nassar, who is already outcasted
by some in her society, is facing a challenge:
to continue to express herself freely.
