Islamization of the Gaza Strip
Encyclopedia
Islamization of the Gaza Strip refers to the efforts to impose Islamic laws and traditions
in the Gaza Strip
. The influence of Islamic groups in the Gaza Strip has grown since the 1980s. The efforts to impose Islamic law and traditions continued when Hamas
forcefully seized control of the area in June 2007 and displaced security forces loyal to the secular President Mahmoud Abbas
. After the civil war
ended, Hamas declared the “end of secularism and heresy in the Gaza Strip.” For the first time since the Sudanese coup of 1989 that brought Omar al-Bashir
to power, a Muslim Brotherhood
group ruled a significant geographic territory. Gaza human rights groups accuse Hamas of restricting many freedoms in the course of these attempts.
Ismael Haniyeh officially denied accusations that Hamas intended to establish an Islamic emirate. However, Jonathan Schanzer writes that in the two years since the 2007 coup, the Gaza Strip has exhibited the characteristics of Talibanization
, a process whereby the Hamas government has imposed strict rules on women, discouraged activities commonly associated with Western or Christian culture, oppressed non-Muslim minorities, imposed sharia
law, and deployed religious police to enforce these laws.
According to a Human Rights Watch
researcher, the Hamas-controlled government of Gaza stepped up its efforts to "Islamize" Gaza in 2010, efforts that included the "repression" of civil society and "severe violations of personal freedom." Israeli journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh
, wrote in 2009 that "Hamas is gradually turning the Gaza Strip into a Taliban-style Islamic entity". According to Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza's al-Azhar University
, "Ruling by itself, Hamas can stamp its ideas on everyone (...) Islamizing society has always been part of Hamas strategy."
has been reported in Gaza where Mujama' al-Islami, the predecessor of Hamas
, reportedly used a mixture of consent and coercion to "'restore' hijab" on urban educated women in Gaza in the late 1970s and 1980s. Similar behavior was displayed by Hamas during the first intifada. Hamas campaigned for the wearing of the hijab alongside other measures, including insisting women stay at home, segregation from men and the promotion of polygamy. In the course of this campaign, women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed, with the result that the hijab was being worn 'just to avoid problems on the streets'.
Following the takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Hamas attempted to implement Islamic law in the Gaza Strip, mainly at schools, institutions and courts by imposing the Islamic dress or hijab
on women.
Some of the Islamization efforts met resistance. When Palestinian Supreme Court Justice Abdel Raouf Al-Halabi ordered women lawyers to wear headscarves and caftans in court, attorneys contacted satellite television stations including Al Arabiya
to protest, causing Hamas’s Justice Ministry to cancel the directive.
In 2007, Islamic group Swords of Truth
threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they didn't wear strict Islamic dress. "We will cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed to protect the spirit and moral of this nation," their statement said. The group also accused the women broadcasters of being "without any ... shame or morals." Personal threats against female broadcasters were also sent to the women's mobile phones, though it was not clear if these threats were from the same group. Gazan anchorwomen interviewed by the Associated Press said that they were frightened by the Swords of Truth's statement.
The Hamas-led government briefly implemented, then revoked, a ban on women smoking
in public. In 2010, Hamas banned the smoking of hookah
by women in public, stating that it was to reduce the increasing number of divorces.
In March 2010, Hamas tried to impose a ban on women receiving salon treatment from male hairdresser
s, issuing orders by Interior Minister Fathi Hammad and threatening offenders with arrest and trial. The group backed down after an outcry. In February 2011, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Hamas attempted to renew the ban, interrogating the five male hairdressers in Gaza City and forcing them to sign declarations that they wouldn't work in women's salons. According to one of the hairdressers, police called the five into a room where an unrelated detainee was chained to a wall by his wrists, and told to sign a pledge to give up their profession or face arrest and a 20,000 shekel fine. The man initially refused, but signed after his captors threatened "to take you to the cells because what you do is against Sharia
[Islamic law]". During Hamas's reign over the strip, several beauty parlors and hair salons have been the target of explosions and other attacks, which Hamas has blamed on opposition groups. Male hairdressers for women in the conservative territory are rare.
, a female Palestinian journalist, stated that Hamas policemen attempted to arrest her under the pretext that she came to a Gaza beach dressed immodestly and was seen laughing in public. "They accused me of laughing loudly while swimming with my friend and failing to wear a hijab," Ghul told a human rights organization in the Gaza Strip. "They also wanted to know the identity of the people who were with me at the beach and whether they were relatives of mine." Al-Ghul added that the officers confiscated her passport, and that she had received death threats from anonymous callers following the incident. Regarding the incident, Hamas security commanders initially said that al-Ghul and her friends were stopped because they were having a mixed party at the beach. Later, one of the commanders said that al-Ghul was stopped for not wearing a hijab
while swimming. Another commander said that the offense was smoking nargilas and partying in a public place. Islam Shahwan, the Hamas police spokesman, denied the detention of al-Ghul.
, and continuing into mid-2007, dozens of Internet cafes and music shops in Gaza were attacked by unknown assailants who detonated small bombs outside businesses at night. Ramzi Shaheen, the Gaza police spokesman told Ha'aretz in 2007, that the method of operation was always the same but that they had no hard proof as to who was behind the attacks and had yet to make arrests. Ramzi Abu Hilao, a pool hall owner whose establishment was blown up said he had received no prior warning but that, "I received a written message after the bombing from a group called 'The Swords of Truth' that began with a verse from the Koran and said they wanted to correct the bad behavior in Palestinian society." Police said that no credible claims of responsibility had been made for the attacks, dismissing a statement that appeared on a news Web site in December from an unknown group with alleged links to Al-Qaida. Ha'aretz noted that, "There has been no conclusive proof that Al-Qaida has established a Gaza branch. Observers believe the vice squad is most likely homegrown."
In 2007, the Gaza Strip's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
, which at the time claimed to be independent of the Hamas government, beat up a local singer in Gaza after he gave a concert in Khan Younis, according to the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi
.
The Islamist group Swords of Truth
claimed responsibility for bombing Internet cafes, music shops and pool halls, which they considered places of vice. The assailants used to detonate small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries. Hamas spokesman Ismail Ridwan denied any connection with the group.
In April 2010, Hamas sent police to break up the Gaza Strip's first major hip-hop concert, which it viewed as immoral conduct. It said organizers failed to get a permit.
", which is a collection of 45 Palestinian folk tales, because of some supposedly lewd content, caused an outcry. The Palestinian novelist Zakariya Mohammed warned that Hamas' decision to ban the book was "only the beginning" and he urged intellectuals to take action. He said: "If we don't stand up to the Islamists now, they won't stop confiscating books, songs and folklore".
In a separate incident in June 2010, a group of about two dozen armed and masked men attacked a UNRWA summer camp in Gaza. The assailants tied up an unarmed guard, then tried to set fire to two tents and a perimeter fence. They also used knives, slashing a plastic swimming pool, blow-up slide and toys. John Ging called it a "cowardly and despicable" attack. Hamas condemned the attack and said it was investigating.
, one of the Gaza Strip's most popular entertainment sites, was closed down by Hamas for allowing mixed bathing
. Two weeks later, the site was set on fire by a group of unknown gunmen. The Hamas government issued a strong condemnation and promised to pursue the perpetrators.
Hamas officials denied having plans to impose Islamic law, saying “We want Islamic law to be the standard, but we believe in persuasion.”. Moussa Abu Marzuq, of Hamas' political bureau, denied that the Hamas government was planning to turn the Gaza Strip into an Islamic emirate.
Although it is not clear which Islamist group was behind the action, Islamist militants who objected to mixed-gender socializing destroyed Gaza's water park
.
and the Faisal Equestrian Club
where men and women were mingling socially.
In 2007, security officials associated with Fatah
stated that Palestinian male youth in the Gaza Strip were being targeted by Islamist gunmen for wearing hair gel
, and that at least one young man was seriously injured by the militants. According to the officials, the "militants told the youths that hair gel is imitating the West and is the beginning of corruption. It doesn't go with Islamic education, it goes against Islamic tradition and behavior." Fatah and Hamas are bitter rivals.
In 2008, Hamas instructed the main Palestinian telecoms company, Paltel
to block access to pornographic internet sites. "Palestinian society suffers because of such immoral sites. We have therefore taken the decision to protect morality, and this remains our policy," said Hamas telecommunications minister Yussef al-Mansi.
Men are banned from swimming topless.
(see below).
The Islamization of Gaza has put increasing pressure on the tiny Christian minority. Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, a rival group to Hamas, announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza. "I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza." Sheik Saqer has asserted that there is "no need" for Christians in Gaza to maintain Christian institutions and demanded that Hamas "must work to impose an Islamic rule or it will lose the authority it has and the will of the people."
In October 2007, Rami Khader Ayyad, the owner of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was abducted, beaten and murdered, after his bookstore was firebombed by an unidentified group attacking targets associated with Western influence. According to Ayyad's family and neighbors, he had regularly received anonymous death threats from people angered by his missionary work. Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas in Gaza, condemned Ayyad's killing and said Hamas "would not allow anyone to sabotage Muslim-Christian relations." Hamas officials made visits to Christian community, and its spokesman promised to bring those responsible to justice. No group claimed responsibility for the murder.
Ayyad's funeral was attended by 300 Muslims and Christians. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
stated "This ugly act has no support by any religious group here."
researcher Dr. Khaled Al-Hroub has criticized what he called the "Taliban-like steps" Hamas has taken. He wrote, "The Islamization that has been forced upon the Gaza Strip – the suppression of social, cultural, and press freedoms that do not suit Hamas's view[s] – is an egregious deed that must be opposed. It is the reenactment, under a religious guise, of the experience of [other] totalitarian regimes and dictatorships."
According to Francesca Giovannini of the University of California Berkeley, a growing number of analysts have denounced openly the "systematic, massive and explicit efforts" at Talibanization led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh
wrote in 2009 that Hamas is gradually turning the Gaza Strip into a Taliban-style Islamic entity.
In the same year, Martin Peretz
, editor-in-chief of The New Republic
, wrote that
Director general of the Palestinian interior ministry, Samir Mashharawi, said to the London daily Al-Hayat: "Hamas aims to establish a mini-state in the Gaza Strip modeled on the Taliban [state] in Afghanistan.". According to Jonathan Fighel, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT), the ideological and strategic goal of Hamas is to destroy Israel in order to build on it a Sharia Islamic Taliban-style state.
In 2008, Following the bitter Fatah–Hamas conflict
, Mahmoud Abbas
, President of the Palestinian National Authority
, warned the Palestinian people against Hamas: "Hamas have brought Hizballah and Iran... This is a struggle against the Emirate of Darkness and Backwardness. Gaza will turn into a Taliban-style Islamic emirate with Iranian and Syrian support."
Al-Ayyam columnist, Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar, called Hamas "the new Taliban" and wrote: "How will the mini-state of the new Taliban [i.e. Hamas] manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip under a suffocating international siege?... Will they implement the laws of Islam?... An Islamic state [ruled by] the new Taliban has become a reality in Gaza."
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. The influence of Islamic groups in the Gaza Strip has grown since the 1980s. The efforts to impose Islamic law and traditions continued when Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
forcefully seized control of the area in June 2007 and displaced security forces loyal to the secular President Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
. After the civil war
Battle of Gaza (2007)
The Battle of Gaza was a military conflict between Hamas and Fatah that took place between June 7 and 15, 2007 in the Gaza Strip. After winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, Hamas and Fatah formed the Palestinan authority national unity government in 2007, headed by Ismail Haniya. In...
ended, Hamas declared the “end of secularism and heresy in the Gaza Strip.” For the first time since the Sudanese coup of 1989 that brought Omar al-Bashir
Omar al-Bashir
Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister...
to power, a Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
group ruled a significant geographic territory. Gaza human rights groups accuse Hamas of restricting many freedoms in the course of these attempts.
Ismael Haniyeh officially denied accusations that Hamas intended to establish an Islamic emirate. However, Jonathan Schanzer writes that in the two years since the 2007 coup, the Gaza Strip has exhibited the characteristics of Talibanization
Talibanization
Talibanization is a term coined following the rise of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan referring to the process where other religious groups or movements come to follow or imitate the strict practices of the Taliban....
, a process whereby the Hamas government has imposed strict rules on women, discouraged activities commonly associated with Western or Christian culture, oppressed non-Muslim minorities, imposed sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law, and deployed religious police to enforce these laws.
According to a Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
researcher, the Hamas-controlled government of Gaza stepped up its efforts to "Islamize" Gaza in 2010, efforts that included the "repression" of civil society and "severe violations of personal freedom." Israeli journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh is a Israeli Arab journalist and documentary filmmaker. Abu Toameh is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report, and has been the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988...
, wrote in 2009 that "Hamas is gradually turning the Gaza Strip into a Taliban-style Islamic entity". According to Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza's al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
, "Ruling by itself, Hamas can stamp its ideas on everyone (...) Islamizing society has always been part of Hamas strategy."
Dress code
Successful informal coercion of women by sectors of society to wear Islamic dress or HijabHijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
has been reported in Gaza where Mujama' al-Islami, the predecessor of Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, reportedly used a mixture of consent and coercion to "'restore' hijab" on urban educated women in Gaza in the late 1970s and 1980s. Similar behavior was displayed by Hamas during the first intifada. Hamas campaigned for the wearing of the hijab alongside other measures, including insisting women stay at home, segregation from men and the promotion of polygamy. In the course of this campaign, women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed, with the result that the hijab was being worn 'just to avoid problems on the streets'.
Following the takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Hamas attempted to implement Islamic law in the Gaza Strip, mainly at schools, institutions and courts by imposing the Islamic dress or hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
on women.
Some of the Islamization efforts met resistance. When Palestinian Supreme Court Justice Abdel Raouf Al-Halabi ordered women lawyers to wear headscarves and caftans in court, attorneys contacted satellite television stations including Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya is a Pan-Arabist Saudi-owned Arabic-language television news channel. Launched on March 3, 2003, the channel is based in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates, and is majority-owned by the Saudi broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Center ....
to protest, causing Hamas’s Justice Ministry to cancel the directive.
In 2007, Islamic group Swords of Truth
Swords of Truth
The Swords of Truth is a Palestinian Islamist group based in the Gaza Strip.In 2007 the group threatened to behead female TV broadcasters who don't wear strict Islamic dress...
threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they didn't wear strict Islamic dress. "We will cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed to protect the spirit and moral of this nation," their statement said. The group also accused the women broadcasters of being "without any ... shame or morals." Personal threats against female broadcasters were also sent to the women's mobile phones, though it was not clear if these threats were from the same group. Gazan anchorwomen interviewed by the Associated Press said that they were frightened by the Swords of Truth's statement.
Other restrictions
In 2009, Hamas banned girls from riding behind men on motor scooters and forbade women from dancing.The Hamas-led government briefly implemented, then revoked, a ban on women smoking
Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...
in public. In 2010, Hamas banned the smoking of hookah
Hookah
A hookah A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (Devanagari, (Nastaleeq) huqqah) also known as a waterpipe or narghile, is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) instrument for smoking in which the smoke is cooled by water. The tobacco smoked is referred to...
by women in public, stating that it was to reduce the increasing number of divorces.
In March 2010, Hamas tried to impose a ban on women receiving salon treatment from male hairdresser
Hairdresser
Hairdresser is a term referring to anyone whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques...
s, issuing orders by Interior Minister Fathi Hammad and threatening offenders with arrest and trial. The group backed down after an outcry. In February 2011, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Hamas attempted to renew the ban, interrogating the five male hairdressers in Gaza City and forcing them to sign declarations that they wouldn't work in women's salons. According to one of the hairdressers, police called the five into a room where an unrelated detainee was chained to a wall by his wrists, and told to sign a pledge to give up their profession or face arrest and a 20,000 shekel fine. The man initially refused, but signed after his captors threatened "to take you to the cells because what you do is against Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
[Islamic law]". During Hamas's reign over the strip, several beauty parlors and hair salons have been the target of explosions and other attacks, which Hamas has blamed on opposition groups. Male hairdressers for women in the conservative territory are rare.
Detention of Asma al-Ghul
In 2009, Asma al-GhulAsma al-Ghul
Asma al-Ghul is a young secular Palestinian feminist journalist who writes for the Ramallah-based newspaper Al-Ayyam, chronicling what she calls “the corruption of Fatah and the terrorism of Hamas.” Al-Ayyam is sometimes banned in Gaza by Hamas...
, a female Palestinian journalist, stated that Hamas policemen attempted to arrest her under the pretext that she came to a Gaza beach dressed immodestly and was seen laughing in public. "They accused me of laughing loudly while swimming with my friend and failing to wear a hijab," Ghul told a human rights organization in the Gaza Strip. "They also wanted to know the identity of the people who were with me at the beach and whether they were relatives of mine." Al-Ghul added that the officers confiscated her passport, and that she had received death threats from anonymous callers following the incident. Regarding the incident, Hamas security commanders initially said that al-Ghul and her friends were stopped because they were having a mixed party at the beach. Later, one of the commanders said that al-Ghul was stopped for not wearing a hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
while swimming. Another commander said that the offense was smoking nargilas and partying in a public place. Islam Shahwan, the Hamas police spokesman, denied the detention of al-Ghul.
Music and Internet
Beginning in October 2006, during the Fatah-Hamas conflictFatah-Hamas conflict
The Fatah–Hamas conflict , also referred to as the Palestinian Civil War , and the Conflict of Brothers , i.e...
, and continuing into mid-2007, dozens of Internet cafes and music shops in Gaza were attacked by unknown assailants who detonated small bombs outside businesses at night. Ramzi Shaheen, the Gaza police spokesman told Ha'aretz in 2007, that the method of operation was always the same but that they had no hard proof as to who was behind the attacks and had yet to make arrests. Ramzi Abu Hilao, a pool hall owner whose establishment was blown up said he had received no prior warning but that, "I received a written message after the bombing from a group called 'The Swords of Truth' that began with a verse from the Koran and said they wanted to correct the bad behavior in Palestinian society." Police said that no credible claims of responsibility had been made for the attacks, dismissing a statement that appeared on a news Web site in December from an unknown group with alleged links to Al-Qaida. Ha'aretz noted that, "There has been no conclusive proof that Al-Qaida has established a Gaza branch. Observers believe the vice squad is most likely homegrown."
In 2007, the Gaza Strip's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Gaza Strip)
The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is a group in the Gaza Strip responsible for enforcing Muslim codes of behavior. According to journalist Khaled Abu Toameh and Middle East researcher Dr...
, which at the time claimed to be independent of the Hamas government, beat up a local singer in Gaza after he gave a concert in Khan Younis, according to the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi
Al-Quds Al-Arabi
Al-Quds Al-Arabi , is an independent pan-Arab daily newspaper published in London since 1989. The paper is owned by Palestinian expatriates, and edited by Abd al-Bari Atwan who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza Strip in 1950. Its motto is . Its circulation is estimated to be...
.
The Islamist group Swords of Truth
Swords of Truth
The Swords of Truth is a Palestinian Islamist group based in the Gaza Strip.In 2007 the group threatened to behead female TV broadcasters who don't wear strict Islamic dress...
claimed responsibility for bombing Internet cafes, music shops and pool halls, which they considered places of vice. The assailants used to detonate small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries. Hamas spokesman Ismail Ridwan denied any connection with the group.
In April 2010, Hamas sent police to break up the Gaza Strip's first major hip-hop concert, which it viewed as immoral conduct. It said organizers failed to get a permit.
Books
There is widespread banning of books in the Gaza Strip. In 2007, the banning of a book of Palestinian folk-tales, "Speak, Bird, Speak AgainSpeak, Bird, Speak Again
Speak, Bird, Speak Again: A book of Palestinian folk tales is a book first published in English in 1989 by Palestinian authors Ibrahim Muhawi and professor of sociology and anthropology at Bir Zeit University Sharif Kanaana....
", which is a collection of 45 Palestinian folk tales, because of some supposedly lewd content, caused an outcry. The Palestinian novelist Zakariya Mohammed warned that Hamas' decision to ban the book was "only the beginning" and he urged intellectuals to take action. He said: "If we don't stand up to the Islamists now, they won't stop confiscating books, songs and folklore".
Children's summer camps
In May 2010, a previously unknown militant group calling itself "The Free of the Homeland" issued a statement criticizing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), for running camps in the Gaza Strip "teaching schoolgirls fitness, dancing and immorality". Two days later, about 20 men armed with assault rifles attacked a UNRWA-run summer camp. The assailants tore up large plastic tents and burned storage facilities at the site, according to an eyewitness. John Ging, UNRWA's director of operations in Gaza, called the incident "an attack on the happiness of children". A Hamas spokeman condemned the attack and pledged authorities "will track down the perpetrators".In a separate incident in June 2010, a group of about two dozen armed and masked men attacked a UNRWA summer camp in Gaza. The assailants tied up an unarmed guard, then tried to set fire to two tents and a perimeter fence. They also used knives, slashing a plastic swimming pool, blow-up slide and toys. John Ging called it a "cowardly and despicable" attack. Hamas condemned the attack and said it was investigating.
Water park
In 2010, Human rights activists said that Hamas stepped up its efforts to impose strict Islamic teachings in the Gaza Strip. Crazy Water ParkCrazy Water Park
The Crazy Water Aqua Fun Park was a water park in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian territories, that served the territory's small wealthy class. The park opened in May 2010 and was burned down by masked men in September 2010, after being closed by the Palestinian Hamas de facto government for allowing...
, one of the Gaza Strip's most popular entertainment sites, was closed down by Hamas for allowing mixed bathing
Mixed bathing
Mixed bathing is a term that refers to members of the opposite gender swimming together in the same pool. In ancient Rome, mixed bathing was never the rule in public installations, although it did occur in private facilities. Today, in Japan, the practice is not common...
. Two weeks later, the site was set on fire by a group of unknown gunmen. The Hamas government issued a strong condemnation and promised to pursue the perpetrators.
Hamas officials denied having plans to impose Islamic law, saying “We want Islamic law to be the standard, but we believe in persuasion.”. Moussa Abu Marzuq, of Hamas' political bureau, denied that the Hamas government was planning to turn the Gaza Strip into an Islamic emirate.
Although it is not clear which Islamist group was behind the action, Islamist militants who objected to mixed-gender socializing destroyed Gaza's water park
Crazy Water Park
The Crazy Water Aqua Fun Park was a water park in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian territories, that served the territory's small wealthy class. The park opened in May 2010 and was burned down by masked men in September 2010, after being closed by the Palestinian Hamas de facto government for allowing...
.
Other
The campaign of Islamic virtue carried out by officials following the takeover of the Gaza Strip drew concerns among residents over the Islamization of Gaza. The government’s "Islamic Endowment Ministry" has deployed Virtue Committee members to warn citizens of the "dangers" of immodest dress, card playing and dating. The government has also imposed temporary closures on facilities like the cafes of the Crazy Water ParkCrazy Water Park
The Crazy Water Aqua Fun Park was a water park in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian territories, that served the territory's small wealthy class. The park opened in May 2010 and was burned down by masked men in September 2010, after being closed by the Palestinian Hamas de facto government for allowing...
and the Faisal Equestrian Club
Faisal Equestrian Club
The Faisal Equestrian Club is an equestrian club and upscale restaurant in Gaza.The track is the site of horse races, a "popular sport" in Gaza according a 1994 article in the Rocky Mountain News. As of July 2010, the club was the sole equestrian club in the Gaza strip...
where men and women were mingling socially.
In 2007, security officials associated with Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
stated that Palestinian male youth in the Gaza Strip were being targeted by Islamist gunmen for wearing hair gel
Hair gel
Hair gel is a hairstyling product that is used to stiffen hair into a particular hairstyle. The results it produces are usually similar to, but stronger than, those of hair spray and hair wax, and weaker than those of hair glue.-Types:...
, and that at least one young man was seriously injured by the militants. According to the officials, the "militants told the youths that hair gel is imitating the West and is the beginning of corruption. It doesn't go with Islamic education, it goes against Islamic tradition and behavior." Fatah and Hamas are bitter rivals.
In 2008, Hamas instructed the main Palestinian telecoms company, Paltel
Paltel
Paltel Group or Palestinian Telecommunication Group is the largest private-sector company in the Palestinian territories, employing almost 2,000 people...
to block access to pornographic internet sites. "Palestinian society suffers because of such immoral sites. We have therefore taken the decision to protect morality, and this remains our policy," said Hamas telecommunications minister Yussef al-Mansi.
Men are banned from swimming topless.
Position of Christians
About 3,000 Gazans are Christian, out of the total population of 1.5 million. Attacks on Christians and their property are rare, with the notable exception of those on The Teacher's BookshopThe Teacher's Bookshop
The Teacher's Bookshop was a Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip that was in operation between 1998 and 2007. Located in the centre of Gaza City, it was Gaza's only Christian bookshop, catering to the needs of Gaza's tiny Christian minority...
(see below).
The Islamization of Gaza has put increasing pressure on the tiny Christian minority. Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, a rival group to Hamas, announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza. "I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza." Sheik Saqer has asserted that there is "no need" for Christians in Gaza to maintain Christian institutions and demanded that Hamas "must work to impose an Islamic rule or it will lose the authority it has and the will of the people."
In October 2007, Rami Khader Ayyad, the owner of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was abducted, beaten and murdered, after his bookstore was firebombed by an unidentified group attacking targets associated with Western influence. According to Ayyad's family and neighbors, he had regularly received anonymous death threats from people angered by his missionary work. Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas in Gaza, condemned Ayyad's killing and said Hamas "would not allow anyone to sabotage Muslim-Christian relations." Hamas officials made visits to Christian community, and its spokesman promised to bring those responsible to justice. No group claimed responsibility for the murder.
Ayyad's funeral was attended by 300 Muslims and Christians. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in Gaza City, founded and directed by Raji Sourani...
stated "This ugly act has no support by any religious group here."
Criticism by Palestinians
PalestinianPalestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
researcher Dr. Khaled Al-Hroub has criticized what he called the "Taliban-like steps" Hamas has taken. He wrote, "The Islamization that has been forced upon the Gaza Strip – the suppression of social, cultural, and press freedoms that do not suit Hamas's view[s] – is an egregious deed that must be opposed. It is the reenactment, under a religious guise, of the experience of [other] totalitarian regimes and dictatorships."
Alleged efforts to build an Islamic emirate in Gaza
Hamas has officially denied that it is attempting to establish an Islamic emirate in Gaza or a Taliban-like state.According to Francesca Giovannini of the University of California Berkeley, a growing number of analysts have denounced openly the "systematic, massive and explicit efforts" at Talibanization led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh is a Israeli Arab journalist and documentary filmmaker. Abu Toameh is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report, and has been the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988...
wrote in 2009 that Hamas is gradually turning the Gaza Strip into a Taliban-style Islamic entity.
In the same year, Martin Peretz
Martin Peretz
Martin H. "Marty" Peretz , is an American publisher. Formerly an assistant professor at Harvard University, he purchased The New Republic in 1974 and took editorial control soon afterwards. He retained majority ownership until 2002, when he sold a two-thirds stake in the magazine to two financiers...
, editor-in-chief of The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, wrote that
The fact is that Hamas is a Taliban state, as one Israeli diplomat put it. This is almost an epiphany, a clarifying truth. Hamas operates against its Palestinian enemies like the Taliban does against its Afghani enemies. Imagine a Hamas squad enters a kindergarten in a kibbutz. Neither the Taliban nor Hamas strive for earthly aims. Armed with instruments of death, they each fight for a heavenly design. But on earth.... The Taliban are not analogous to Hamas. They are identical, equivalent. A ceasefire with Hamas is a delusion. Engage with whom?
Director general of the Palestinian interior ministry, Samir Mashharawi, said to the London daily Al-Hayat: "Hamas aims to establish a mini-state in the Gaza Strip modeled on the Taliban [state] in Afghanistan.". According to Jonathan Fighel, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT), the ideological and strategic goal of Hamas is to destroy Israel in order to build on it a Sharia Islamic Taliban-style state.
In 2008, Following the bitter Fatah–Hamas conflict
Fatah–Hamas conflict
The Fatah–Hamas conflict , also referred to as the Palestinian Civil War , and the Conflict of Brothers , i.e...
, Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
, President of the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
, warned the Palestinian people against Hamas: "Hamas have brought Hizballah and Iran... This is a struggle against the Emirate of Darkness and Backwardness. Gaza will turn into a Taliban-style Islamic emirate with Iranian and Syrian support."
Al-Ayyam columnist, Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar, called Hamas "the new Taliban" and wrote: "How will the mini-state of the new Taliban [i.e. Hamas] manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip under a suffocating international siege?... Will they implement the laws of Islam?... An Islamic state [ruled by] the new Taliban has become a reality in Gaza."
See also
- Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Gaza Strip)Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Gaza Strip)The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is a group in the Gaza Strip responsible for enforcing Muslim codes of behavior. According to journalist Khaled Abu Toameh and Middle East researcher Dr...
- HamastanHamastanHamastan is a pejorative neologism, merging 'Hamas', a Palestinian militant organization and political party, and '-stan', a suffix of Persian origin meaning "home of/place of".-Linguistic history:...